One of the most difficult decisions that you have to navigate with your estranged wife is what to do with your marital home. It is not only a financial decision but an emotional one too as letting it go can be very painful and traumatic. However, you might find it necessary to downsize and live in a home that you can singly afford rather than continue staying in your house through a buyout agreement.
Selling your house during divorce will be the best option for you if there is significant equity in your home and buying out your spouse’s interest is beyond your financial means. In such a case, sell your house during divorce and split the equity to separate your finances before the court steps in with a decree.
If you have a doubt about when to sell your house after both of you have agreed to a divorce, contact us at Just Livin Realty. Our experts can offer the best solutions about when to sell your house for maximum returns and benefits.
In this post, we will go through two distinct aspects, one is selling your house during divorce and the other is selling your family home after divorce.
How To Go About Selling Your House During Divorce
What does it mean to sell your house during divorce and how to go about it? Let us check the main points in detail.
- When divorce proceedings are on, the court cannot order you to sell your house before a decree. Your estranged spouse must agree to the sale before you can proceed with putting the property on the market. However, if the property is in your name and you have owned it from before marriage, it is not a part of your marital estate, and your spouse’s consent to sell is not required.
- When you and your spouse file for divorce, the court issues several restraining orders on selling marital property or splitting assets, and disposing of your home is one of them. Hence, while selling your house during the divorce, sign an agreement to that effect and place it in court which will issue an order agreeing to it. Only then can you proceed with selling your marital home.
- Now that you know about the legalities of selling your house during divorce, let us check out how you should go about it. After listing your property, do not leave any signs that you are divorcing. If prospective buyers get a whiff of it, they might drive a hard bargain to lower the price and get more favorable terms as it is natural that you will want to close the sale quickly. Some tell-tale signs of a divorcing couple’s home are unkempt landscaping, no personal pictures on the wall, sparse furnishings, and more. Avoid telling buyers during showings that the reason for selling the house is an impending divorce.
- If you or your spouse want to buyout the marital house and do not want to sell it, there should not be any reason for the other party to stand in the way. If it is your spouse wanting to do so, make sure that he or she has the financial means to refinance the house in a single name. However, before allowing this option, get your name off the deed and the mortgage. Possible adverse impacts if you do not do so are:
- Limiting your credit will stop you from buying a home due to the high debt-to-income ratio.
- Lowering your credit score if your spouse defaults on mortgage payments.
- Preventing you from separating your finances and carrying on with your life after divorce.
- When you think of divorce and selling a house, hire an experienced and neutral real estate agent who can represent both your interests and can be trusted by both of you. Next, decide who will be the point of contact among you so that there will not be any conflicting instructions.
Follow these points and framework when you are selling your house during the divorce.
How To Go About Selling Family Home After Divorce
Selling your family home after divorce if you have got it in the decree is a lot easier than selling it before or during the divorce proceedings. This is because you do not have to worry about home equity in the divorce as it is already taken care of in the decree.
Here is how you should think about divorce and selling your house after your divorce.
- The most important aspect is to remove the name of your spouse from the deed once the divorce property division is finalized. Get a copy of the deed from the recorder’s office and create a new deed that transfers the ownership of the house from joint property to yours alone. After the change of title has been signed, keep a copy that shows the property is in your name only.
In case, there is a mortgage on both your names, show a copy of the deed, your divorce decree, and a quitclaim deed to your lender. The lender might refinance the mortgage if you have the financial ability. If not, you might have to sell the home to get your name off the mortgage.
- While selling a family home after the divorce, do not think of keeping it a secret because divorce cases are a matter of public record. Though prospective buyers will know that you have been recently divorced, that does not mean they can browbeat you into lowering the listing price. They need not know that the motivation for selling your family home is the divorce.
- After your property has been divided and you are selling your family home after divorce, it is not expected to have a warm family glow about it. Your house might have huge gaps in the walls where family portraits were once hung and the furniture will be sparse too. However, remember, whatever might be the circumstances, staging is critical to get a good price.
Work with us at Just Livin Realty for ideas on how to stage your house and highlight the key features. We will ensure that your property appeals to prospective buyers.
- A key benefit of selling your family home after divorce is that you will be the sole decision maker and you will have full control over the process. You need not deal with your ex-spouse about any aspects of selling your house or which offer and terms to accept from whom. It is also easier to deal one-on-one with a real estate agent in this case.
There are many complexities of selling a house. This is regardless of whether you are selling your house during your divorce or selling your family home after your divorce. Hence it is essential that you get in touch with the real estate professionals at Just Livin Realty who are experts in selling property resulting from a divorce.
Give us a call today!