Page 15 - Selling your home during divorce
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9.DIVORCING THE
“Your agent didn’t get the job
When people are selling their
AGENTS
done, so now it’s time to go
house due to divorce, there’s with my agent.”
a good chance they’ll get
Which, as you can guess, basically just
“divorced” two more times
reverses the roles and it happens all
during the process. over again. The listing expires a
second time, and now it’s on to
Most divorcing couples each have
choosing the final agent—someone
their own real estate agent they turn more neutral.
to initially.
That’s how and where it should have
You can’t list your house with two
all started—a neutral agent. But we’ll
agents (usually). So, what happens is
get to that in more detail further
one spouse agrees to go with the within the guide.
other spouse’s choice of agent to start
with. For now, just know that this could be
why you or your spouse is acting or
But too often, the spouse who gives in
reacting a certain way to perfectly
doesn’t truly trust or listen to the good advice. It’s a matter of trust,
other spouse’s choice.
which is important to have with your
There’s a fear that the agent is looking real estate agent no matter when or
out more for the other spouse’s best why you’re selling a house.
interest. That’s natural and And let’s face it, many people going
understandable. But it doesn’t do
through a divorce are already dealing
anyone any good.
with trust issues. So, when you think
It leads to the one spouse “protecting” about it, this makes total sense.
him or herself, usually by just not
Unfortunately, many home sales due
agreeing to what might be very good to divorce end up being listed two or
advice from the agent. Which then
three times because it’s just one of
leads to the house not selling. Which those things most people don’t think
then leads to the contract with that
about, and most agents don’t think to
agent expiring. Which then leads to talk about. Especially if the agent
the next logical step…
happens to be on one side or the
other.
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