If you want to sell your property in Haverhill and are in the unfortunate situation of facing a divorce, there are a number of hurdles you’ll need to navigate through. It makes it even more complicated if the house is not worth enough to pay off all of the debts you and your spouse may owe.
Even if your breakup is an amicable separation, you will need to make a number of compromises that will take a mountain of patience and very clear communication from both parties.
The goal of today’s post is to give you a few ideas of what you can accomplish, how you determine what is feasible and what you should do in both the immediate future and further down the road. With this information, we hope that both of you can come to a decision regarding how to sell your house in Haverhill even if your debts are more than you could receive from a sale.
Option #1—One Spouse Sells Your Haverhill House To The Other
The first option to sell the house may seem obvious but again may not always be possible because of the negative equity on the house. One spouse can opt to sell the property over to the other for a nominal amount of money even as little as one dollar. In this case, there needs to be some understanding that the person keeping the property is actually inheriting all of the debt that goes along with it. If there are other assets to be considered in the divorce it may be possible to offset that debt by giving the other spouse a larger share of those.
Keep in mind the Haverhill housing market—like all Massachusetts markets—will change with time. And if one spouse has the ability to continue making a mortgage payment, it is possible for the house to rebuild some equity over a period of time, and eventually be worth more than the debt that is owed.
Option #2—Sell Your House In Haverhill Using A Short Sale
It is possible for you to sell your Haverhill house even if you owe more than it is worth. Very few people understand this option and it would be important for you to investigate it if you are facing a divorce and have a mountain of debt.
You can work with your lender to see if they will consider what is known as a “Short Sale”. This situation needs to be handled carefully and normally is worked out between an experienced short sale negotiator and the lender who holds the mortgage on your home. The lender typically would end up agreeing to accept a smaller amount of money to pay off your mortgage debt.
A simple example of this would be a Haverhill house where the mortgage owed is $350,000. However, the property can only sell for $290,000 in its current condition. The lender would agree to accept $290,000 from the sale of the property, in order to avoid going through a foreclosure process and owning the home. Keep in mind this does have a very negative effect on your credit report and your lender can still try to recoup the other $60,000 from you if they choose to. In addition, a short sale does have a significant negative impact on your credit score.
Option #3—Simply Walk Away From Your Haverhill House
This third choice is fairly dramatic and one that we don’t typically recommend unless you honestly feel the situation is truly dire. If the loans liens and debts owed on the property are just too large and the mortgage payments are too high for couples to afford sometimes the couple can agree to simply walk away from the home and give up all interest in it. There are even times when one spouse will stay in the property without making any mortgage payments, and wait for the property to be clear for a closed upon.
As you can see this is a fairly drastic measure and typically not something Haverhill couples facing divorce should consider unless every other option has been explored beforehand. This type of action does very serious damage to the credit rating of both people.
A foreclosure by your lender will stay on each spouse’s credit report for a minimum of 7 years. In the future, this can make getting credit for cars, credit cards, or other mortgages extremely hard. In addition, banks and other debtors do have the option to pursue you and take you to court in an effort to get paid the money they are owed.
Option #4—Sell Your Haverhill House To A Trusted Cash Homebuyer
Selling your Haverhill house for cash to an experience and trusted investor sometimes may make the most sense. Obviously, your circumstances in a divorce are very unique and are unlike any other couple’s situation. So it is best to investigate whether or not a quick and simple cash sale can satisfy both parties.
A cash sale will give you a clean break and makes it easy to divide the sale proceeds equitably. In addition, don’t overlook the benefit that a sale of your Haverhill property will pay off your debts while maintaining your credit rating—something that is really quite important as you build a new chapter in life as a single person.
In Conclusion
Having to sell your Haverhill property because of divorce is a painful situation. No one can tell you what your best options are. However, we have helped a number of couples navigate through this tricky predicament with integrity and compassion.
If you’d like to get some unbiased help in selling your house, please give us a call. We honestly care that you get the help you need and will treat your situation with discretion and understanding. The last thing we’ll ever do is try to pressure you into making a decision to sell to us.
But we can tell you the current value of your property in Haverhill, and show you how much money you can receive using any one of the options we’ve outlined in today’s post.
Let Us Be Your Best Source Of Information!
What is one of our best tips for selling your house in any neighborhood of Haverhill—even when your situation is filled with problems?
We are “The Local Guys” who buy Haverhill Massachusetts properties for cash.
Give our team a call if you have any questions or would like a free quote on your home. There are never any “high-pressure” sales tactics from us and everything is free of charge. We are here to help—what have you got to lose by giving us a call?
You’ll quickly see why the Better Business Bureau of Massachusetts. has awarded us their highest business rating. It’s an honor we’ve earned by helping homeowners like you sell their homes quickly and profitably in the shortest amount of time.
SOME SUGGESTED READING FOR YOU:
We are experienced cash house buyers in Haverhill. If your house is located in the Riverside neighborhood, in Bradford, Mount Washington, or any of the other neighborhoods in Haverhill—we will buy it for cash no matter what condition it is in right now. So if you want to sell your house, condo, or apartment building situated anywhere in a Haverhill location, contact us for a quick, confidential, no-obligation cash offer. There is never any cost to get our cash offer in writing and we’ll never pressure you to say “yes”. “Summit Buys Houses” is incorporated as Summit RE Group LLC, and is duly registered to operate in the states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Nevada.