What we bring to a difficult sale
A divorce sale has two clients and no agreement, which is a situation most buyers handle badly. We have been through plenty of them, and the approach that works is the same every time. One written number, delivered to both parties and both attorneys at once, with nothing said to one side that is not said to the other.
We will deal with your attorneys directly if that is easier, and we will hold a closing date to suit a school year or a lease. If the house would net more listed, we will tell you that too.
A number, not a range
An agent gives you an opinion of value and a listing price. What actually arrives, months later, may be higher or lower. That uncertainty is very hard to divide, and in a divorce everything eventually has to be divided.
A written cash offer is a fixed figure. It goes straight into the negotiation, into the attorneys' file, into the spreadsheet where the rest of the divorce settlement lives. Some couples accept it. Some use it as a floor and list anyway. Both are sensible outcomes.
Why local knowledge changes the number
A five-bedroom on Sunshine Lane. A house on Washington Avenue. Both in Amityville, bought and paid for by us.
Amityville is roughly 9,500 people in Suffolk County, ZIP 11701, and the housing stock is mostly colonial, victorian, cape cod. Around Broadway and the Triangle, most of it is old enough that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. The Amityville stop pulls buyers who commute, which supports the good houses and does very little for the ones that need a roof. We have been buying across Suffolk County for 15+ years. We know what the Amityville Union Free School District does to a resale price, which blocks still have oil tanks in the ground, and what a house like yours is actually worth here.
Selling an Amityville house without showings
Keeping a house presentable for strangers is a shared job, and in a divorce the shared jobs are exactly the ones that stop getting done. Then the showings go badly, the price drifts down, and it becomes one more thing to blame each other for. That is the ordinary course of a listed divorce sale, not a worst case.
There is no sign with us, no listing, no photographs online, and no open house in Amityville. One visit, one number, one closing date.
Setting the closing date yourselves
Divorce timelines and real estate timelines rarely line up on their own. A settlement gets negotiated around a closing date, and then the buyer's lender moves that date twice.
We close with our own funds, so the date we agree is the date. If you need sixty days, take sixty. If you need next month because the divorce is being finalized and nobody wants the house hanging over it, we can usually do that as well.
What the two paths cost in Amityville
These are the two routes open to you with a house in a divorce, priced against what Amityville houses actually sell for.
Work it against Amityville's own numbers. The median sale here is $611,250. A 5% commission on that is $30,563, and seller closing costs of about 2% add roughly $12,225. Those are costs we can cover on our side. That is $42,788 gone before anyone counts the repairs it took to get the house listable.
There are two waits in a listed sale and people usually only count the first. In Amityville the median house takes about 35 days to go from listed to a signed contract. Then it waits again, typically 45 to 60 days, while the buyer's lender orders an appraisal and underwrites the loan. Call it 80 to 95 days from sign to keys, assuming nothing goes wrong.
The part worth understanding is what a signed contract actually guarantees, which is less than most sellers assume. A retail buyer with a mortgage contingency can walk away right up to the end. If they do not qualify, if the appraisal comes in under the price, if they change their mind and let the financing lapse. A share of deals die exactly there, after months of waiting, and the house goes back on the market with time on it. We are not borrowing anything, so there is no lender to satisfy, no appraisal to come in low and no contingency to exercise.
| Listing with an agent | Selling to us | |
|---|---|---|
| Sale price | $611,250 (Amityville median) | Our written offer |
| Commission | −$30,563 | None |
| Seller closing costs | −$12,225 | We can cover them |
| Repairs before listing | Out of pocket | None |
| Cleanout | Yours | Ours |
| Showings | Until it sells | One visit |
| Listed to signed contract | 35 days (Amityville median, once listable) | 24 hours to a written offer |
| Contract to closing | 45 to 60 days (waiting on the buyer's lender) | A date you choose |
| Total wait | 80 to 95 days if nothing falls through | Yours to set |
| Can the buyer walk? | Yes (mortgage contingency runs to the end) | No financing to fall through |
| Before repairs and carrying | $568,463 | The number we put in writing |
The agent column uses a 5% commission and about 2% of seller closing costs, which are typical rather than fixed. It leaves out repairs and holding costs because no two houses are alike there. Where a house is in good condition, listing with a capable agent can beat our number, and we will be upfront if that is the case.
Both names on the deed
A surprising number of divorce sales unstick the moment there is a firm number on the table, because most of the disagreement was never really about the house. It was about not knowing.
We will give you that number with no obligation, and we will give it to both sides identically. If it turns out the divorce needs a court ordered sale, your attorney handles that part and we will work to whatever timetable the court sets.
What you do not pay when you sell a house in a divorce
Listing a house in a divorce the usual way brings each of these costs with it. Selling to us brings none of them.
- Agent commission
- $30,563 at 5% of the Amityville median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $12,225 on a $611,250 sale. We can cover these. none
- Repairs to make it listable
- The work it needs to show well, out of your pocket first none
- Cleanout and removal
- Paid per load, before a single buyer walks through none
- Carrying costs while it waits
- Taxes, insurance and utilities for the 80 to 95 days of finding a buyer and waiting on their mortgage none
When a divorce buyout beats a sale
Not every divorce should end in a sale. If one spouse wants to keep the house and can refinance into a mortgage in their own name at a payment they can carry alone, that is often the better outcome, particularly where children are involved.
That is a lending question and a legal one, so ask a mortgage broker and your divorce attorney before committing to it. If a buyout does not work, a sale is the usual fallback and we are here for that.
Common questions
Do both of us have to agree to sell the Amityville house?
Everyone on the deed has to sign the contract. We can put the same written offer in front of both parties and both attorneys at once, so nobody in the divorce is working from different information about what the house is worth.
Can the offer go to our attorneys directly?
Yes. Send us their details and we will deal with them rather than with either of you, if that is what the divorce needs.
Can we sell before the divorce is finalized?
Frequently yes, and plenty of couples do, with the proceeds held or split according to the agreement. How that gets structured is a question for your divorce attorney, and we will work to whatever they set up.
What if my spouse is still living in the Amityville house?
That is workable. We can view the house at a time that suits whoever is there, and we can set a closing date that gives them a reasonable window to move. Occupancy does not stop us buying.
Will you tell my ex what I said to you?
We do not carry messages between two sides of a divorce. The offer goes to both parties identically, and anything you tell us about your circumstances stays with us.