Selling the marital home without adding to the divorce
Selling houses is what we do, and in a divorce we do it in a very particular way. Everything goes to both sides at the same time. Nothing gets negotiated with one spouse behind the other. The number is written down so nobody has to remember what was said in a phone call.
We also know who to call. Divorce attorneys, appraisers who do formal valuations for court, and CPAs who handle the tax question on a marital home. Those are separate professions and we will point you toward people we trust.
Why a divorce sale needs a number, not a range
An agent gives you an opinion of value and a listing price. What actually arrives, months later, may be higher or lower. That uncertainty is very hard to divide, and in a divorce everything eventually has to be divided.
A written cash offer is a fixed figure. It goes straight into the negotiation, into the attorneys' file, into the spreadsheet where the rest of the divorce settlement lives. Some couples accept it. Some use it as a floor and list anyway. Both are sensible outcomes.
Why local knowledge changes the number
A six-bedroom on Gladstone Avenue. A four-bedroom on Storey Avenue. A three-bedroom on Montauk Avenue. All of them in Islip, all bought by us.
Islip is roughly 18,418 people in Suffolk County, ZIP 11751, and the housing stock is mostly colonial, cape cod, ranch. Around Main Street and Sunrise Highway, most of it is old enough that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. The Islip stop pulls buyers who commute, which supports the good houses and does very little for the ones that need a roof. We have bought enough here to know which streets take water, which blocks still have oil tanks in the ground, and what the Islip Union Free School District does to a resale price.
Selling an Islip house without showings
Keeping a house presentable for strangers is a shared job, and in a divorce the shared jobs are exactly the ones that stop getting done. Then the showings go badly, the price drifts down, and it becomes one more thing to blame each other for. That is the ordinary course of a listed divorce sale, not a worst case.
There is no sign with us, no listing, no photographs online, and no open house in Islip. One visit, one number, one closing date.
Closing the divorce sale on a date that suits both sides
If one person needs to stay until the end of a school year, or until a new lease starts, we can set the closing for then. The date is one of the terms we agree, not something a buyer's mortgage timetable dictates to you.
In a divorce that flexibility is worth real money, because the alternative is usually one party paying for two households while everybody waits on an underwriter. Divorce settlements get signed on the assumption the house closes when it is supposed to.
What the two paths cost in Islip
These are the two routes open to you with a house in a divorce, priced against what Islip houses actually sell for.
Work it against Islip's own numbers. The median sale here is $677,000. A 5% commission on that is $33,850, and seller closing costs of about 2% add roughly $13,540. Those are costs we can cover on our side. That is $47,390 gone before anyone counts the repairs it took to get the house listable.
There are two waits in a listed sale and people usually only count the first. In Islip the median house takes about 35 days to go from listed to a signed contract. Then it waits again, typically 45 to 60 days, while the buyer's lender orders an appraisal and underwrites the loan. Call it 80 to 95 days from sign to keys, assuming nothing goes wrong.
The part worth understanding is what a signed contract actually guarantees, which is less than most sellers assume. A retail buyer with a mortgage contingency can walk away right up to the end. If they do not qualify, if the appraisal comes in under the price, if they change their mind and let the financing lapse. A share of deals die exactly there, after months of waiting, and the house goes back on the market with time on it. We are not borrowing anything, so there is no lender to satisfy, no appraisal to come in low and no contingency to exercise.
| Listing with an agent | Selling to us | |
|---|---|---|
| Sale price | $677,000 (Islip median) | Our written offer |
| Commission | −$33,850 | None |
| Seller closing costs | −$13,540 | We can cover them |
| Repairs before listing | Out of pocket | None |
| Cleanout | Yours | Ours |
| Showings | Until it sells | One visit |
| Listed to signed contract | 35 days (Islip median, once listable) | 24 hours to a written offer |
| Contract to closing | 45 to 60 days (waiting on the buyer's lender) | A date you choose |
| Total wait | 80 to 95 days if nothing falls through | Yours to set |
| Can the buyer walk? | Yes (mortgage contingency runs to the end) | No financing to fall through |
| Before repairs and carrying | $629,610 | The number we put in writing |
Assumptions: 5% commission and about 2% seller closing costs on the listing side, and both move from deal to deal. Repairs and the cost of holding the house are not deducted, since they vary by property. A well-kept house with a good agent can come out ahead of a cash sale, and if that describes yours we will say it.
Both names on the deed
If one spouse wants to sell and the other does not, the answer is usually not found in real estate. It is found in the divorce itself, and your attorney is the person who can tell you what a court can order.
Our part is simpler and we do it well. We provide a written offer that both sides and both attorneys can see at once, which at minimum removes any argument about what the Islip house is worth today.
What you do not pay when you sell a house in a divorce
Every line below is a cost of listing a house in a divorce the retail way that simply does not arise here.
- Agent commission
- $33,850 at 5% of the Islip median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $13,540 on a $677,000 sale. We can cover these. none
- Repairs to make it listable
- Whatever it takes to make it listable, paid in advance none
- Cleanout and removal
- Per truckload, before anyone views it none
- Carrying costs while it waits
- Taxes, insurance and utilities through the 80 to 95 days a listing takes to sell and close none
When a divorce buyout beats a sale
There is also a tax question, and it is a real one. How proceeds from a marital home are treated can depend on filing status and timing, which is a CPA's territory rather than ours.
Ask one before the divorce settlement is finalized, not after. We will happily give you the sale figure to bring to that conversation, and we will wait while you have it. Nothing about our offer expires because you took two weeks to get proper advice.
Common questions
Do both of us have to agree to sell the Islip house?
Everyone on the deed has to sign the contract. We can put the same written offer in front of both parties and both attorneys at once, so nobody in the divorce is working from different information about what the house is worth.
Can the offer go to our attorneys directly?
Yes. Send us their details and we will deal with them rather than with either of you, if that is what the divorce needs.
Can we sell before the divorce is finalized?
Frequently yes, and plenty of couples do, with the proceeds held or split according to the agreement. How that gets structured is a question for your divorce attorney, and we will work to whatever they set up.
What if my spouse is still living in the Islip house?
Common in a divorce, and not an obstacle. One visit is all we need, arranged around the person living there, and the closing date on the Islip house can be set far enough out to make the move manageable.
Will you tell my ex what I said to you?
We do not carry messages between two sides of a divorce. The offer goes to both parties identically, and anything you tell us about your circumstances stays with us.