One potential obstacle that I have with pulling out equity or getting loans other than student loans in general is the fact that I have a bankruptcy/short sale on my credit record from a previous investment property that I acquired prior to 2008.

An interesting article in the NY Times today about a possible bankruptcy by Dallas.

Hi,I am looking for info on ways that people may have been able to acquire property even with a recent bankruptcy on their personal credit.

He then filed for bankruptcy whiles in foreclosure, and that stopped the foreclosure for a while.

I'm curious - is there any more or less straightforward way to find out if the property is being involved in a bankruptcy or divorce/probate case, or any such?

If they have multiple garnishments already you have to get in line.They could always go to a cash job under the table or file bankruptcy.

I purchased it in 2011 for $115k from a bankruptcy.

There is the customer service department, collections department, bankruptcy department, loss mitigation department, short sale department, foreclosure department, and on and on.

If it is a chapter 11 not a 13 then the Bankruptcy trustee has a lot of power. 

The catch is that this person has been paying medical bills for her mother's cancer treatments since 2007 and is finally thinking of declaring bankruptcy in order to come to a settlement on how to arrange those medical bill payments.