When Should You Buy After a Divorce?

When Can I Buy a Home?

The desire is to move on and return things back to the new normal. It is understandable and makes complete sense. Doing the steps in the right order will make it easier in the long run. 

Matt Weaver with Cross Country Mortgage shares his advice on the topic of when it is best to buy your home after a separation or divorce. 

When we're thinking about getting a divorce or if we're walking down that path and thinking about purchasing a home, really our highest and best recommendation is to finalize a divorce prior to making any large real estate purchases. 

Why do you need to finalize the divorce first?

What ends up happening is, you may find the home that you love and get it under contract. At that point in time, one of the spouses still has to sign what's called the mortgage instrument. Now, that's the security instrument, it's not the note, meaning the note is what you're liable for in terms of the monthly payment. 

Why buying before the divorce is finalized could complicate things?

The security instrument is the instrument that secures a lien against the property, which, in technicality, the spouse would still have to sign. And in most cases, a lot of spouses are not willing to do that. That’s why we recommend finalizing a divorce prior to any real estate purchase. I hope this helps.

It is easier emotionally to resolve one step and then move to the next.