Your Step-by-Step Guide to Sell a House During a Divorce
Divorce is very stressful, and even amicable divorces get complicated quickly. In this situation, selling your house may be daunting. Along with dealing with the emotional hurdles of ending your marriage, you also need to face a daunting to-do list, like sorting out the insurance policies and making decisions about alimony, child support, etc.
To reduce stress, we have this step-by-step guide that breaks down the process of selling a house during a divorce.
Step 1: Pick an agent who is an expert in divorce sales
When you are getting divorced, you may find that staying away from personal recommendations is beneficial. It would be best to have a neutral party and someone with experience in divorce sales. The person should navigate the communications throughout the process of selling your house.
Psychologists say divorce is the most stressful event in any person’s life. So, it would be best to look for a professional who can empathize with your situation.
Step 2: Provide your agent with all the relevant details of the divorce
Once you have hired an agent, you should provide them with all the relevant details related to the divorce or any stipulations regarding the house laid out in your divorce decrees. These usually involve which spouse the court has appointed to act on behalf of the couple. The spouse is still in the house, or the listing price, etc. Other decrees may also include who is responsible for the home repairs.
Your agent should know who has the authority to accept when you receive an offer on the home.
Step 3: Get the house ready to sell
In most divorce cases, the couple wants to sell their house as quickly as possible. This way, they can avoid carrying the mortgage and help to be financially motivated to achieve the highest price.
Hence, you need to make sure to present the property well to potential buyers. To stage the home, deep cleaning and decluttering are necessary.
Step 4: Price the home to sell
To price the home, your agent performs a comparative market analysis. This analysis looks at comparable home sales in your area and provides an estimated value of your home. Although it is widely used for pricing homes, it may leave room for disagreement in divorce. Whatever it is, avoid overpricing your home, which will deter the buyers even from booking the showing and cause your house to linger on the market.
Step 5: Start the ‘reason for selling’ talks with your agent
One of the top questions your agent needs to answer during an open house is ‘Why is the seller moving?’. Your agent need not share personal information, but skipping the question may lead the buyer to wonder what is wrong with the house. So, it is best to talk with your agent and let them know how you want them to answer the question. You can always ask the agent to say some generic reason.
Whatever you decide, be prepared for buyers to ask that question and discuss your preferences with the agent.
Step 6: List the home and plan for showings
Now it is time to list the property on the market. Most people choose a realtor to help with the selling process. You and your spouse have to decide on a mutually acceptable selling price. The realtor can help you determine the price. If you are still living in the house, you must work out how to handle showings.
It may be a major inconvenience with the open house and ‘for sale signs which may draw questions from your neighbors, who you may not want to know the reason for.
If you sell your home traditionally, you never know how many days the house may sit on the market. You can prefer a quick sale if you want to finish the sale before the divorce is in the final order.
Want to sell your house fast during a divorce in Texas?
Wondering how to sell your house fast during a divorce? For most divorcing couples, the goal is to sell the house quickly and move on. If you are one of those, who don’t want to worry about the shared asset sitting on the market, Contact Needtosell.com. You can skip the hassle of staging a home and paying for expensive repairs and upgrades with us.
