Your options and roadmap - handled with care
Buying Through a Life Transition
Divorce, loss, or a fresh start - your home options are clearer than they may feel right now. Here is the full picture, and the path forward.
Your options at a glance
| Question | Keep the home | Sell and split | Buy new |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it works | Equity-buyout refinance pays off the joint loan and cashes out the buyout. New loan is in your name only. | List the home together, pay off the joint mortgage, split the net proceeds per your agreement. | Use your share of the sale proceeds as a down payment on a new home purchased in your name. |
| What you need | Qualify on your own income. Decree or settlement determining the buyout amount. | Agreement on price, timeline, and how proceeds are divided. Both parties cooperate on the sale. | Down payment from your share of proceeds. Income and credit to qualify for a new purchase loan. |
| Result | You stay in the home. Other party is off the loan and title. A clean financial separation. | Both parties walk away with equity. Complete break. Freedom to buy independently. | A completely new space, in your name, in a neighborhood you choose. A true fresh start. |
| Best for | Stability Children in school, strong income, attachment to the home or community. | Clean break Neither party wants the home, or neither can qualify alone. | New chapter Ready to leave the shared home behind and start somewhere fresh. |
Steps and timing - keeping the home (equity-buyout path)
Private consultation
Share what you are comfortable sharing. We look at income, credit, and goals.
Model your options
Keep, sell, or buy new - with your real numbers side by side.
Legal coordination
Align the mortgage timeline with your attorney and the decree. No surprises.
Application
Once the decree is in place, we lock your rate and submit.
Underwriting
We guide you through every document request - clear, step by step.
Title update
Other party removed from title. Your attorney coordinates; we align timing.
Close
Sign the new loan. The home is yours in your name only.
Annual check-in
We stay in touch. Opportunities to improve the loan as life stabilizes.
Scan to find where you are
We build your keep-vs-sell-vs-buy analysis with your real equity, income, and goals. You decide what, if anything, comes next - and when.
{{event.ctaUrl}}