No Divorce Is Easy, But We Can Make Selling A House After A Divorce A Little Easier
How Hard Is It To Sell Your Home After A Divorce?
The prospect of selling a house after divorce can be intimidating. Truthfully, the challenges of choosing to sell your home after a divorce (rather than before or during) depend on whether your question relates to the sale of a principal residence after divorce or the sale of a rental property after divorce, as well as whether you co-own the home and property laws in your state.
Generally speaking, there are a few straightforward ways you can sell your home after a divorce with relatively little heartache. Deciding how to split or apply the proceeds from the sale can be the hardest part. Depending on the context of your divorce agreement, you may find it best to use the proceeds from selling the property to paying off jointly held debts and ensure both parties and all involved children are taken care of fairly.
Strategy 1: Selling A House After A Divorce By Letting Your Spouse Buy You Out
Likely the least messy way to sell your home after a divorce is to let your spouse buy out your share of homeownership. This can be especially beneficial if there are children involved whose academic and social lives would be disrupted by the complete sale of a primary residence after divorce proceedings come to an end. Even if your spouse is not a co-owner on the property and you live in a state where it isn’t legally considered communal property, you can still choose to sell your house to your spouse for the same reasons.
Strategy 2: Hire A Realtor To Sell Your Home After A Divorce
An experienced real estate agent can be incredibly helpful when you’re selling a house after divorce. Choosing to sell your home after a divorce still requires that you pay off the mortgage, equity lines or second mortgage, and brokers’ fees, as well as any capital gains’ taxes incurred after the sale. Together, these can create an elevated cost of selling your home, especially if you have not lived in it long enough to qualify for a capital gains exemption.
Nevertheless, a real estate agent can help ensure the sale of a principal residence after divorce or the sale of a rental property after divorce go more smoothly. That’s because listing a home for sale by owner is often made more difficult under highly emotional circumstances, and in a contentious divorce a third party (realtor) may be necessary or required by the divorce agreement to ensure the sale proceeds fairly.
Strategy 3: Going To Auction To Sell Your Home After A Divorce
Contracting with an auction house to sell your home after a divorce works similarly to working with a realtor. The big difference is that the sale time frame will be much shorter, so in divorces where there are insufficient funds to pay off jointly held debts, this can be the smartest option.
