Can I actually afford to keep the house after the divorce?
Answered by Chris Deutsch, Founder & Editor
Licensed Minnesota Realtor #20382264 ·
The short answer
The honest test isn't whether you can make the payment. It's whether you can make the payment, fund the buyout, and still have a life — on one income, in a house built for two.
On stage The 60-second answer
Captions on · Transcript below
The stage is set.
Chris's video answer is on its way. Until then, the short answer above says the same thing.
The transcript posts with the video.
The longer answer
Run four numbers before deciding. The refinance payment at today's rates, on your income alone — often higher than the payment you know. The buyout, and what it drains from savings or retirement. The running costs that never made it into the mortgage conversation: taxes, insurance, the furnace, the roof, the snow. And the quiet one — what staying costs you in flexibility, when a fresh-but-smaller place might leave room to breathe.
Plenty of people keep the house and are glad. Plenty keep it and spend five years house-poor and exhausted. The difference is rarely the love for the house; it's the math, done honestly, before the decree instead of after. I'll run that math with you straight — no agenda toward either answer.
The next department over
What people in this spot usually ask next.
- Divorce & separationHow does refinancing to remove my ex from the mortgage work — and what if I can't qualify?Read the answer
- Divorce & separationWhat happens to our cabin in the divorce?Read the answer
- Divorce & separationWho pays the mortgage while the divorce is going on?Read the answer
- Divorce & separationWhat if I regret selling the house once the divorce is final?Read the answer
- Inheritance & probateOne of us wants to keep the house. How does a sibling buyout work?Read the answer
- Sudden wealth & business saleI sold my business and I feel a little lost. Is now even the time to move?Read the answer
From the editor's desk
“As Founder and Editor, I review, correct, and stand behind every answer.”
Is your situation more specific than the market? That's the one worth talking through.