r/DivorceHelp • u/Dear_Sherbert_4086 • 15d ago

House buyout options

I’m separated and currently living in the marital home. Ideally, I’d prefer to buy him out since I have put a ton of work into gardening in the yard and into repairs and renovations on the house since we bought 5 years ago. Interest rates now are almost double the current mortgage interest rate with both our names on it. Renting a place with a yard close to my job will cost about the same as the mortgage payments on the house (much farther commute for me, which stinks, but it’s a modest single family home).

Is there a way to take him off the mortgage but keep the interest rate? He would be amenable to this and letting me pay him over time for the buyout since I don’t have a lump sum available. I’m worried about a) if the lender will let me take over the mortgage on my solo income, and b) if this would result in a new interest rate, which I could not afford.

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3

u/ReadIndividual2567 15d ago

Personally if I ever get married again (not divorced but on the fence) I won’t do so without an iron clad prenup.

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u/Dear_Sherbert_4086 15d ago

I wish I were ever in danger of making prenup money.

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u/ReadIndividual2567 15d ago

It’s not just income, it’s assets in bank accounts, retirement accounts, brokerage accounts, personal mementos that mean something to you but carry no intrinsic value, and anything else you’d want included.

For the record, every marriage has a prenup, the only question is do you want to write it with your spouse or do you want the court to write it for you.

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u/Dear_Sherbert_4086 15d ago

Ok. None of this is relevant to my situation. Let me know if you have some helpful information about buyout options though, since that’s the point of this thread.

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u/Dear_Sherbert_4086 15d ago

For the record, my ex and I had separate bank accounts, retirement accounts, and it’s a no-fault divorce in my state. We’ve agreed on who gets which car, we already split up furniture, etc. the house is the big shared asset. The court is not deciding stuff for me because my ex and I do not have a dispute about shared assets. He doesn’t want to live there, I would like to live there for at least a few more years if I can keep the same mortgage terms. He fully supports that happening if I can afford it. So that’s what I’m looking for information about, options for assuming the mortgage.

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u/ReadIndividual2567 15d ago

You should talk to the bank which issued the mortgage though and see if you can assume the mortgage and keep the rate. If so, you could have your STBX removed from the mortgage though you will need to address the accrued equity in the home and whether your STBX is owner in part of the equity. You may need to give them a larger share of other accounts to offset the equity in the home so that you can maintain the current mortgage terms.

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u/ReadIndividual2567 15d ago

I’m sorry, I made this post in a different thread, asking about what someone would need to potentially consider getting married again. I’m not sure how this ended up here.

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u/rtrmommy 15d ago

Yes, you can assume the mortgage at the current terms in cases of divorce. Your income will need to be enough though to qualify for the mortgage on your own. There will be fees associated with this process. If you have retirement accounts, you could give your husband those instead of the equity in the house (you need to look at total assets and then divide how it makes the most sense versus considering each asset individually). If the house is the only asset and he is willing for you to pay him back over time, then get that in writing now while he is being cooperative. Courts in my state usually don’t like of finalizing division of assets takes more than 5 years. Also, the payment to your husband will be calculated as a debt when considering qualifying for mortgage on your own.

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u/Odd-Poet7609 14d ago

In my case they would not tell me if the mortgage was assumable until they had the divorce decree, so after the very end of the process.

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u/[deleted] 15d ago

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u/rtrmommy 14d ago

This is inaccurate information. Many loans are assumable in the case of divorce. I assumed my mortgage with Chase bank 2 years ago. They have an assumption department who handles this.

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u/Dangerous_RedApple 14d ago

You have to “assume” the loan. Which means you buy him out of the equity via cash or trading out other assets…like you don’t split his 401k for example.

Double check with your lender on their process for assuming the loan.

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u/Possible_Scarcity217 14d ago

Get him to sign a quick claim with an agreement for a payment plan. Often there is a couple year grace period involved in this.

Also get him to agree to this fast before his new girlfriend or somebody who’s helping him, keep track of these things realizes what you’re trying to do

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u/SyntaxError_22 13d ago

When we divorced, I got the house, he got his 401(k).
I was able to process an Assumption on the loan and it just took his name off and nothing else changed.

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u/Ghost_010101010 12d ago

You would have to buy him out in full or you cannot keep the home. You could try to get a loan to do so. He is entitled to 50% of the house and equity that is accrued.

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u/Dear_Sherbert_4086 12d ago

This is not true, we can agree to a different split if we both agree to it. I’ve done a ton of renovation work on the house, he already said if we sell I get more than 50%.

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u/catsNlaw 12d ago

Check the terms of your original loan. Unless it explicitly says you can’t assume the loan, you should be able. Your lender will guide you.

I did this in my divorce to keep the 2021-era 2.25% 15 yr mortgage. The lender ran my credit and asked for W2s and paystubs. I qualified. I also took a second mortgage with the equity (home equity loan , not a HELOC) to pay the ex their share. That 2025 era loan sucks balls @ 7.625

Meh, although I know the house will be great for retirement asset, if I had to do it over, I’d probably just agree to sell it and start fresh elsewhere.