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House in foreclosure, divorce, wife refuses to short sell house, what to do?

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valik12

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NJ
I live in NJ and my wife lives in FL. We have lived apart for two years and are going through divorce. Our house in Fl is in foreclosure. No one lives there. We tried to sell but it did not sell. Now my wife does not want to sign a new listing agreement to short sell. She says she wants to keep the house, but she has no means. I want to short sell, but she would not sign the listing agreement. What to do? Is it OK to let it go to foreclosure? Can I force her to sell? Can I deed it over to her and get my name of the mortgage note?
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NJ
I live in NJ and my wife lives in FL. We have lived apart for two years and are going through divorce. Our house in Fl is in foreclosure. No one lives there. We tried to sell but it did not sell. Now my wife does not want to sign a new listing agreement to short sell. She says she wants to keep the house, but she has no means. I want to short sell, but she would not sign the listing agreement. What to do? Is it OK to let it go to foreclosure? Can I force her to sell? Can I deed it over to her and get my name of the mortgage note?
You cannot get your name removed from the mortgage note unless the house is sold or refinanced. Obviously your wife is not going to qualify for a refi at this time.

A short sale does a little less damage to your respective credit scores than a foreclosure.
 

nextwife

Senior Member
You could attempt to get a court order that either requires her to get the loan current and keep it current, since she "wishes to keep it" or cooperate in listing and selling short, if she can't/won't.
 
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mistoffolees

Senior Member
You could attempt to get a court order that either requires her to get the loan current and keep it current, since she "wishes to keep it" or cooperate in losting and selling short, if she can't/won't.
I don't think I'd go for the first option. OP could get a court order requiring her to get the loan current and keep it current but that doesn't mean she will. He says she has 'no means'. If that's literal, there's no way she could pay it, but even if it's figurative, it doesn't sound like she has the ability to pay the cost of keeping up the home.

Better to take the hit and be done with it than to let it drag out and gets worse (the home is probably not being maintained and its value may therefore not improve even if real estate values in general recover).
 

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