Parting ways after a divorce is always emotionally fraught.
Add a house sale into the mix, and you could find your stress levels rising. Divorce means you have the complex job of splitting your assets, including the sale of your house, which takes time and negotiation.
That’s why a quick house sale can help. Here are our top tips for securing a fast sale of your house to help expedite the process of division of assets in divorce.
Division of Marital Property: Opt for a Cash Sale
After a divorce, you’ll want to move on quickly and not spend too much time negotiating a house sale.
Therefore, your best option might be to opt for a fuss-free cash sale. It’s one of the fastest ways of selling a house. Here are some of the advantages of opting for a cash sale:
- You don’t need to wait for a buyer to secure a mortgage
- There is no need to spend time and money marketing your property
- It’s a speedier closing process without complex appraisals and other hold-ups
A cash sale means you can get a firm and fair offer on your house and begin the divorce process of dividing your assets. The cash offer is transparent and means you don’t need to enter lengthy negotiations about your house valuation when divorcing.
Home Staging
Home staging is about making your home presentable to buyers. But don’t mistake this process for interior design because it’s not about making the house look attractive to your tastes but to a known style that appeals to house buyers.
A staged property can help buyers visualize themselves living there and help you win a faster sale. Here are some of the ways to stage your home:
- Remove clutter
- Remove personal items
- Keep the color scheme neutral
- Make sure there is plenty of natural light
- Add some tasteful accents like vases of flowers
- Remove oversize furniture to create space and flow
For inspiration on home staging, take a tour around new-build show homes. Alternatively, you can hire a professional home stager who can set up your home interior on your behalf.
Be Aggressive With Your Asking Price
Sometimes, the most simple selling strategies are also the most effective. A house priced aggressively for sale will gain a lot of attention. But if you want to offer a competitive and low asking price, make sure you do your research first.
You’ll need a comprehensive picture of what the rest of the market is like in your area and how your property compares to similar ones for sale. Start by looking at houses for sale in your area.
Look for ones that are a similar size and standard. That will give you a picture of the average home value in your area.
Next, look at trends. Are prices in your area going up or down? To answer this question, you’ll need to look at sale prices from the past twelve months and get data on the length of time it took for the average property to sell.
You’ll also want to consider broader economic trends that might impact future house prices, such as a rise in interest rates. This information will provide you with a reasonable estimate of your home’s average sale price.
After that, it’s a case of agreeing a discount with your ex-partner. Consider weighing the cost of a discount against the advantage of securing a fast divorce settlement.
Sell As-Is for a Fast Homeowner Divorce
Selling as-is means you present your property as it currently is without any staging, repairs, or enhancements.
While this strategy will result in a lower asking price than if you’d enhanced your property, it has a clear upside: you can get it listed on the market sooner. It also appeals to buyers looking for a bargain.
If buyers intend to spend money renovating a property, they will be more open to buying one that needs work. Plus, it could help you attract a property investor in a stronger financial position to help close the sale sooner.
If you want to choose this strategy, be proactive by paying for a pre-inspection report. That allows you to be upfront with buyers about any existing problems, saving time later in the sales process.
Choose a Divorce-Specialist Realtor
Some real estate agents have specialisms, and you may be able to find one in your area who works solely on divorce sales. With that experience, they may be able to offer you valuable support. Agents specializing in divorcing sellers can offer:
- A process for selling that prioritizes speed
- Mediation between parties, if required
- A sensitive approach to the emotional aspect of the sale
Real estate agents can also provide an insight into the current market. So they can tell you what demand is like and how to price and present your property to secure that quick sale so that you can proceed with divorce arrangements.
Add Some Incentives
Have you ever bought something because of a free bonus as part of the deal? It’s a tried and tested sales tactic, and the same approach works with housing sales, too. Here are some ideas of incentives you can offer:
- Covering closing and legal costs of the sale
- A home warranty
- Including furnishings in the sale
- Paying for a repair or upgrade requested by the buyer
Remember that a house sale is all about negotiations. Having things ready from your side to bargain with will help you reach a deal, and that means you can begin the process of sorting your division of assets from your divorce.
Use an Auction
You can sell your property via auction to make a quick sale and help with divorce proceedings.
The bidding model of auctions is ideal for a fast sale because you can skip the process of offers, counter-offers, and negotiations. Plus, the auction is timed, so providing you get someone bid for your house in the auction almost guarantees the offer date.
The downside of using an auction is that you won’t necessarily get your total asking price.
Buyers like auctions because they have the potential to offer bargains, which means making bids below the market rate to secure a great deal.
However, as you want to proceed with a divorce, it’s good to weigh up any cost of a discounted sale against the long-term benefits of finalizing your divorce agreement and being able to move on with other priorities, like a new house purchase.
Target Investors Directly
There are always property investors on the lookout for promising real estate, and they can potentially offer a quick and hassle-free sale. If your property could be an excellent house to flip or rent, you might attract the attention of investors.
Nevertheless, you don’t need to wait around for investors to find you. Instead, you can be proactive and contact them directly. Here are some ways to find real estate investors:
- Real estate investment groups
- Cash buyers
- Online forums and Facebook groups for real estate investors
- Word of mouth
When contacting these investors, be clear about your selling motives, asking price, and preferred timescales. That will help investors decide if your property is viable for them.
Update Your Marketing Approach
When most house sellers think about property marketing, the first thing that often comes to mind is creating an online listing on major real estate websites.
However, there are many other highly effective things you can do to market your property, which could help you find a buyer sooner. Here are some ideas:
- Create a social media account for your property showcasing videos and images
- Host an open house event
- Produce a virtual tour of your property
- Buy banner ad space on local websites
- Add your property ad to bulletin boards
All this takes a bit of effort, but it can reap rewards. More interest in your property can mean getting an offer faster. If someone falls in love with your property, it might even help you get an offer for the full asking price.
Agree On Things in Advance
You can make your sale process faster and less stressful by preparing a few things upfront. Early decision-making between divorcing partners means you can offer a united front when it comes to securing a sale.
Agree and discuss:
- Your asking price and acceptable price drop
- Your choice of real estate agent
- How to market your property
- Your budget for selling, including what upgrades and fixes to do
All this helps keep things going and means you aren’t waiting around at crucial moments for decisions from the other party.
Moreover, agreeing on key points up front means there is less potential for conflict later on, helping ex-partners keep things civil and move on from the sale quickly.
Be Organised
House sales come with lots of paperwork, and that takes time to sort. But much of this work can be started early and may help to shorten your sales process. Prepare documents including:
- Your property title
- Your mortgage and payoff statement
- Tax records
- Legal agreements
- Inspection reports
- Any certification relating to the property, like inspections and safety information
Check all paperwork is up to date and valid. If any paperwork is missing, you have time to resolve it before the selling process starts.
Offer Flexible House Showings
Buyers are busy people and will often be squeezing in-house viewings into a packed schedule. To help keep things organized, streamline the process for viewings:
- Make sure you know who is available to conduct the viewing
- Keep a cleaner on standby to help make the house presentable
- Use a digital calendar to note viewing times and leave gaps between each viewing in case potential buyers are late.
If you can accommodate buyers at unusual times, including evenings and weekends, and provide lots of flexibility over last-minute house viewings, that could make a difference to how quickly you secure a sale.
It might feel like an inconvenience in the short term, but it’s a better option in the long term.
Choose a Specialist Real Estate Attorney
Having a real estate attorney specializing in divorces can help keep the process running smoothly.
An attorney can help you navigate the legal side, such as liens or title disputes, so you aren’t wasting time researching or asking questions to resolve an issue.
They can also ensure all paperwork and other processes are correctly completed so you don’t face roadblocks like repeating processes because of mistakes.
The objective approach of an attorney can also help you handle any conflict that emerges from handling the emotional side of selling a house due to a divorce.
They may also be able to help guide you through the legal terms of the sale so that you have assurance it’s protecting the division of assets and interests when you proceed with the divorce.
Arrange for a Pre-Inspection Report
A pre-inspection report provides buyers with a valuable shortcut when selling a house. It helps identify issues in the home and the potential costs of repairing them. You can pre-empt the hurdles you are likely to face.
That’s particularly useful during a divorce because it means you can avoid problems later on if the buyer asks for repairs, such as discussing which one of you covers the costs.
Buyers like pre-inspection reports because they show transparency and help build trust. They won’t consider withdrawing their offer because they worry you might be hiding a potential issue with the home.
Division of Assets in a Divorce: Securing a Quick House Sale
Your home is perhaps the most expensive thing you own as a couple. So, when you begin the process of agreeing on the division of assets in a divorce, start with your property.
Getting a cash sale could be the most straightforward and practical option for you in these circumstances.
At First Choice Home Buyers, we buy homes for cash in Harrisburg, PA, and we are ready to make you an offer. We’ve made our process easy and fast. You can begin now by clicking here to request an offer from us.
