If you and your spouse have agreed that you can work together to divorce via mediation, then you should be able to work together to sell your home. Selling the family home and splitting the proceeds is often the only financially feasible choice for divorcing couples. There are other advantages to it as well. It can help both of you get a fresh start. It may also be too much for one person to maintain.
Now you need to focus on getting the best possible price while still not letting your home stay on the market for too long. Once it’s sold, you’ll have a clearer picture of how much money you’ll each have as you move forward separately.
Agreeing on a few things up front can help the process go more smoothly. Let’s take a brief look at those.
Find an agent you both trust
Your real estate agent, like your divorce mediator, is there for guidance and advice and not to take sides. That means you need to find someone you both trust (maybe an agent you’ve used in the past). It helps if they have experience with selling homes amid divorce.
Determine how the proceeds will be split
This will be part of your property division agreement, but it may need to be one of the first things you codify. While you’re at it, you should agree on an acceptable sale price (or at least a range). That will be determined in part by how much money and time you want to put into upgrades and repairs and how those costs will be divided.
Decide who is remaining in the home until it sells
One of you may have already moved out, so that makes things easier. It’s typically best if one of you is still living there while it’s on the market. Homes typically sell better if they’re still occupied. Agents and sometimes buyers can smell when the owners are long gone and probably desperate to unload the place.
The person remaining in the home needs to be sure that it’s well maintained. That means continuing to pay for things like your housekeeper, landscaper, pool cleaner and other service providers or handling these jobs yourselves.
You can address some or all of these issues in your mediation if you choose. This can help you set clear expectations and help the home sale process go more smoothly.