Learn how to sell your house in a divorce, as it might be beneficial, as well as the steps to get a cash offer and finalize the sale so you can move forward with cash in hand.
Divorce comes with many difficult decisions. The home you shared is likely one of your largest assets. Deciding what to do with it can be especially challenging.
To avoid complicated decisions, the hassles of maintaining the home, or trying to sell it through the traditional process, consider selling the home for cash.
The Decision to Sell
When deciding whether to sell a home during a divorce, some choices may be based on emotions, while some may be based on financial and legal ties. There are many different scenarios you’ll want to consider. It can help to consider various questions and scenarios, such as:
- If you have a shared mortgage, how will you both continue to pay it until you sell the home?
- If one person wants to keep the home, can they afford it on their own? How will the other person be compensated?
- If you both own the home without a mortgage, how do you decide to split the value of the asset fairly?
- If one of you owns the home entirely, is the other person entitled to a share of the asset?
Selling the house might be the simplest way to cleanly finalize these decisions. The cash from the sale of the home can help each person pay off their share of a mortgage, move to a new home, or pay for other expenses they’ll take on in the separation. It allows you to avoid ongoing decisions about maintaining and affording the home.
Selling a House for Cash After a Divorce
The traditional process for selling a home involves several steps that you might not want to manage while going through the major life changes involved in a divorce.
You likely don’t want a lengthy home sales process, which could include updating your house, listing the property for sale, cleaning it, staging it, managing showings, negotiating with multiple potential buyers, and waiting for a buyer’s mortgage to get approved.
You can instead sell your home for cash to certain types of buyers that typically allow for a faster and simpler sales process. This offers relief to divorcing couples in a pinch, who need to sell their home quickly, with little hassle.
Cash buyers include:
- Investors, or i-Buyers, who provide simple fair offers to homeowners looking to expedite their sales process with homes that need minor updates. These types of buyers include Opendoor, Offerpad, Zillow Offers, and Redfin Now.
- Wholesalers or Flippers, who are local real estate knowledge experts that sell homes that need extensive repair or renovation prior to sale.
Realtors can also be great resources in finding cash buyers and providing local real estate knowledge to help homeowners maximize their return for their homes.
Cash buyers are often able to work quickly, giving you an offer within 24 to 48 hours. From there you can close on the sale of your home within as little as seven days.
What is Needed to Prepare for the Sale
Throughout your divorce, you and your former spouse have sorted your individual and shared assets. As your home is a major asset, you’ll need to make sure you’re both legally in agreement about the home’s sale.
This will include understanding whether the cash you receive from the home will pay off your joint mortgage, if you have one, or how the money will be split to clear up any other financial ties that you might share.
You may want to work with your lawyer to prepare various documentation for the sale of your home, including your mortgage payoff amount.
If you decide to sell your home for cash, you’ll take these steps:
- Determine the fair market value of your home. Bolt and Beam would have a quick conversation with you, the homeowner, to find out the condition of the home and learn about your situation. We would then introduce you to the right investor from our network based upon their needs. After an analysis, Bolt and Beam will recommend the best cash buyer and provide you with an offer within the same day.
- Once you’ve connected with a buyer, they may have some follow-up questions. The buyer will send a professional home inspector or do a walk-through to determine if there are necessary house repairs that need to be made and ensure that they didn’t over or underestimate any of the repairs required for the home. After the walk-through, you can agree to make the repairs or lower your price for the home to cover the buyer’s costs to make them.
- Sign a sales agreement with the buyer. With this agreement, you’ll set a date to close on the home and finalize the sale. This is similar to a traditional real estate transaction, but it happens within weeks, rather than months.
- Close the sale and receive cash for your home. From here, you’ll receive your cash for the home and will take another step forward in finalizing your divorce.
Start Fresh with an Instant Home Offer
Bolt and Beam can help the home-selling process go smoothly and mitigate an already intense situation.
We provide you with information and education so that you can sell your home on your terms. This gives you options that otherwise aren’t available through the more traditional, and sometimes overwhelming, method of listing and selling your home.
After you provide us with details about your situation, we’ll analyze your needs and give you information about your home and local market. Then we’ll provide you with our best recommendations for instant cash offers, along with the pros and cons of each option.
Our service is free to you, as we’re paid based on referrals to buyers. We only make referrals that we know will be worthwhile for both you and the buyer.
If you’re interested in learning more about how to sell your house in a divorce by getting a fast cash offer, contact us or complete the questionnaire below to get started.