The house where you live is the most expensive thing you’ll buy in a lifetime if you’re like most Americans. It’s also possible that it’s a community property, which could be very stressful in case of a divorce. This situation leaves you with two options: Selling Property Before Divorce or after. Unfortunately, houses can’t be split between divorcing spouses, which means any of you could agree on Selling Property Before Divorce and divide the earnings. Nevertheless, you should consider that selling a home before buying a new place has its benefits.
Keep reading this blog to find out why selling property before divorce might be your best option:
Is It Better to Sell a Home Before or After a Divorce?
As soon as you’ve agreed that divorce is unavoidable, you should plan to put the house up for sale. This way you’ll maximize the amount of time it’s available and potentially draw in more interested buyers, which makes it more likely to get a satisfactory offer you can divide between the two of you afterward. It also helps with the process of moving out and getting used to living separately.
A common missed benefit of selling your house before your divorce is in your tax filings. As both parties commonly move out, the house you previously shared becomes a second home. If a considerable amount of time goes by and the property value raises, the increase could be handled at tax time as a capital gain and taxed at the standard 15%. For instance, if you both move out in April and the house doesn’t move until December but goes for $10,000 more than you paid for it, you might have to split a great $1,500 capital gain tax bill. Now that you know this, what do you think? Is it better to sell your house before or after divorce?
Divorce Sales: What to Do if the House Doesn’t Sell on Time
Selling a house before divorce helps avoid all these issues, and there are a couple of things you can do when you sell your house to speed the selling process. First of all, talk about the problem and make sure that you both agree on selling the house. This is important because one party refusing a deal or making the property seem unattractive, wouldn’t be good at all. Whether it’s for emotional or financial reasons, some people can do that, so try to reach a consensus beforehand and act as a team to sell your house quickly.
Can you sell your house while getting a divorce? Well, despite it could seem odd to put your divorce on hold, consider that the incentives you both operate under change when the court grants your final divorce decree. Everything could be going well during the sale, but your spouse might start trying to get a bigger share of the sale price or to stay in the house as the final court date draws near. So, by “pausing” your divorce, both of you can refocus your energy on cleaning the house before selling it while being on the same page, for instance.
Ways You Can Keep Things Running Smoothly
Depending on how well both of you are working to get over your issues, selling your house can be relatively easy or a nightmare. Selling a house before divorce could technically work just as good as if a divorce wasn’t on the table.
According to Laura Wasser, divorcing can be easy, being able to agree on how to divide things appropriately, from finances to shared assets.