Selling a Home in a Divorce? Avoid These 7 Common Mistakes
When selling a house in a divorce, avoid jeopardizing the deal so you and your former spouse can start fresh.
Divorce adds risk and stress to the already-intense process of selling a house, sometimes to the point of unraveling the entire deal or making a home unmarketable.
On one occasion, an estranged spouse returned to the house to claim belongings in the middle of a showing, said Stacey Wyatt, a top-selling agent in the Roswell, Georgia, area. The spouse and the former partner started arguing about artwork kept in an attic — in front of the agents and prospective buyers.
“They’re obviously going through what typically is a messy or tough situation, and there is a lot of charged emotion,” said Wyatt, who regularly works with divorcing clients on their real estate needs. “There’s a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes I may not be aware of, such as battles over kids. It all comes into play.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 673,989 divorces and annulments nationwide on a yearly basis. At a rate of 2.4 divorces every 1,000 people, chances are, you or someone you know may have to sell your house under these circumstances.
However, there are ways to sell a home in a divorce without jeopardizing the deal so you and your former spouse can start fresh. We’ve rounded up some common pitfalls for separated and divorced couples that savvy agents like Wyatt have experienced and how to avoid them.
Find an Agent Experienced in Divorce Sales
A great real estate agent can help you navigate the complexities of selling a home in a divorce and lighten your load. HomeLight can connect you with a Certified Divorce Real Estate Expert in your area or a top agent with valuable experience helping couples successfully sell their homes due to divorce.
Mistake #1: Not sharing relevant portions of the divorce decree with your real estate agent.
Wyatt asks for the divorce decree’s details about the real estate sale before even listing the property. “They do have some specific stipulations in there,” he said.
These often involve which spouse the court has appointed to act on behalf of the couple — typically, the spouse still living in the home — the listing price, and when to reduce the price to a certain point. Other decrees can discuss who is responsible for any home repairs and how to get approval for those costs.
“The worst thing that could happen is you think that the one spouse has full authority. They’ve signed a listing agreement, and you get an offer. Then, all of a sudden, you realize you have to have both spouses’ signatures, or it has to meet a certain net to accept an offer. I need to know that upfront, or else we’re wasting a lot of time and energy.”
Mistake #2: Hiring a real estate agent who’s never served divorcing clients.
“If you’ve not been through enough transactions, which already can get sticky, you’re going to get an eye opener in a divorce,” said Wyatt. “[Clients need to] know that I’m strictly there to extract the top dollar for their house and make it as easy of a situation for them as possible.”
In addition to sheer real estate experience, an agent who’s worked with divorcing clients in the past will be best positioned to serve your needs, period. Some agents even go through special training to become a real estate divorce specialist. Most importantly, you need to trust that your agent can represent you as a neutral voice of reason with expertise on matters such as pricing, marketing, and home improvements.
In addition to keeping cool under pressure, an agent who has served divorcing clients will be experienced in coordinating showings and communicating with both parties to ensure everyone stays informed. “We always have to remember there’s another spouse involved, and we have to keep them in the loop,” said Wyatt.
