Is it better to sell our house before or after divorce?

When you marry someone and live together in California for a number of years, you will have acquired various assets and properties—the most valuable of which is probably your house. Still, there are unforeseen circumstances when a couple’s relationship can end up in a divorce. This means they have to settle everything including the properties that they share.

Because of this, the most common question that comes to mind among couples going through a divorce is: “Should I sell my house before or after divorce in California?”

Going through a divorce is already a stressful and time-consuming matter in your life which is why making a decision about selling your home should not be an additional burden. If you have been pondering on whether you should sell your house before or after your divorce, this article will discuss the things that you should consider for each scenario so you can better decide on what to do with your house.

Selling Your House Before A Divorce

When you have filed for a divorce with your spouse and are in amicable terms with each other, you can discuss with each other how you want to deal with selling your house. If both of you have decided that neither of you will live in or own the house and would prefer to sell it to have money then things will be fairly easier. Selling your property and dividing the profits between the two of you before the divorce is finalized will at least provide you with something that you can use once you lead your separate lives.

For some divorce financial planning practitioners, selling your house before the divorce is finalized can be advantageous especially when it comes to tax advantages. As co-owners of a house, you can file taxes separately and get as much as $250,000 in a capital gain to be exempted from taxation as long as you are able to fulfill the use and ownership tests to get this exclusion. On the other hand, both of you can also decide to file your taxes jointly and gain up to $500,000 exclusion.

A factor that you should also greatly consider is whether or not your house is still on the mortgage. If your house is appraised and valued less than the amount you owe your mortgage, you will have negative equity or loss. Instead of being able to share or divide the profit from selling your house, you will have to think about sharing the debt. This can become very problematic especially since the money lender will most likely haunt either of you to ensure that the debt is fully paid.

Selling Your House After A Divorce

If selling your home before the divorce is not feasible due to reasons like low selling value as compared to the mortgage costs, then you most probably would like to sell it later when the value has increased. That is unless one of you has been awarded by the court to keep the house depending on various circumstances.

When selling your house after a divorce, you should take note of how long are you going to wait until you decide to sell it. Since you still have joint ownership of the house, you need to ensure that you will be able to come into agreement about the mortgage payment, maintenance fees, and taxes. While this can be easy at first, there can be some incidences when one party no longer pays his share. This must be taken into account during the divorce procedure so problems can be avoided.

There are also instances when couples who have already divorced decide to stay in the house until a certain period due to financial restraints. This can be simple at first wherein they can agree who stays in the bedroom, the basement, etc. While this type of scenario is a good attempt to solve the problems with finances, for the time being, this can often result to bigger problems especially since they are just recently divorced and underwent a stressful battle with each other. Most of the time, issues like one person inviting others in may arise leading to other problems like failing to provide his share for the house dues.

Which is the better option?

In truth, there are advantages and disadvantages in both scenarios of either selling your house before or after a divorce. The difficulty of the divorce procedures and the value of the house to be sold are the main factors that you should consider when selling your house during a divorce. You should look for the best option that won’t take too much time and effort.

Looking To Sell Your House?

Whether you have decided to sell your house in California before or after your divorce, a house buying company in California is a great option. While real estate agents can take up a lot of time to actually sell your house due to their own terms and interests in getting a higher commission, selling your house to a company that offers cash buying will enable you to sell your house easily. In a matter of days, your house will be sold at the highest value and offer so you won’t have to worry about receiving losses instead of profits.

We Can Help You!

We are certified cash buyers of houses in California who keep up to our promise of taking care of our clients and giving them only the fairest deals and offers. With us, you will no longer have to wait for months to sell your property since we can provide a cash offer in a few days, or even after 24 hours!

We know the difficulties of facing a divorce which is why we would like to help you take something off your plate to lessen the things you need to face. Here are some benefits of selling your house to us:

• You can focus on settling your divorce and no longer worry about finding a buyer for your house
• You will no longer have to deal with each other about the house payments and fees after divorce
• Both of you can have a fair share of the profits you can get from selling your house for cash
• You no longer have to deal with making your house presentable for buyers while and be able to sell it “as is”
• You no longer have to hire anyone to sell your house for you

These are just some of the advantages of selling your house to us when you are going through a divorce. Whether you want to sell your house before or after your divorce, we are cash buyers who will always have the right offer for you.

Call us at (210) 547-7505 today!