Preserving Homeownership

So, you have decided to get divorced but you would like to keep the home. In the past, this was something advisors were highly against. This was because it was a huge financial burden for only one person on one income to carry. But it has now become more affordable. This is good news for the spouse who wants to preserve homeownership.

Why would you want to keep the home?

Going through a divorce is hard and usually, people want to maintain some form of familiarity and comfort, and this is especially true for women who have children. They want the divorce transition to be easier on the kids, by not disrupting their lives too much. Keep the house means not uprooting the children and moving to a strange home, and unfamiliar surroundings that make adjusting to divorce even harder.

Can you afford the monthly costs?

When you know for certain that you can afford to buy your spouse out, you must also work out if you are certain that you can handle all the monthly costs easily. You need to add up all the ongoing costs, taxes, maintenance, insurance, and insurance. Also, if you are the mother, you will be receiving maintenance for the children, but you need to take into consideration that child support and alimony will eventually come to an end.

Is keeping the home a good investment?

Before deciding on preserving homeownership, you need to consider if it is a good investment. You need to have a solid financial foundation, meaning that you have paid off all the high-interest debt and have a cushioned emergency fund and you are building up your retirement accounts. If the value of the property increases over time, you will be able to take advantage of special tax perks if you decide to sell. When the sale is complete you will receive non-taxable income. So, yes keeping the home can be a good investment if you can afford it.

How we assist

Divorce Mortgage Guidance will work with the spouses to determine who wants to keep the home if preservation of homeownership is desired. We will look at who can afford the home and the mortgage, we do this by working out all your income and your expenses and from there we can calculate if the ongoing costs to keeping the house and the mortgage is something that you can easily handle. Then we can help you apply for refinancing of the mortgage so that you can buy your spouse out. During this, the home will need to be appraised for the value and the home equity to be determined. We will also assist in getting the spouse's name off of the title once the home is yours and you have paid your spouse his or her share of the home equity. When working with you in preserving homeownership, we look at everything thoroughly so that we can give you the best solutions to preserve homeownership if it is in your best interest, therefore we will always be honest with you about our findings.