We dive into important questions to ask and what options are available. Divorce is one of the most heartbreaking experiences in life that one can ever go through. Selling a house due to divorce is also one of the biggest logistical issues people face since it is usually always the biggest asset in the family. Although some couples stay amicable after their split, many times there is animosity or resentment, making important discussions very difficult. Deciding on what to do with your house during the process can add even more stress to the already difficult situation. Top 5 Questions to Ask Yourself: Where will the children live? Can either one of us afford the house on our own? If we both can afford it, who keeps it? If we sell, how much would we net, and what are the tax implications? Do we have time to list the property or do we want a quick sale? Generally, there are three options available when deciding what to do with the home: Buy out each other’s share of the house If you or your ex-partner want to keep the house, then you can purchase each other’s share. The one who keeps the home takes out a new mortgage or home equity line in order to extract equity. If you’re the one who’s keeping the house, you have to be sure that you are financially capable to pay and maintain the house on your own, or else you’ll be facing more problems down the line. The attorneys can help you determine what loan amount would be needed, what amount the other person would receive, and refer you to a good loan officer. The person not keeping the house would come off of title once the new loan is closed. Keep in mind: California is a Community Property state. That means if spouses purchased a property together during marriage, they have equal shares of ownership, thus the profits from a sale are divided equally. This is the easier scenario. But what if the house was purchased before marriage? When one spouse buys a property before marriage, it is generally that spouse’s sole and separate property. The situation becomes complicated when the spouse who is not on title helps pay the mortgage, contributes to improvements to the home, and lives there long enough. In this case, the presumption that only one spouse owned the house can be overturned with strong evidence that the spouses had an agreement they both owned it. Attorneys will be helpful in this situation. Continue to co-own the house Believe it or not, many divorced couples want to keep their family house for sentimental reasons, or if there are minor children. One downside is that if the remaining party falls behind the mortgage payments, both credit reports will be affected equally. The person who moved out carries a burden that the remaining spouse will continue to make payments. If co-owning the house, communication will need to be open and cooperative. Sell the house In most cases, it may be financially difficult for either party to maintain the house on their own. This is why for the majority of people, selling a house from divorce and dividing the proceeds is the best option. There are three ways to sell a house in divorce: 1) Court-Ordered Deferred Sale When selling a house in divorce in the Bay Area and there are children involved, the court may order a deferred, or temporary delay, of the sale. This is to lessen the effect of separation on the children. Stability is key for them. With a deferred sale, the court looks at whether the spouses can afford the payments. If so, the court will then consider the following (but not limited to): the length of time the children have lived in the home the children’s ages and grades in school the emotional impact moving homes would have on the children the financial ability of each spouse to obtain suitable housing the tax consequences a delayed sale would have on each party Once the court has approved a sale, the spouses must decide on whether to list the property or sell the house for cash to an investor and finalize the process. How to Sell a House Fast – The Insider’s Guide 2) Sell to an Investor Selling your house to an investor is the best option for you in situations like this. Investors buy houses fast in cash, regardless of its condition. They can also close the property in as quickly as seven days, so you and your ex partner can divide the proceeds right away. If the court required a deferred sale, or both parties are just ready to get the process over with, finding an investor to buy the house quickly might be a good option. 3) Real Estate Agent The last option would be to hire a real estate agent. However, with the commission and closing costs, the traditional selling route may not be the best option at this point in your life. Furthermore, with all the stresses and difficulties that you’ve been through with your divorce, the last thing that you probably want to do is to prepare your house for a sale, entertain potential buyers, and wait even longer for the buyer’s loan to close. As we discussed in previous articles, it is good to weigh the differences between selling to an investor or listing with an agent. If you and your ex-spouse have decided to sell your home because of divorce, call us at 877-210-6460 or fill out the form below. Skye Homes can offer you a fair, no-obligation estimate for your property. We buy houses all around the Bay Area regardless of condition, which means you don’t have to spend a dollar on repairs. Read more about how Skye Homes helps homeowners through this process.
Category: Divorce
What If My House Won’t Sell During A Divorce in the Bay Area?
If you’re going through a divorce and you’re trying to sell a house, you might be wondering, “what if my house won’t sell during a divorce in the Bay Area?” That’s a good question to ask so be sure to read this blog post and we’ll share our best answer with you… A divorce can be a challenging situation: it’s complicated, it’s expensive, it’s time-consuming, and emotions are running high. And in all that effort you also need to sell your house so that you can split the value of any equity in the house and put it all behind you. But what if your house doesn’t sell? If you’re going through a divorce and wondering, “what if my house won’t sell during a divorce in the Bay Area?” then here’s what to do… What Are The Reasons Your House Doesn’t Sell? Unfortunately, there are many reasons your house might not sell. Some of the reasons are related to the normal market conditions (and they might be present even if you weren’t going through a divorce). But there might be additional reasons that your house doesn’t sell — for example, maybe you have a complicated divorce or there’s a lot of conflict between each party in the divorce and this makes it too difficult for the buyer to negotiate on the sale of the property. We recently wrote a more in-depth article about selling a house from divorce in the Bay Area. This Delay Adds To The Problem If the house is not selling as quickly as you’d like, this just adds to the problem and it ultimately ends up costing you more — in bills and taxes and mortgage payments, as well as in additional attorneys fees. Simply put, you might be hoping to get a high price for your house but your divorce could actually be scaring people away and costing you money. Fortunately there’s another option… Strategy For Divorce Houses: Sell To A House-Buying Company Here’s an effective strategy for people who are trying to sell their divorce house — instead of listing the house with an agent, sell the house directly to a real estate buying firm like us here at Skye Homes. As real estate buyers, we may not always be able to pay the market price for a house… but many divorcing people realize that holding out for a higher price can actually be a costly strategy once you factor in the cost of repairing the property, the carrying costs while you wait months for an agent to find a buyer, and then the agent’s commission (sometimes thousands of dollars). If you’re wondering, “what if my house won’t sell during a divorce in the Bay Area?” and if you want to sell your house fast, a real estate buying firm like ours is the fastest and simplest choice to get the property out from the middle of your divorce, give you money for it, and allow you to wrap up this portion of the divorce proceedings. To learn more about our real estate buying program and how we might be able to help you out in this challenging situation, click here and fill out the short form or give our team a call at .
Selling Your House While Divorcing in the Bay Area
If you’re going through a difficult divorce and trying to figure out what to do about your unwanted real estate, then keep reading this blog post to give you our best suggestions about selling your house while divorcing. Divorce can be challenging and emotional. Yet, in the midst of the difficult situation, you might be like other divorcing couples who own a house and are trying to figure out how to go about selling your house while divorcing in the Bay Area. Here are our best strategies and ideas to help you navigate the real estate portion of your divorce as carefully and efficiently as possible. Houses In Divorce Can Be Complicated During a divorce, the two parties seek to split their assets in half. For some assets are liquid (such as money), it’s very easy to do. For other assets, including real estate, it’s much harder to do because how do you split a house in half? It’s one asset that derives its value from being whole, and it’s usually a structure built on a plot of land, so it’s not going anywhere. Since cutting the house down the middle isn’t an option, should one party get it or the other? And maybe in some divorces, one party might be invited to take the house only if they can pay for it (which is a massive expense a time that people rarely want to incur such expenses). Here’s How To Split The Real Estate Asset The best way to split the real estate asset is to sell it: The property itself might have some expenses incurred during the sales process, or there might be outstanding bills, or there might still be a partial outstanding mortgage on the property. So the two divorcing parties should probably just sell the property and direct their attorneys to apply the money earned from the equity to any outstanding debts. The remaining amount can then be split between each party, with each party getting an agreed-upon percentage (such as 50/50). But this begs the question — how do you sell the property? The Fastest Way To Sell A Divorce House When it comes time to sell, most people think of selling through a real estate agent. Unfortunately there’s a few problems with this: the agent will make the owners pay out-of-pocket to fix up the property first — but who pays for that? the agent will then list the house, which can take 3-6 months to sell (sometimes longer) — can either party wait that long? the agent will then involve both parties in the negotiation with the buyer and there is A LOT of paperwork to shuffle back and forth This is a costly and time-consuming way to sell, and it can actually make the divorce proceedings so much worse. Fortunately, there’s another way to sell and that’s to sell your house to a real estate buying firm (which is what we do here at Skye Homes). The real estate buying firm will buy your house quickly, for cash, in as-is condition (and as a bonus, there are never any commissions or fees to pay). You don’t have to clean up or fix up the property and the sale can be completed in days, not months, with very little paperwork. If you’re going through divorce and want to just be done with it and move on with your life, just reach out to us and tell us about the house you want to sell. We specialize in buying divorce houses and we can help you expedite your divorce by buying this house from you. Click here to enter your information or call our office at to tell us about your property
When Should I Sell My House Fast for Cash?
Selling your house fast for cash is sometimes the quickest resolution when there’s a need to move or sell a home quickly. For starters, there’s the convenience and speed of sell. Fewer sales fall through and you can have money in your pocket just days after accepting a cash offer. For a homeowner in some type of financial distress, this can be a life-changing benefit. Combined with the benefit of avoiding costly repairs or real estate agent commissions, it’s no wonder more people than ever are typing “How to sell my house fast for cash” into Google search queries. In this blog post, Skye Homes – home buyers in the San Jose, CA area – outline some scenarios where selling a house fast for cash just makes more sense than going through a realtor. Selling a House With Bad Tenants While owning a rental property is a great source of additional income, it can be a nightmare if difficult tenants enter the equation. When a tenant makes a habit of missing rent payments, breaking rules, and mistreating or damaging the property, it can seem like a problem you can’t escape from. This is why a growing number of landlords are opting to sell a house fast for cash in response to nuisance tenants. While you should seek legal advice first, selling a home with a bad tenant is sometimes the easiest way to wipe your hands clean of the problem and move on. While you might get a slightly less than average offer, a cash home buyer is often willing to roll the dice. They generally have a means to cover the legal and administrative costs of evicting a difficult tenant in order to rehab the property and get a return on their investment. READ: Selling a House With Tenants in the Bay Area Selling an Inherited House When you inherit a home from your parents or grandparents, you have one of three choices. You could sell the house, move into it, or rent it out. If the home is in disrepair, or in dire need of costly updates, it may be something you just don’t want to deal with. Sure, you can avoid making necessary updates, and still put it up for sale below market price, but you’d be required to pay legal costs and real estate agent fees. This is why selling your house fast for cash might be more logical than needlessly dealing with the upkeep and paperwork of an inherited house. This fast sell ensures the home doesn’t sit uninhabited and vulnerable to vandalism or deterioration. Plus, it can be sold as-is, alleviating some headaches on your end. Selling to a cash home buyer minimizes out of pocket expenses and unloads the property sooner rather than later. READ: How to Sell an Inherited House in the Bay Area – The Easy Way Financial Problems Financial difficulty is actually the number one reason most homeowners sell to a cash buyer. When the bills are racking up, you’ve fallen behind on your mortgage, and the bank is threatening to foreclose the house, there’s a sense of urgency to hit a reset button. Most of the aforementioned “Sell my house fast for cash” internet searches can be attributed to homeowners suddenly finding themselves in over their heads. Perhaps they have costly home repairs they cannot afford or they just can’t get current on their mortgage. Selling their home to a cash buyer enables them to start over fast and hopefully regain their financial footing. READ: How to Avoid Foreclosure in the Bay Area Selling a House During a Divorce Going through a divorce is an emotionally trying time. Not only can it be a time of heartache, but also a time of animosity, anger, or resentment. The burden of selling a home during this process only complicates things. Not only is a house the biggest asset most couples acquire together, but it also holds sentimental value to one or both parties. Additionally, one partner has likely moved out. They’re looking to cover their new living expenses while the mortgage, property taxes, and insurance all need to be paid as well. There’s a need for both parties to move quickly. Selling your house while still married by law can save significant money when it comes to capital gains tax. Working with a cash home buyer is another way to save money. There’s no closing costs or realtor commissions, which means some of the transaction can be pocketed once the mortgage is paid off. Ending a divorce with some type of cash reserve is important considering the hefty legal fees involved. A home can sit on the market for an average of 65 to 70 days. This prolongs the time a troubled couple must work together to agree on things like repairs, a contractor, a realtor, and listing price. Selling directly to a cash buyer gives you and your spouse a means to walk away from the house in as little as one week. Just make sure to discuss the process with your divorce attorney. READ: Selling Your House While Divorcing in the Bay Area Selling a Home Due to Relocation The need to relocate to another part of the country or even the world is another reason for someone to research how to “Sell my house fast for cash” online. Depending on the circumstances, someone may only have just one month to sell their home and move far away. READ: How to Sale a House for Job Relocation Looking to Sell Your House Fast For Cash in Bay Area? – Let’s Chat! If you find yourself in any of these situations, Skye Homes helps you skip the stress of dealing with contractors and real estate agents by buying your house directly from you. Contact us today via our online form below or by calling/texting 510-220-0712.