All Forum Posts by: Josh Goodman

Here is the verbiage from the divorce order:

Property:

1. 50% of interest and 50% of liabilities associated with the single-family residential real property located at xxxxx.

Parties are currently co-residing in the property and plan to do so for the foreseeable future. Each party shall be responsible for 50% of all costs associated with the maintenance of the property, including but not limited to mortgage payment, hoa, property tax, utilities, repairs, mutually agreeable improvements, etc. If one party moves out of the property, the moving-out party will be responsible only for the repairs and mutually-agreeable improvements, and the staying party will be responsible for all other costs. If one party wants to sell the property, the other party will have the right to buy out the interest of party that wants to sell the property, by paying - in accordance with a mutually-agreeable payment terms - 50% of the amount which is calculated as follows: (the average of 2 professional property appraisals) minus (the cost of selling, including but not limited to real estate agent commission, escrow fee, title insurance, etc.).

She moved out of the house about 1 year and 5 months ago. Does this verbiage give her the right to force me to sell if I don't agree to her cash out refinance terms? It seems like it would.

I can only afford the current payment and the max my lender said we could cash out to keep the payment close to the current payment is $40k.

Thank you Brian, I appreciate it!

I wish I could but I have nowhere near the $120,000 or so it would take to buy her out!

I'm living in the home in Southern California that my ex-wife and I purchased before the divorce. We had agreed that we would continue to co-own it and that I would be living long term. Whenever we did sell that we would split the profit 50/50. I do not want to sell anytime soon.

Now due to some questionable financial choices that my ex has made, she wants to do a cash out refinance for $40,000.

There is currently $150k on the mortgage balance and the house should currently appraise for around $375k.

My current mortgage is $1,060.22 and the new 30 year mortgage would be approx. $1,226.00 (I can't afford to make it a 15 year mortgage). I'm going to see if she'll agree to pay the monthly difference between the original mortgage payment and the new mortgage payment but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm currently 7 years into a 30 year mortgage so I hate the fact that the mortgage will be reset to 30 years, so those 7 years of additional payments would cost me around $100k if I stayed in the house long enough to pay it off.

My ex says that if I sign off on this that when I eventually sell the house she would agree to only take her half of the current equity (around $115k) minus the $40k that she'd be taking out now, so around $75k. I would get to keep the rest of the profit when it sells and that she would not ask to do a cash out refinance again in the meantime.

Does this sound like a good deal? I plan on living in this house for at least the next 15-20 years.

If my home's value keeps increasing then it seems like it would be a good deal, but what are the chances that the value will drop below the current $375-$380k and stay under that value long term?

Thanks in advance for your advice. I'm a bit overwhelmed so your help is appreciated!