Quick real estate/breakup question...

Say you bought a house with someone you thought wanted to spend the rest of her life with you... 5 years later, she decides its not what she wants. You both go back and forth on who will buy out the other from the house, you get an appraisal and she says "that's not acceptable."
A week later she tells you she is going to have a real estate agent come in and tell her what the house is worth. Just to ease my mind, can someone please let me know if it is legal for her to have the house listed without my consent? I know she can't sell it, since we are both on title, but what about listing it? I'm not too keen on having strangers come through my house without my permission. Thanks for the input.

I think the real estate agent would be an idiot to start showing a house without the consent of the owner.

I assume you are saying you are both legal owners. Are you saying you are intending to buy her out? Could get sticky. Unless you can come to an agreement, you might HAVE to sell and split it.

The real estate agent is obviously going to give the higher assessment. That's because they are not an appraiser, and you are not getting an appraisal, you are getting an opinion at best, a sales pitch at worst.

The appraiser bases it solely on actual prices of houses already sold. The agent tries to convince the owner that they can give the owner the highest return, regardless of the actual market. Once you've signed the listing agreement, it makes no difference to the agent what price it actually sells for, only that it sells. They make money regardless of the sales price.

If she wants a real idea of the value, she should get a second appraisal and forget the agent. She may not like the results (likely, with today's market), but she'll just have to suck it up.

Don't offer to give her half of an over-inflated opinion. The appraisal should be based SOLELY on actual sales in the past 12 months.

BTW- both my wife and I are agents.

All the makings of some messy e36m3. +1 on real estate opinion being worthless. FWIW there's probably some value in paying a premium to be able to have her go away so you can get on with your life.

oldtin wrote: FWIW there's probably some value in paying a premium to be able to have her go away so you can get on with your life.

+1

She can't sell with out your approval, and I can't imagine a agent listing a house they can't sell.

You basically are involved in a partnership with no preplanned exit strategy. She can force the sale, but she will have to go to court to do it. The two of you will have to agree on a price one way or the other for a buy out. I would go to the phone book and pick three appraisers and get values from them. She can pick one, you pick one and pick one you can agree on or throw a dart at the book. Averaged the prices and let that be your number.

Good luck, dude. I believe you've got a long hard row to hoe.

The bank can also give you the name of an appraiser. I've been through it...fortunately it was 100% amicable, much to the dismay of the lawyers.

Have her buy you out at half of the inflated price the Real Estate Agent estimates.

I'd be calling a lawyer if I were you.

The Realtor's not allowed to list it without the consent of all owners.

An appraisal is a whole lot more accurate estimation of value than a Realtor's guesstimate. They are looking at different things. The realtor is looking to see what kind of marketing range to use and the appraiser is looking for . . . wait for it . . . actual value.

On a whole other tack here, think about whether you really want the house and the memories. If you sell the house, take half and buy that perfect man palace you always wanted, 800 ft of house and 3000 ft of garage.

Hope it works out for you mate

aussiesmg wrote: On a whole other tack here, think about whether you really want the house and the memories. If you sell the house, take half and buy that perfect man palace you always wanted, 800 ft of house and 3000 ft of garage. Hope it works out for you mate

Yeah, that's what I was thinking....sell/split/walk away.

In reply to nocarbud:

The RA has to spend money to advertise your house, and even to list it on MLS. The RA will never invest that money on the front end if there is no chance of getting it back at the sale. All you have to do is make sure the RE she picks knows you don't want to sell. Then the house will never be listed.-Doug

Dpvog wrote: In reply to nocarbud: The RA has to spend money to advertise your house, and even to list it on MLS. The RA will never invest that money on the front end if there is no chance of getting it back at the sale. All you have to do is make sure the RE she picks knows you don't want to sell. Then the house will never be listed.-Doug

without a court order.

SVreX wrote: BTW- both my wife and I are agents.

I'm going to have to remember this come sell time. I'm all over selling myself, but I like having an MLS presence...

JFX001 wrote:

aussiesmg wrote: On a whole other tack here, think about whether you really want the house and the memories. If you sell the house, take half and buy that perfect man palace you always wanted, 800 ft of house and 3000 ft of garage. Hope it works out for you mate

Yeah, that's what I was thinking....sell/split/walk away.

+2.

While it's great to be sentimental and all, sometimes just bailing is the smart way to go. Sell it, split the assests BASED ON INVESTMENT. BTW, find ALL YOUR RECEIPTS spent on the house, so that one of the two of you don't get the shaft- and make sure she does the same.

If you fight it out, it's going to be loose/loose. Walk away, and find a place for yourself. She can argue the assesment all she wants, but can't argue when you need cash and buyers are only willing to pay whatever.

Is it really worth arguing about, or is the market a good decider?

(and I know you'll get shafted by the purchase price 5 years ago, but she is, too, by selling to you at current market price vs. purchase price).

E-

I seem to recall advice given to a different GRM Forum poster (an Oakie) just a short time ago regarding NOT BUYING A HOUSE WITH SOMEONE YOU'RE NOT MARRIED TO, as Dave Ramsey advises people who call into his show. Anyway, next time you'll know. This time, as has been suggested, either get a real estimate and one buys the other out or sell the thing and split whatever profit/loss there is. You could do a "you cut I choose" thing where one picks the appraiser and the other decides to pay or get paid. And Lawyer Up.

DILYSI Dave wrote:

SVreX wrote: BTW- both my wife and I are agents.

I'm going to have to remember this come sell time. I'm all over selling myself, but I like having an MLS presence...

Be happy to oblige, and I'm all about trying to be flexible on commissions when possible.

Tell me more about title of the house and the financial history- whose money went towards downpayment? How much equity? How much debt? Who made payments? Are you in a state that reconigzes common law marriage?

I'm a family law attorney... I might be able to provide insight.

If this ends up in court (which is where it sounds like it is headed), the court won't accept a realtor's opinion of the property's value. He will likely go with an independant assessor.

Do you own the house outright? If you don't own it, it seems to me that it would be a simple as you or her buying out the other persons investment (money down plus sum total of all payments that person made to this point). The VALUE has nothing to do with how much money the other person gets if you don't own the house.

www.zillow.com

I second zillow. Appraisers generally do very little but see what other houses in the area sell for. Unless there is something very unique (or bad) about it, zillow will get you 95% of the way there.

You do know that Zillow values have no relationship to real values don't you? In many states sales prices aren't a matter of public record to even the tax authorities.

And as far as seeing what other house in the area sell for, that's the basis for your value. They not only see what they sell for but they also compare them to your house feature for feature.

And in this case Zillow has zero creds. Even less than a Realtors marketing analysis. The only thing that the law will allow is going to be an appraisal, because that's the only thing that is trying to determine the real value of the property.

I still say a lawyer needs to be involved, probably going to save you money and hassel in the long run.

I'd say that would depend on the lawyer involved.

carguy123 wrote: You do know that Zillow values have no relationship to real values don't you? In many states sales prices aren't a matter of public record to even the tax authorities....

Then what does an appraiser base his values on if there is no record of house sale prices?

If the tax authorities don't know how much you bought or sold for how do they know how much to tax the income what to set the property tax at? Is it an honor system?