Hey Everyone,
My wife and I of 10 years (I'm 39, she's 42) have decided to divorce (we share one child). My wife is more attached to our current home than I am and she has hinted that she'd like to stay in it post-divorce, but she's been a SAHM for the past 2.5 years. Before becoming a mom, she earned about 40K/yr.
We have about 900K in retirement assets that will likely get split in half. So, let's just say for argument's sake that she gets 450K of that.
Here are our house details: 240K left on loan, Valued at 500K. That leaves us with 260K equity.
So, my wife will struggle paying the mortgage on her own even if she refinances (and qualifies). I suggested her buying me out (260K/2 = 130K) with the retirement assets that she'd likely get after we settle the divorce. Even then though, she'd likely struggle to pay the monthly mortgage and associated home expenses.
So, even though I'm not as attached to the home as my wife is, I'm now considering possibly buying her out of the home...and giving her more retirement assets to serve as the buyout. So, if I do that, I'd be left with about 300K in retirement assets, but I'd have the house. I'd be able to afford the mortgage even after possibly alimony and child support (I did some rough calculations) and it would only be a few hundred bucks more expensive than renting an apartment (after you consider property taxes and other miscellaneous "home-only" expenses). We'd be sharing custody of our child 50/50. I'm trying to figure out if it's better just to sell the home, take the equity, rent for a year...and then figure everything out after that. Or, see this as an opportunity to invest in an appreciating asset (our home has gone up 150K in value in less than 3 years). Honestly, I could go either way...and if I went to re-purchase a home in the next few years, I doubt I'll be able to get anything of this size and in this good of an area for the same price (we paid 358K for a brand new 3000 sq ft townhome with great public schools nearby). I won't need this big of a home since it'll only be my son and I living here (and him only half of the time), but it would suck to have to pay more in the future for less space (which appears likely with the continued increase in home prices over the past 4-5 years). Our son is only 2.5 and hasn't really made any friends here, so he'd probably be okay with whatever relocation we do.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
Submitted January 09, 2022 at 11:50PM by ATLBrownie24 https://ift.tt/3Gbq7Nb
