One of your options for the house, if you’re getting divorced, is to sell it. This often does make things easy. You can divide other assets simply by splitting up items, but you can’t divide the house. If you sell it, that turns it into a financial asset, which you can divide.
However, you may not be happy with this idea, and you may want to keep the house. Do you have to sell just because you’re getting divorced?
One could buy the other’s half
One potential option is to buy your spouse’s half. Maybe they want to sell because they just want the money. They are looking for a new place to live and they know that the influx of cash will help them move forward.
You can still give them this benefit. You simply refinance to get them off of the mortgage, and then you buy their half of the house from them. If this is affordable, then you both get the asset that you really wanted – you get the house and they get the money.
You can keep joint ownership
In some situations, couples will even decide to continue owning a house together. You don’t have to sell it or change ownership.
One example of this is if couples want to try birdnesting, allowing the children to live in the home while the parents move in and out. Another example is if the couple wants to rent the house out as a source of income or perhaps hold onto it so they can sell when the real estate market is higher.
No matter what you decide to do, just be sure you are well aware of the legal steps to take.
