text: can a person purchase a house after filing for bankruptcy? claimed bankruptcy in september 2005. how long do i have to wait before i can buy a house? there are some lenders who now will finance a person with no bankruptsy seasoning. you will pay a much higher rate but after a year as long as you make all your payments on time you should be able to re-finance and recieve a lower rate. be careful of large pre-payment penalties and large closing costs lenders tend to take atvantage of persons in a desparate situation. the best way to handle this situation is to re-establish your credit and not overextend yourself. there are several ways to re-estblish your credit in a short ammount of time.