Your home is your biggest asset during a divorce but what if you find out that you and your spouse owe more money on the marital home than the house is worth. We discuss what options are available to us when we have negative equity in your home.

Deciding when to sellDeciding when the right time to sell the house is important and is based off of several factors. Here are some questions to ask when deciding when to list:

How much time is needed to make repairs and prepare the home for sale?

Can we afford to wait for the best season to sell?

Is your mortgage up for renewal soon? How much will the break mortgage penalty be?

Price is the number one factor in the sale of a home. A property is only worth what one person is willing to pay another to gain ownership of it.

Your Realtor will ensure you receive a price that works and will attract buyers. To figure out what to list your home for one must establish the home’s current market value. Market value is what you could expect to pay for a property of its kind.

Two new changes to the real estate sector. The BC government has announced a new Flipping Tax starting January 1st 2025. The proposed BC Home Flipping Tax will apply to any home or property zoned for residential use sold within two years of purchase.

When it comes to preparing and staging a home when putting it up for sale, there is no difference if it is a regular sale or a sale because of a divorce. Our goal is the same, where we want a quick sale and for top dollar. The only difference between a regular sale and a divorce sale is; that we have to prepare the home and make it look like it is not a divorce sale. Our goal is still to get top dollar, we don’t want to look desperate and have buyers think we want a quick sale and we will take any price that is offered.

1. One of you needs to move out when you separate.

This is false. Each spouse has as much legal right to live in the home as the other does until a court decides or one of you agrees to move out. Not wanting your ex to live in the house with you is not enough reason to lock your ex out of the house. If there is abuse it is best to seek a lawyer’s advice and not stay in that situation.

When you are going through a divorce and you are deciding what to do with the marital home. There are generally 3 options, buy out the other spouse, sell the house, or the couple can continue to co-own the house.

Conducting a title review is so important when selling a home as it brings transparency to the sale of the home and it can help protect buyers from potential legal issues and disputes that may arise in the future.

The spouse who is buying out the other, will pay a lump sum and incorporate any equity that has been accumulated over the marriage. The spouse who is taking over the home will need to apply for a refinance in only their name and go through the mortgage pre-approval process.

With the internet and mobile devices taking the market by storm, buyers have unprecedented access to property information at their fingertips, without depending on a real estate agent. Most public information is partial or outdated information that many online sources provide. A real estate agent has access to the latest and most current information days before it becomes public knowledge.

LOCATION - We usually cannot move a home! To quote the favorite phrase of appraisers, “Location, location, location!” The pricing of your home must reflect its location.

There are really two phases when it comes to preparing your home. The first phase is getting ready for the market and the second phase is getting ready for showings. Let’s start with the first phase, getting ready for the market, the best way to do this is to walk around your entire home with a notepad paying careful attention to everything.

Do you need to be close to schools, public transit, highways, or work? Those can be huge factors when choosing an area to live in. It is important that you scout the neighborhood in person. You live in more than your house.

Once you have exited your marital life and you start to focus on how your life will be post-divorce. You start thinking about what you’re new life will look like. This is your chance to make changes, to journey down a new path in life, explore and to rediscover who you are. You start asking yourself questions like where am I going to live? What will I be looking for in a new partner? Who am I as a single person? What do I do now I am divorced? And you wonder, where do I even begin?

After my divorce a few years ago I found myself drained, depressed, and feeling super unhealthy physically, mentally, and spiritually. A friend told me about cord-cutting and when I did it it made me feel incredible. It felt like I unhooked the anchors that were dragging me down. I hope you will give it a try and feel incredible too.

When we get married we never in your wildest dreams think that it will end in divorce. That when we enter into matrimony, we will live happily ever after. Divorce does happen. It happens more often than we think. Statistically 38% of all marriages end in divorce.

Divorces has been around for many years. They may not have been common as they are today but they still existed.

When we get married we never think that it will end in divorce but it does happen. It happens more then we think. In Canada about 38% of all marriages end in divorce. I never thought in my wildest dreams my marriage would end in divorce, I thought I was going to live happily ever after. A relationship with my best friend that lasted 23 years ended in divorce.

There are other costs to consider. These closing costs and additional expenses can impact your offer, the size of your down payment, and the amount of mortgage you qualify for, so be aware of these costs from the start.

The first step is to be sure you understand how the market conditions affect the price you choose. Markets change from city to city and from neighborhood to neighborhood, the value of your home is determined by supply and demand. If there are a lot of sellers and few buyers, prices tend to go down and homes take longer to sell, this is referred to as a “buyer’s market”.

Divorce can be challenging both emotionally and financially. Since the marital home is a couple’s largest asset it is often a tough decision during a divorce of what to do with the home. Keep it and buy your ex out or sell it off and split the equity…