want to buy out my spouse

[burton123]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington
I and my spouse are going through a divorce and we have a house that i am trying to buy my ex out.
She left the house 10 months ago and not making any mortgage payments. I am making all the payments and taking care of everthing about the house and everything is up to date. We divided all the assets except the house.
She had a CMA from a realtor a couple of months ago. In CMA report, the realtor wrote a big list of repair items(big items like changing entire heating and plumbing system (i have boiler and baseboard radiators and the realtor said to convert those to forced air), change all floors to hardwood from laminate(~2000sqft),finish basement,etc which all of them will roughly cost $70K-$100K) and said that after all these repair items this house worth $400K. I hired a licensed 2 separate appraisers within 2 week interval last month and my house is appraised for $280K and $287K. Also we bought the house in late 2010 for $250K(which was appraised for that value) and refinanced in late 2012 and appraisal was for $270K My soon to be ex is asking to buy her out from the $400K and i am pushing back with the appraisal reports and want to buy her out from the appraised price.

Last week she hired her own appraisal and the outcome was $285K and she is still not accepting my offer to buy her out from the highest appraisal.

so this will go to mediation and court.

So my question is even though i want to buy her out from the highest appraised price, can she get more.
Also i want to keep to house. Even though i am offering and willing to buy her out from an appraised price, can court order to sell the house?

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington
I and my spouse are going through a divorce and we have a house that i am trying to buy my ex out.
She left the house 10 months ago and not making any mortgage payments. I am making all the payments and taking care of everthing about the house and everything is up to date. We divided all the assets except the house.
She had a CMA from a realtor a couple of months ago. In CMA report, the realtor wrote a big list of repair items(big items like changing entire heating and plumbing system (i have boiler and baseboard radiators and the realtor said to convert those to forced air), change all floors to hardwood from laminate(~2000sqft),finish basement,etc which all of them will roughly cost $70K-$100K) and said that after all these repair items this house worth $400K. I hired a licensed 2 separate appraisers within 2 week interval last month and my house is appraised for $280K and $287K. Also we bought the house in late 2010 for $250K(which was appraised for that value) and refinanced in late 2012 and appraisal was for $270K My soon to be ex is asking to buy her out from the $400K and i am pushing back with the appraisal reports and want to buy her out from the appraised price.

Last week she hired her own appraisal and the outcome was $285K and she is still not accepting my offer to buy her out from the highest appraisal.

so this will go to mediation and court.

So my question is even though i want to buy her out from the highest appraised price, can she get more.
Also i want to keep to house. Even though i am offering and willing to buy her out from an appraised price, can court order to sell the house?

Its very very very unlikely that a judge would order that the value of the house was higher than the highest appraisal.

 

[tranquility]

That's what litigation is all about! While many courts would "value" the house by forcing a sale, if the court is willing to force one party to buy out the other and the parties cannot agree as to the price, each side makes his case as to what the price should be. It's basically a partition lawsuit within the dissolution. They tend to be expensive, so I'd consider trying hard to make a deal even if it costs a few thousand more than the OP thinks fair.

 

[burton123]

thanks a lot for the responses

So what i understand is:

Even though i am willing to buy my spouse out from a fair market value (or appraised value), court can still order a sale.
Does court value a property when they order a sale? If court orders a sale, can i still be the buyer?

 

[tranquility]

"Fair market value" is a hard thing to ascertain without a sale between a willing buyer and a willing seller at arm's length. Appraisals are all well and good, but, they are just one type of evidence. If you two can't agree and the court does order a sale, their is no need to do a valuation as it either goes up for auction or both parties have an incentive to get the best price in a private sale.

 

[SESmama]

If it is the case that the courts order the sale I would make sure that there is a time limit (how long the house can remain on the market unsold) and an offer limit (no frivolous refusals of offers) attached. She then cannot keep the house on the market indefinitely.

 

[burton123]

is there anything that i can do to get awarded the house? I know it is still up to judge but what i meant is to show interest to house by somehow.

Our trial is on November and by that time i will have paid $20K of principal (i am on a 10yr mortgage) and i dont want to loose it. So i want to keep the house.

 

[LdiJ]

thanks a lot for the responses

So what i understand is:

Even though i am willing to buy my spouse out from a fair market value (or appraised value), court can still order a sale.
Does court value a property when they order a sale? If court orders a sale, can i still be the buyer?

Your ex is afraid that she is going to get ripped off on the house.

So, you need to find a way to convince your ex that you are making a fair offer. First, you could try showing your ex exactly how much it would cost, with real estimates from real, unbiased contractors, to bring the house to that 400k value. (for example, I think that your estimate for the hardwood floors at 70-100k is pretty bogus, sorry) Then you could tell her that if she is willing to pay half of the cost for those improvements, that you will happily buy out the house at 400k if it then appraises at 400k.

Or, you could offer to put the house on the market for a specific amount of time, say 6 months, and that you will agree to buy it out for 5k more than the highest offer you receive in that time frame...getting credit of course for the principal payments (not total payments but principal payments) that you made during that period of time.

Or, you could simply give up on the idea of keeping the home and agree to sell it but getting credit again for the principal payments you make while the house is on the market...or if she doesn't like that, let her move back in and make the mortgage payments while its on the market.

In other words, spell it all out for her...with spreadsheets and actual estimates so that she can see exactly what the deal is. Include actual realtor commissions and valid closing costs so that she can see what will happen if the house is sold rather than you buying her out.

Approach this as you would approach a business deal. Maybe even ask her to make an appointment with a real estate attorney of her choosing, so that you can sit down with all the relevant documentation and let the attorney explain the facts of life to her.

 

[burton123]

thanks a lot for the response LdiJ,

i think the cost of the items that the realtor said is easily in that range. Again the repair and upgrade list is for very big items that 3 tasks adds up more than 60K but anyways regardless of it

what i understand is without convincing her, i think i cant get awarded the house.

So does this conclude as if she doesnt want to sell her share to me, i cant buy her out?
because what i understand is she doesnt want me to keep the house as well.

 

[ecmst12]

No one here is going to attempt to predict what your judge will rule. Your lawyer is the best one to guess at that.

 

[burton123]

i definetly agree with that.
That is the worst part of the divorce, you need to wait for the trial which is 11 months after it is filed...

 

[LdiJ]

thanks a lot for the response LdiJ,

i think the cost of the items that the realtor said is easily in that range. Again the repair and upgrade list is for very big items that 3 tasks adds up more than 60K but anyways regardless of it

what i understand is without convincing her, i think i cant get awarded the house.

So does this conclude as if she doesnt want to sell her share to me, i cant buy her out?
because what i understand is she doesnt want me to keep the house as well.

So, even though you want to keep the house, rather than approaching this like a business deal and convincing her that you are being fair you would prefer to let the judge decide and take the very real risk that the judge will order the house sold and the proceeds split?...Because yes, if she doesn't agree to a buyout from you the odds are greatly in favor of the judge ordering that the house be sold and the proceeds split.

As the other responder said, we cannot guarantee what the judge will do, but realistically if the parties do not agree on the disposition of the house, most of the time a judge is going to order it sold and any proceeds split.

 

[burton123]

thanks a lot for the responses.
I will try to convince her as hard as i can and will post the results

 

[Bali Hai]

thanks a lot for the responses

So what i understand is:

Even though i am willing to buy my spouse out from a fair market value (or appraised value), court can still order a sale.
Does court value a property when they order a sale? If court orders a sale, can i still be the buyer?

Yes, I believe that's exactly what you are being advised. That the court will cow tow to your stbx's unrealistic demands concerning the property.

If the roles were reversed and SHE wanted to buy you out, you can bet they (these people and the court) would sing a different tune.

 

[Bali Hai]

thanks a lot for the response LdiJ,

i think the cost of the items that the realtor said is easily in that range. Again the repair and upgrade list is for very big items that 3 tasks adds up more than 60K but anyways regardless of it

what i understand is without convincing her, i think i cant get awarded the house.

So does this conclude as if she doesnt want to sell her share to me, i cant buy her out?
because what i understand is she doesnt want me to keep the house as well.

The court shouldn't care what she WANTS just like what you want doesn't matter to the court