Divorcing and I don't want the house - how do we do it?

[mam14]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY

12 years ago I purchased a house with my then-fiancee. Because we were not yet married and he had no credit, we opted to put the mortgage in my name only. We purchased the house for ~65k, and owe roughly 50k at this point.

We are now in the process of divorce. He is living in the house with his girlfriend, and they are paying the mortgage. I have no interest in keeping the house, but he would like to stay there. He is a "handy man" who never finishes his own projects, so the house is not in great shape and likely would not sell for much if we were to put it on the market. At this point I don't care about making a profit from selling the house, and would just like to wash my hands of the whole thing. He has agreed that he would cover any closing costs and other related fees to take ownership of the house, and I have agreed that I will not try to get any additional funds from him (so basically I would sell him the house for whatever it costs to get out of the mortgage). I just want to get this handled, the sooner the better, for the least amount of extra money on either side.

Ultimately, I am wondering what options (if any) I have for transferring the house to him (as I understand it, he could not simply refinance in his name only, since he wasn't on the original mortgage - right?). I assume I would have to go through the process of actually selling the house to him - do I have any other options?

Thanks in advance.

 

[STEPHAN]

He will need financing or cash.

I strongly advise you to not transfer the house to him without him getting his own financing!

 

[mam14]

Thanks for your reply.

My main concern is getting the mortgage out of my name - I know he will not have the cash to make that happen so I assume he would need financing to do that. Is it just a matter of him getting his own mortgage for the cost of whatever remains on my mortgage? Do we need to involve a realtor? A single attorney (or do we both need one)?

The whole idea is that I no longer want the house tied to my name or my credit, but am looking to find out HOW we actually go about doing this (and if possible what the cheapest and/or fastest methods are).

We worked with a mediator to come up with a separation agreement but never had it signed by a judge. We were hoping to do as much of the divorce ourselves and have been slowly working on all the paperwork - and it seems that we would be better off getting the house sorted out before we take the divorce to court.

 

[STEPHAN]

You do not need a real estate agent. He will just make it more expensive. You do not need a lawyer. You only need a title company. The will make sure that everything is correct.

Usually banks do not allow the transfer of the mortgage. Also, I have never seen one that will release you from it.

So you ex needs a new mortgage for what is left on the current.

If you want out, he has two options:

1. Get financing (or cash)
2. Move out so that the house can be sold.

He can of cause get his new GF to get the financing; this has worked in the past ;-)

 

[mam14]

Didn't even think of the GF getting the financing...wonder what her credit looks like...

In any case - thank you for the succinct reply; I appreciate it. I will look into the title company, have him work on getting the mortgage and get this moving.

Thanks again!