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Original poster

When to sell - divorce

20 replies

Dreamer1989 · 01/03/2022 12:51

Hello,

I dont know when to list the house to sell. We are going for a no fault divorce which starts from April, and takes 6 months (plus). I am in the house, husband moved to parents and we will continue to split bills 50/50.

Do I list now, potentially meaning I am left to find a house with pressure from buyers. Or do I bide my time, listing when the divorce has started/More towards the end of the timeline. I do know estate agents arent happy with offers from people who arent in a position to sell (house isnt on market).

I am happy where I am, but I know I need to move at somepoint. Trying to put my mental health first, still reeling from husband leaving me 2 months ago. I just cant decide what to do. I could have photos taken by agents, then tell the agents, for example, my husband isnt ready to sell. That was it buys me more time, but the really stressful (for me) part of cleaning for photos I know is done.

OP posts:
Tiger2018 · 01/03/2022 12:56

I remember this stress well in my divorce! In the end I bought my ex out of the house instead of selling it - have you looked into whether you can do that? It then saves you one upheaval after such a big one happening already.

For me, 3 years after the divorce was done, I am only now getting the house ready to sell. I chose to stay put initially so my kids and I didn't have a house move on top of all the other changes, but now feels the right time to move on.

Whatever you decide to do, keep telling yourself that this too shall pass and you will not feel like this forever. Good luck OP.

Original poster
Dreamer1989 · 01/03/2022 14:06

I wish I could, I could afford the mortgage on my
Own but I cant afford to buy him out.

Thank you - I dont really know what to do for the best.

OP posts:
singlepringlenotbychoice · 02/03/2022 15:59

Op I'm in the same position, only 3weeks in from husband leaving and not sure what to do for best.

I think I'm leaning towards trying to sell sooner rather than later to make the most of the properly prices. I do have the option of moving to my parents thought so that obviously helps.

It's slightly trickier as I've not seen or heard from my husband since he left other than exchanging pleasantries so we know the other is ok. so I can't progress without him but he's not prepared to have the difficult talks.
I think we will look to resolve the house issue first then commence divorce proceedings. Ours is a very straightforward separation with no children and the house is the only joint asset.

Tiger2018 · 02/03/2022 16:33

@Dreamer1989

I wish I could, I could afford the mortgage on my Own but I cant afford to buy him out.

Thank you - I dont really know what to do for the best.

I know you might have done this already but I thought the same - until I spoke to my amazing broker who very quickly helped me see that I could afford to buy him out through a re-mortgage to release the equity. As part of this process my ex signed a form with the solicitor to confirm he had no further financial interest in the property after I bought him out - this made it nice and straightforward when it came to the financial agreement as part of the divorce.

If you've exhausted that avenue, I'd stay put until things are more settled as long as you can both agree to continue to pay half the mortgage as you are now and review in a year or so.

Original poster
Dreamer1989 · 02/03/2022 17:12

I have spoken to multiple brokers, its my salary of £26k that is the stumbling block. I have a deposit of around £70k. I would ideally like to buy him out, the current mortgage is £156000, which I could do, its the addition of buying him out that doesnt work.

I have seen one house, but it already had 5 offers and its a shared ownership. Houses are selling so fast. My biggest worry is that I put ours on market and it sells instantly then where do I go!?

OP posts:
Original poster
Dreamer1989 · 02/03/2022 18:33

@Tiger2018 I ideally would stay here as long as I can, we are going for a no fault divorce so that wont be sorted until April - but I dont want to miss the ideal house.

OP posts:
Original poster
Dreamer1989 · 04/03/2022 10:00

Anyone else? Do I list now or wait a bit?

OP posts:
TheCatThatWalkedAlone · 04/03/2022 19:10

No advice re when to list the house, OP. Have you had legal advice on the financial settlement OP? You might not need to buy him out. Only a solicitor with full knowledge of your circumstances can advise you, but it could for example be possible to forgo a share of his pension in exchange for him signing over the house to you.

Bringsexyback · 04/03/2022 21:50

Do you have children ? That is critical information

Original poster
Dreamer1989 · 05/03/2022 16:23

No children. I have a larger pension as I worked from 22 and he took longer to find a job. We said we wouldnt go after each others pensions as there is so little in there.

OP posts:
Bringsexyback · 05/03/2022 19:12

If you have no children you’ll be expected to sever ties very quickly so get your ducks in order ready to get the house sold ASAP if you drag your feet he can force the sale and it will cost for your lawyers fees, his lawyers fees because you’ll get costs awarded against you.

Original poster
Dreamer1989 · 05/03/2022 20:05

When you say ducks in row, what does that actually entail? I am provisionally having photos taken in a week, what else can I do?

OP posts:
Bringsexyback · 05/03/2022 21:31

Get a RiCS valuation - £250, make sure he doesn’t accept a low ball offer or accuse you of accepting one. Then get it on the market asap, before the market drops

BlueMongoose · 06/03/2022 10:03

You need legal advice first. But please don't put the house on the market until you have sorted it all out. It's easier if only pone person is making the sale if that's possible. It's horrible for buyers if they end up waiting months for a divorcing couple to sort their legal stuff out, losing buyers and other properties along the way. Because of that, many buyers, especially those who have had their fingers burned by this before, won't even offer on a house being sold by a divorcing couple. And concealing that you are divorcing would be not only deceitful, but might cause a buyer to pull out if they find out- and at some point they will find out.

Walkacrossthesand · 06/03/2022 13:04

@BlueMongoose, I'm a potential buyer of a house being sold by a separating couple, and was a bit wary even before coming across this thread! At what stage in the divorce process would you regard it as legally sorted enough to market the house?

BlueMongoose · 06/03/2022 15:05

[quote Walkacrossthesand]@BlueMongoose, I'm a potential buyer of a house being sold by a separating couple, and was a bit wary even before coming across this thread! At what stage in the divorce process would you regard it as legally sorted enough to market the house? [/quote]
It depends on the individual circumstances- theirs, legally, and yours, practically. If the divorce is amicable and there's no disagreements about the the sale (price, timing, whatever) it may be no different than normal, and could even be better than a lot of sales!

OTOH if the parties are at war, and you have tight timings like a buyer/chain who can't wait, or it's a distance from where you are and schools your kids are moving to are fixed up, it may be a problem.

We bought from a divorcing couple where one didn't want to sell, had been overrruled by the courts, but was still being incredibly obstructive to the sale- even threatening to sue our surveyor (luckily the surveyor said it was all water off a duck's back to her). It had already been up for sale 18 months and other buyers had given up. We had to hang on for six months, while the sale went back to court further 3 times. We were a cash buyer so could afford to wait. But that's very much an extreme case, not normal even for divorcing couples.

In your place I'd ask the HA and/or the sellers to be open about exactly what the situation was, and the stage the divorce is at, and then discuss it with my solicitor w.r.t. what might yet have to be done before a sale could be put through. If you like the house, It'd be a real shame not to go for it if the situation was manageable.

BlueMongoose · 06/03/2022 15:09

(I say it took six months, but if you count from the first viewing, it was more like 9 from our fist viewing- and the HA tried for weeks to put us off even having a viewing because they said that the vendors were (I paraphrase) in a messy marital situation and it probably wasn't worth us driving 100 miles even to view it- I think even the HA, the third if memory serves, had given up on them).

Original poster
Dreamer1989 · 06/03/2022 16:18

We are having (so far) an amicable divorce, we agree what price is the minimum we will go for. Only snag will be me finding a new place, wont rent as I have animals and cant move back to parents - so it will take time.

OP posts:
Walkacrossthesand · 06/03/2022 18:28

Many thanks, @bluemongoose - I now have some ideas for questions to ask the agent!
@Dreamer1989 I take my hat off to you, by all accounts you've been blindsided and he's left.
From what you've written, getting the house photo-ready would be a good project for the next few weeks, by which time the no-fault divorce proceedings can be started, and you can get some legal advice about timelines for marketing the house. Good luck 💐

Original poster
Dreamer1989 · 08/03/2022 18:05

Would it be advisable, in the current market where houses are selling pretty much instantly, to put it on market, in order to be able to get an offer accepted on another then wait until divorce is underway to complete? I dont want to wait around and miss a potentially great house cos I am
Not on market (agents wont accept offers here unless you SSTC).

OP posts:
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