Usually no. The overwhelming majority of Chapter 7 filers keep their home. Whether you do comes down to two specific numbers: how much equity you have, and how much equity your state's homestead exemption protects. If your equity is at or below the exemption cap and you stay current on the mortgage, the Chapter 7 trustee has no reason to touch the house.
What a homestead exemption is. Every state, plus the federal Bankruptcy Code, sets a dollar amount of home equity that is protected from creditors and from a Chapter 7 trustee. Equity below that amount is exempt and you keep it. Equity above that amount is nonexempt and the trustee can sell the house, pay off the mortgage, give you the exemption amount in cash, and distribute the rest to unsecured creditors.
The numbers vary wildly by state. The federal exemption under 11 U.S.C. § 522(d)(1) is $27,900 of homestead equity as of 2026 (doubled to $55,800 for married couples filing jointly). State exemptions range from a few thousand dollars in some New England states to $250,000 in Massachusetts and Nevada, $300,000 in Idaho, $600,000 in Minnesota, and unlimited in Florida, Texas, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, and South Dakota (subject to acreage limits and a federal lookback rule that caps the exemption at $214,000 if you acquired the property within 1,215 days before filing).
How to calculate your equity. Equity equals fair market value minus what you owe on all mortgages and home-equity loans. If your house is worth $290,000 and you owe $260,000 across two mortgages, your equity is $30,000. If your state's exemption is $50,000, you have $20,000 of headroom and the trustee won't touch the house. If your state's exemption is $15,000, you have $15,000 of nonexempt equity and the case gets more complicated.
What happens if you have nonexempt equity. The trustee has three options. Option A: pay you the exemption amount in cash, sell the house, and use the proceeds to pay creditors. This is rare in practice because trustees only sell when there is meaningful money to distribute after sale costs (typically 8 to 10 percent for real estate agents, closing costs, and trustee fees) and the mortgage payoff. Option B: leave the house alone if the equity is small enough that selling wouldn't net anything for creditors after costs. Option C: offer to sell the nonexempt portion back to you for cash so you keep the house. This is common when there's $5,000 to $15,000 of nonexempt equity.
Chapter 13 protects nonexempt equity directly. If you have substantial nonexempt equity and want to keep the house, Chapter 13 is the cleaner answer. The plan must pay unsecured creditors at least what they would have received in a Chapter 7 liquidation (the 'best interest of creditors' test, 11 U.S.C. § 1325(a)(4)), but the house itself stays in your name throughout the plan.
You must stay current on the mortgage. Bankruptcy does not stop foreclosure if you keep missing payments. The automatic stay buys you breathing room and Chapter 13 can cure missed payments over 3 to 5 years, but if you continue to fall behind without a plan, the lender will move to lift the stay and foreclosure resumes. Chapter 7 by itself cannot cure mortgage arrears, so if you're already behind and want to keep the house, you generally need Chapter 13 instead.
Joint owners. If you own the house with a spouse or other co-owner, the trustee can only reach your fractional interest. In community property states (Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin), this gets more nuanced and worth specific legal advice. In common-law states, a non-filing spouse keeps their half regardless of what happens in the bankruptcy.
Reaffirmation versus ride-through. If you keep the house, you typically continue paying the mortgage. Some districts require you to sign a reaffirmation agreement to formally agree to remain liable on the mortgage. Others let you 'ride through' without reaffirming: you keep paying, the lender keeps accepting payments, no one signs anything, and life continues. Most attorneys recommend not reaffirming a mortgage if your district allows ride-through, because reaffirmation re-establishes personal liability that would otherwise be discharged.
The honest summary. If you have a primary residence with equity inside your state's exemption and you can keep paying the mortgage, the house is almost certainly safe in Chapter 7. If your equity exceeds the exemption, Chapter 13 is the safer path.