DIVORCE - CHAINS TO THE UPSIDE DOWN HOUSE VALUE CAN BE BROKEN!!! (edit/delete)

Chained to your home and can't get a divorce?  You are not alone!  A major problem with divorcing couples is that they cannot sell the marital home.  They think they are forced to stay in a difficult relationship or marriage.  Today's economic climate is terribly impacting couples (or former significant others) from terminating their relationships.  Divorce attorneys call these people "roommate marriages".

There is no difference between roommate marriages and real marriages that stay married.  But let me digress to give the full view of the problem.

In recent years I have seen people come to me that got married and then split.  But in the lust for the relationship they bought a home together, sometimes even before getting married.  In those years past, with increasing values, we simply did what is legally called a "partition" of the property and it was sold under a court order, always paying off the mortgage and netting the parties some nice cash.

Now the economic climate is different.  The homes are perpetually underwater in debt because of declining values.  This is the classic "upside down" scenario.

The net effect is that the partition of the property becomes more difficult or even impossible without the intervention of a short sale concept.  Further, married couples feel compelled to be locked together financially because of the home - it is like the REMAX television advertisement of the house hanging over the family wherever they stand.

Divorce attorneys and their clients should realize that there are solutions for dealing the upside down real estate homes and investments that afford an end to the marriage. 

Divorce clients and attorneys listen up!  An experienced Realtor coupled with a short sale experienced attorney, working in conjunction with the parties' divorce lawyers can typically find light at the end of the tunnel for these situations.  A good portion of hardships involve divorce - as in, "I got divorced and cannot afford the home anymore."  There is no economic difference to "I got divorced" and "I am getting divorced."  There are merely explanations to the lender.  The end effect is the same and the hardship is the same.  Thus the fact that you (or your client) is in the midst of a divorce that involves a problem property should not deter the divorce going forward nor should it deter the resolution of the disposition of the sale of the marital home.

For an explanation on short sales, see the articles at SHORT SALE TRILOGY, I Can't Pay My Mortgage, and some articles by Dan Forbes and another.

Short sales allow the borrower (the divorcing couple) to sell the home that is worth less than the total of the mortgages owed on the home.  It is a difficult process but it can be navigated with competent professional help.  Timing on short sales is governed by when your Realtor gets a contract, but getting a contract is merely a determination of the price reaching the sensitive area where the buyers get interested enough to make an offer.  That determines value - where a willing buyer and seller agree upon a price.  "Value" is a subjective item - but it is all theory unless you have someone willing to pay and WHAT they are willing to pay is the true value at that point in time.  It may be worth more, but not at that moment in time.

So a short sale is necessary when "in that moment of time", being in this depressed real estate market, the value is less than the mortgage indebtedness.

Lenders accept short sales because of "economic reality".  So don't stay married because you are also married to your house.  Look at the options!!!

Richard Zaretsky, Esq., RICHARD P. ZARETSKY P.A. ATTORNEYS AT LAW, 1655 PALM BEACH LAKES BLVD, SUITE 900, WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA 33401, PHONE 561 689 6660  RPZ99@FLORIDA-COUNSEL.COM - FLORIDA BAR BOARD CERTIFIED IN REAL ESTATE LAW - We assist Brokers and Sellers with Short Sales