House being sold as part of a divorce - more complicated?

StevieNicksFan

Do houses which are being sold as part of divorce usually take longer to close than a straight sell? Do the courts set the timeframe that the sale has to be completed by, even if the only offer is not near the asking price?

The_Conductor

It really depends on whether both sides of the divorce want to sell it- or not. If not- the laggard can frustrate the process- to the point of very interested prospective purchasers walking away after protracted sales processes. You need to find out whether or not both sellers are onboard with the sale- or whether one of them is likely to try and frustrate the process.

I would avoid, high likelyhood of being messed around.
Two reasons, one party may cause difficulties in the sale process to delay things or to get at the other.
Or, the sale process is just being used as a price discovery mechanism, and at the last minute one party will buy out the other.
Usually its the party living in the home that will cause the difficulties so maybe look towards there for reassurance.

JoeyJJ

I bought one. Once price agreed closed in 4 weeks.

StevieNicksFan

The_Conductor wrote: »

It really depends on whether both sides of the divorce want to sell it- or not. If not- the laggard can frustrate the process- to the point of very interested prospective purchasers walking away after protracted sales processes. You need to find out whether or not both sellers are onboard with the sale- or whether one of them is likely to try and frustrate the process.

Two separate selling agents involved, one representing the husband the other representing the wife. Obviously some distrust there. Two separate listings online as a result but literally a copy and paste job as they are exactly the same. So the selling agents must be working closely together as one just asked for the others complete listing for their website.

Is it a case that the courts say right you have until the end of Sept to go sale agreed regardless of your ideal figure or can the couple fight it out for as long as potential buyers have patience? Or what way do divorce cases usually work?

whippet

I’m not sure as to how it works from the court side ... but I bought from a couple going through a terrible divorce in 2012.

There was some messing at the time .. we made an offer after the initial viewing and it was refused .. but heard nothing more and we walked away getting the sense that it wasn’t worth pursuing.

6 months later we get a call from the EA saying they were now in a better position to sell and did we want to up our offer. We declined and heard nothing. A few months later another call and he ball started moving .. there was another bidder.

We had to come up a slight bit and got the house .. but the contracts took 5 months to sort out and when we did get the keys one party to the divorce tried to get an injunction against us moving in (for some crazy reason) .. we had excellent legal representation and that threat was dismissed quickly enough.

We got the house well below market value and from what I knew the house was on the market for 4 years .. partly due to recession and partly due to the constant acrimony between the vendors

StevieNicksFan

whippet wrote: »

I’m not sure as to how it works from the court side ... but I bought from a couple going through a terrible divorce in 2012.

There was some messing at the time .. we made an offer after the initial viewing and it was refused .. but heard nothing more and we walked away getting the sense that it wasn’t worth pursuing.

6 months later we get a call from the EA saying they were now in a better position to sell and did we want to up our offer. We declined and heard nothing. A few months later another call and he ball started moving .. there was another bidder.

We had to come up a slight bit and got the house .. but the contracts took 5 months to sort out and when we did get the keys one party to the divorce tried to get an injunction against us moving in (for some crazy reason) .. we had excellent legal representation and that threat was dismissed quickly enough.

We got the house well below market value and from what I knew the house was on the market for 4 years .. partly due to recession and partly due to the constant acrimony between the vendors

We probably would be in a similar position to you in the sense that we are in no real panic to buy and can easily walk away if it gets messy. We own our current house but we want to upsize due to growing family. Problem is, I absolutely love this house. Its the dream. So I am anxious about the process and could we be messed about.

We put an offer in almost a month ago and no response. No other offers as yet. We do know the absolute max we are willing to pay as quite a bit of work has to be done before its liveable. The house is 10 years old and has been lived in by this family for the past 10 years. But to our amazement the main bathroom is a concrete shell, as is the main living/dining area and the garage. There isnt even a toilet in the main bathroom. So that seems to indicate to me that money may have been an issue in this marriage and maybe they may not hang around too long with the sale. Or maybe it could be the opposite! I dont know..

whippet

This may well be the case ... as the sale of my house was in limbo for years there was plenty of wear and tear that wasn’t maintained and some of it only came to light when we moved in ... but overall it was still a bargain

The_Conductor

Missing bathrooms/kitchen/dining room- is more likely one of the parties went in and stripped the place- perhaps they even paid good money to strip it- partially to get 'their' fittings and partly to frustrate the other party- sale bedamned. I'd suggest caution. I've seen light switches even been taken- though the fireplace tends to be the usual missing piece.

homerjay2005

If in.no rush, just keep close to it and see how it pans out. Good legal representation is key here anyway for sure, they will advise you and keep it safe.....hopefully.

StevieNicksFan

The_Conductor wrote: »

Missing bathrooms/kitchen/dining room- is more likely one of the parties went in and stripped the place- perhaps they even paid good money to strip it- partially to get 'their' fittings and partly to frustrate the other party- sale bedamned. I'd suggest caution. I've seen light switches even been taken- though the fireplace tends to be the usual missing piece.

In this case, the bathroom and living areas wernt actually completed..and this has been confirmed by the agent. There is no flooring, no paint on the walls - literally four walls of concrete and nothing else. There are other ensuites in the house in addition to other living spaces that the family used instead so it seemed it was never an urgent enough thing to finish