What You Need to Know About Getting a Home Appraisal While Going Through a Divorce
Getting a divorce is a stressful and overwhelming time for anybody going through it. No matter the reason, whether it be because of infidelity, finances, or simply different outlooks on life, getting a divorce is a time-consuming process that is anything but simple. There are various things that the couple must do before they finalize their divorce, such as determine custody of children, sort out finances, and decide who gets what.
When deciding who gets what, many couples have to decide who gets to keep the house or property. This in itself is a complex task, especially if both parties want to keep the home. However, what happens when neither party wants to keep the home and they both want to sell it? Couples can go ahead and put their home on the market for sale, but will first have to get a home appraisal.
The Top 3 Home Appraisal Tips To Think About If You Are Getting a Divorce
It’s important to get an appropriate home appraisal before selling your home so that you can get the right asking price for your home. With that being said, since couples will need to call home appraisers during a divorce, it's important that they know the basics of what will happen and what to do in regards to that appraisal. If you are in the process of getting a divorce and are preparing for a home appraisal, here are 3 important tips to think about.
1. Prepare Your Home In an Appropriate Way
This is an important thing to consider whenever you are getting a home appraisal, however, some people don’t make an effort to do this when they are getting a home appraisal in the midst of a divorce. Preparing your home is essential in getting an appropriate and quality appraisal; and preparing your home means much more than just vacuuming and straightening up the rooms. In fact, preparing your home for an appraisal should be a fairly in-depth process, and will require a decent amount of time, effort, and money; which is why those getting a divorce do not take the time to properly prepare their home. Some ways that you and your soon to be ex-spouse should prepare your home for an appraisal include:
- Redo the kitchen or bathrooms if they are old or worn
- Paint rooms that need a fresh coat
- Touch up baseboards
- Make the exterior of your home look attractive
- Repair and holes in the wall and scuffs or scratches on the walls
- Replace flooring
Working with your soon to be ex-spouse can be a challenge, but if you truly want an appropriate appraisal of your home, you will have to put aside your differences and prepare your house.
2. What to Do When You Can’t Agree on an Appraisal
It’s common for couples in the midst of a divorce to not be able to agree on an appraisal value or even an appraiser in general. If this sounds like something you are dealing with, there are a few outcomes that may occur, such as:
- Each spouse gets their own appraiser to value the home and the court will take the average of the two prices or will decide which price is more accurate
- Each spouse gets a CMA from a different real estate agent, and the court will choose who to hire for the appraisal
- The couple can come to an agreement
You should strive for one of these outcomes and talk to your divorce lawyer about what you can do to make one of these outcomes happen in a simple and civil way.
3. Split the Value
You will need to make sure that you and your soon to be ex-spouse are splitting the home’s value. Of course, there are a few complex aspects of this tip, such as whether or not you and your ex-spouse bought the house together or not and whether or not the house is 100% paid off; but overall, you will need to work towards splitting the value fair and square.
Knowing that you need to split the value will make not only the home appraisal process easier, it will also make the divorce easier too.
Make Your Home Appraisal and Divorce as Pain- Free as Possible
Divorce is a tough situation for a lot of reasons, so it's important that for your own peace of mind you do all that you can to make the process as easy as possible. When it comes to getting an appraisal for your home, keep these 3 simple tips in mind, and you will be doing your part in making the home appraising process of divorce an easy one.
About the Author
Jennifer Bell is a freelance writer, blogger, dog-enthusiast and avid beachgoer operating out of Southern New Jersey