# Keep the house or give it up



## DumpedAgain (Feb 14, 2013)

Started a new thread on whether to keep the house or not
in the settlement

after fairly brief nasty collapse of the marriage. I filed for
divorce yesterday.

We will split property fairly, The house is the big question

the house is paid for (worth 2/3 what we paid 10 years ago)
It is 4000 sq move up house, the type that are not selling at
all. The taxes alone are $11k/year, utilities are $1300/mo

She wants the house, but with the alimony and child support
she won't be able to afford the house and will go broke\

I wil be able to afford the house, but not sure I want to

Everybody wants to sell these types of houses and move 
down. These types of houses will not rebound in value for
years. 

ON the other hand, whoever gets the house can live there
until it sells, and can block the sale in subtle ways

Not sure what to do


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## BFGuru (Jan 28, 2013)

Keep it. Yu can at least be sure the sale is not blocked if that is what you want to do.


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## Lon (Jun 6, 2011)

Before deciding if either of you can "afford" the house, if one of you wants it how will you buy the other's share of equity in the house?

In my divorce the house was already in my name, I could afford it but she couldn't, but we had hardly any equity in it so it was very feasible for me to buy her out with my share of the mutual retirement savings.

If there isn't enough other community property that either of you can surrender to cover the market value of the house, you may be forced to sell, at whatever the market price happens to be anyway. Make sure that if one of you keep the house that you are valuing it at the current market price, not what you paid for it or what other similar homes that are not selling are listed at, or else whomever gets the house is getting screwed.


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## DumpedAgain (Feb 14, 2013)

There is little cash for either to buy out the other, there
is a large tax exempt retirement account that will be split
50/50 that could be used to buy out the other

The question is is it dollar for dollar when trading retirement
funds for house value?


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## Pbartender (Dec 6, 2012)

DumpedAgain said:


> There is little cash for either to buy out the other, there
> is a large tax exempt retirement account that will be split
> 50/50 that could be used to buy out the other
> 
> ...


Okay... I'm going to tell you the same I told my mother when my dad died a few years back...

The mortgage on the house is paid off. It doesn't matter what it's worth now. It doesn't matter what it was worth when you bought it. _The mortgage on the house is paid off._

So, look at it this way: That means no matter what you sell it for, practically everything you sell it for, you get.

On the other hand, who does the retirement account belong to and what type of account is it? Normally, retirement accounts can only be liquidated if it gets transferred to the other spouse using a QDRO. And even then, even it is tax exempt to contribute to it, you'll still have to pay taxes when you withdraw those funds... the IRS automatically deducts 20% to cover those taxes. Plus, if it's YOUR retirement fund, you have to trust your spouse to liquidate your half for you and hand it over to you. If you do it yourself, without the QDRO, it's an early withdrawal and not only do you have to pay the 20% taxes, but also a 10% early withdrawal penalty.

Keeping the retirement account costs you nothing.

Keeping the house costs you more than $2000/mo... $24,000 every year.

Do you really need a house that big? Will it really be worth what you'll be spending on it.

If I were you, I'd sell the house, split the profits, and use that to buy something much smaller and more affordable flat out.


Pb.


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## greenfern (Oct 20, 2012)

I'm sorry...utilities are $1300 a MONTH? Is this averaged over the year? When I was in a house utilities were up to $300 a month in the winter and that was a 100 year old house with no insulation. Is this for A/C? Sorry for the mini thread jack but I'm totally curious!


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## greenfern (Oct 20, 2012)

Oh and also, what about getting a roommate? In a 4000 sq ft house there must be an extra bedroom somewhere. Maybe then one of you could afford to stay in the house, if you have kids you are going to need at least a 2 or 3 bdrm and if your place is paid off it might be nice just to stay put if you can.


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## DumpedAgain (Feb 14, 2013)

This is Chicago, $500 heating bill $200 electric, an astonishing
$200 water bill, cable , Iphone bill for 5 phones on and on

i do not need this big house, it is an albatross, i can get 
a 3 bedroom short sell duplex for $100k, that sold for
$160 10 years ago

She really wants the house.....it will be the ultimate revenge
watching her slowly go broke


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