House sale

gettingtheresometime

Gavin83 said:

Why did you list the property at £100k above what the EAs suggested? If you listed it at the price they said I'm sure you'd get more interest. You may have increased it's value by renovating but surely the EA's would have factored that into the price they suggested.

I'm guessing the OP listed at the higher price as I'd read it that the EA valued the house a year ago so the OP factored in prices rises plus the renovating. What I don't think they've factored in is the effect of interest rate increases plus the threat of recession has done to house prices

Keep_pedalling

GiantTCR said:

Keep_pedalling said:

You have had no offers because you over priced it, you ex may very well see this as deliberately delaying things which is why he is threatening to go back to court.

He probably should as he has rights to 50% of the marital home and other assets and he's getting way less than that. 

Maybe he just now realised he's been short changed.

It’s not that simple, the starting point is 50% of all assets not 50% of the marital home, he may for instance have a larger pension pot and savings than the OP and other factors such as the relatively short length of the marriage may have had an impact on on how the court appropriated the split of assets.

Silvertabby

Keep_pedalling said:

GiantTCR said:

Keep_pedalling said:

You have had no offers because you over priced it, you ex may very well see this as deliberately delaying things which is why he is threatening to go back to court.

He probably should as he has rights to 50% of the marital home and other assets and he's getting way less than that. 

Maybe he just now realised he's been short changed.

It’s not that simple, the starting point is 50% of all assets not 50% of the marital home, he may for instance have a larger pension pot and savings than the OP and other factors such as the relatively short length of the marriage may have had an impact on on how the court appropriated the split of assets.

During my LGPS days we did no end of pension valuations for divorce purposes, but only a tiny fraction progressed to actual pension sharing orders.

Assume that the other parties received other assets instead, such as a larger share of the house.

Keep_pedalling

Silvertabby said:

Keep_pedalling said:

GiantTCR said:

Keep_pedalling said:

You have had no offers because you over priced it, you ex may very well see this as deliberately delaying things which is why he is threatening to go back to court.

He probably should as he has rights to 50% of the marital home and other assets and he's getting way less than that. 

Maybe he just now realised he's been short changed.

It’s not that simple, the starting point is 50% of all assets not 50% of the marital home, he may for instance have a larger pension pot and savings than the OP and other factors such as the relatively short length of the marriage may have had an impact on on how the court appropriated the split of assets.

During my LGPS days we did no end of pension valuations for divorce purposes, but only a tiny fraction progressed to actual pension sharing orders.

Assume that the other parties received other assets instead, such as a larger share of the house.

Even where the split was 50/50 it would be silly to split every thin down the middle, so your assumption would be correct in most circumstances. 

gwynlas

If the current mortgage is low or paid off then you would probably be better off raising the 500K through remortgagig if this can be afforded perhaps jointly with another adult in the house. Your valuation is obviously out of sync with current prices and should you be taken to court and forced to sell you will lose money.

TBagpuss

GiantTCR said:

your ex wife had rights to take away 50% of your house so if you actually managed to agree she'd get 500k on a 1.5+ million house, you got a great deal out of it.

I don't know how many people in this economic climate are looking to spend that much on a house so either get ready to wait a long time before you sell it or lower the price (and even then it may still be difficult to sell).

If the ex is returning to court it is likely that they are applying to enforce the existing order, they would not normally be able to re-open the settlment generally. However, they can ask thecourt to determine what price the house should be marketed at or to make directions than any offer ofer a set amount must be accepted. 

OP, why did you put it on at £100,000 over the valuation? What were the agents recommending that you market it for at the time it went on t the market? Your first step should be to speak to the agents and look at lowering the price, if you are not getting any interest it's likely overpriced. Bear in mind that house prices re now falling in many parts of the country, and that improvements and 'upgrades' often don't add massively to the value of a property. 

Was your ex awarded a fixed amount rathr han a % of the property value? 
Have you loked into remortgaging in order to buy them out, rather than selling? 

elsien

Probably also depends on what “increased its value internally” means in practice. There’s a lot of home renovations which don’t increase the value of the property by the amount spent and I’m wondering how much is that is a factor here.

pinkshoes

ann321 said:

After a divorce of 6 years of marriage,  my x got awarded 500k. I now have to sell my house which is in my sole name and the x paid zero towards it.
So I immediately put it on the market 100k above the price the estate agents agreed (1.8995) at the time of the divorce a year ago, as I have increased its value internally. 
After 5 months I have no interest in it and he is threatening to go back to court for new orders. Can he do this  and what should I look out for? I have my 90 year old father and 3 grown up children living with me but they didn't count in the divorce proceedings. 
I have lost 4 houses that I put offers into to accommodate my family.
I can't afford to go back to lawyers as I spent 40k of my savings on the divorce. 

GiantTCR said:

your ex wife had rights to take away 50% of your house so if you actually managed to agree she'd get 500k on a 1.5+ million house, you got a great deal out of it.

I don't know how many people in this economic climate are looking to spend that much on a house so either get ready to wait a long time before you sell it or lower the price (and even then it may still be difficult to sell).

GiantTCR said:

yeah maybe

Well it's not really a "yeah maybe" as the OP clearly says "can HE do this"...

@ann321 I'm afraid doing work on a house doesn't always increase the value, so if you are putting it on the market £100k above what the EA agreed then it makes it look like you are being awkward.

There is far more to a marriage than financial contributions, so although he didn't contribute financially, the judge clearly felt he did contribute in some way.

So yes, as it looks like you are being difficult over the value, then your ex can indeed take you to court over this, and if the judge agrees then costs could be taken from your share in the equity.

It would therefore be sensible to lower the price, sell the property, give your ex the £500k then move on with your life. 

I'm not sure how you can "lose" 4 houses because if you haven't had any offers on your own house, then you're not in a position to offer on anyone elses...

pollypenny

As estate agents in this country tend to push for high prices in initial listing to 'test the market' adding another £100k was foolish. 

JReacher1

pollypenny said:

As estate agents in this country tend to push for high prices in initial listing to 'test the market' adding another £100k was foolish. 

I don’t agree it’s foolish. Seven months after a house is valued at 1.9m I think assuming the house has gone up about 5% sounds realistic for the market at that time.  Especially if you’ve done some internal improvements.