What's New Today pt2

[Gerda]

It is very true that you can't rely on the house value going up. In my case my house is worth almost double what we paid for it and it's how I pay for my kids' housing -- plus there is a ton of marital debt, and taking it out of his equity share is not only the only way to ensure H will have to pay his half of the debt, but it's also a great way to reduce the amount of the buy out.

If you have an aged parent, you can also consider having that parent move in with you for a time to buy out your H if you can carve out a separate space. (And if your parent is really aged, it's worth considering that at some point you may have some inheritance that you can add to the buy out funds.)

I do think that in real estate there is going to be value in keeping a place that you already have because of closing costs and moving costs even if prices dropped a bit. I have done well with that stuff via intuition and a bit of risk, but I am also okay with living very poorly for a little while to do it. If you have an amazing place in Hawaii and can easily rent it and use the rents to pay for a smaller place and your mortgage or be creative in some other way (e.g., another single mom and kid as roommates), that to me sounds like a good investment until you get a clear head and feel more settled about choosing what you are going to do with your life. In my case, I would much rather buy my H out somehow someway, even if it's expensive, and then in a year or two sell my place all by myself without the stress and strain and horror of having to deal with all that crazy anger from him and that voracious Uriah Heep appetite for money from his lawyer.

But KmL's very practical numbers-only-crunching is definitely key!