I have sooo been down this road with the house..... I got $20,000 in "equity"..... I spent way more than that to fix it up to sell it to break even.... AND new W and I spent many, many days cleaning it up... my exW just left the mess behind....
My advice is the following:
1. Get the house 100% ready to sell. Split the expenses 50/50.
2. Draft a legal agreement each of you has the right of first refusal... So, if the highest offer you get is for $250,000 either of you can buy it for that... If you both want it at that price... Flip a coin or something....
3. Put it on the market.
4. See what happens.....
You may estimate the house is worth $275,000... You may only get $250,000 for it.... Why should you take on the mortgage just to let her walk away..... Your M is ending..... I think it is fair to split any profit or loss 50/50.....
Had I played my cards that way... My exW would have been FORCED to help me clean the house... We would have split the "fix up" costs...... I probably would have ben $20,000 ahead of the game... I guess that was a small price to pay to get her out of my life ASAP...
In the end, the exW may end up owing you money AND you get the house (in better condition) you can sell when the market rebounds....
RMG
"The bad things in life open your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before." from "Good Will Hunting"
