If you have a second mortgage that is not secured you can benefit enormously by a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy.  You need to know the present value of your house.  Home prices in Nevada County, Placer County, and Sacramento County are predicted to rise by up to 20% in the next year.  Look on zillow.com or order a realtor’s appraisal.  If the present value if less than what you owe on your first mortgage, then the second mortgage is unsecured.  Lien stripping is the process of eliminating the second mortgage.  When you complete your Chapter 13 Plan the second mortgage is removed as a lien on the property.  The Chapter 13 Plan requires that you pay all of your excess income into the plan for three to five years.  The process of determining what you must pay is known as means testing.  Our office can determine what your plan payment will be.  Even if the home has increased in value during the life of the plan the lien stripping is effective.  So you can see that rising prices effect your chance to accomplish lien stripping.  You need to consider that your home’s value could rise to a value that means that your second mortgage is no longer unsecured.  So time is of the essence in a rising home market.  I welcome your call at 530-265-2939 if you want a free consultation to discuss this process.