How to split up a worthless house?

[intothewind]

My wife and I have agreed to put together an agreement of how to split our assets and liabilities before taking the agreement to an attorney and then proceed with our divorce. Our goal is to keep this quick, inexpensive and amicable. We have no savings, a partially paid-for car, and a house with nearly no equity. Married 20 years.

The sticking point right now is our house. Zillow.com estimates it worth $168,000 (originally paid $233,000 with $50,000 downpayment). We still owe appx $160,000 plus another $2500 on a 2nd mortgage HELOC.

She's planning on moving in with her new boyfriend once the divorce is final and I will stay in the house.

I've offered to buy out her half of the equity ($2750) with a loan a family member has offered me, to be repaid when I sell the house 'down the road'.

STBX is pissed off and demands to get 'more money out of the divorce'. There just isn't any money, this the best I can do.

What if I offer to split the proceeds of a future sale of the house, if home values ever come back up?

She's not on the mortgage and the house is in my name due to her poor credit rating.

What do you suggest we do?

[BartSimpson]

Future entanglements will be the death of any sweetheart, Mr. Wonderful Effect, deal you have going. Banking on the value being significantly higher in the near-future is not good fiscal planning - and wifey ain't gonna want to wait to go shopping with her cash. There is a glut of homes on the market right now, many more in the wings waiting for the value to go up.

Flat out, how much does she want? $5K, $8k, $20k?

[Chris A]

On the sly have a realtor pull up comps and give you a write up for how much they would put it on the market for! If that gives evedence to prove your point then show the stbx and ask her what it is she wants. Or you pay for appraisal get lawyers involved and she ends up with less.

[Fatheroffour]

Put up the house for sale and split it?

You don't want future financial entanglements with the ex.

[massdaddio]

Definitely get comps, zillow is based on assessment from the town and some comparable home sales in the area. It doesn't know about the condition of the house. There is a house near my friend which has been abandoned for nearly 30 years, is literally falling down and zillow has the value as almost 500k when the land is really only worth about $300k. I would get 2 realtors to tell you what they would list the price at and what you would expect to get in reality. If their estimates are vastly different, then get a third realtor. Then you can present the facts to your ex. You don't want to do anything in the future with your ex, cut all financial ties now.