Submitted by Bauer_ATX t3_ycjyn1 in personalfinance
My ex and I were together for nearly a decade and owned our home together. When I originally bought the house, I put both of our names on the mortgage, but paid for everything myself, and have continued making mortgage payments entirely on my own.
Unfortunately, we've decided to split up, and because I paid for 100% of the house so far, she said she'll sign whatever she needs to in order to give me 100% equity in the home.
I've spoken to our mortgage lender, who said that unfortunately, an FHA loan like ours only allows us to remove a name if we can provide a divorce decree, which we don't have due to us never being legally married. Our only other option would be to sell or refinance, which is an absolute last result right now due to how bad the market is doing. Finally, we could obviously stay as is, but that adds risk in the sense that she could eventually decide she wanted half the house, or at bare minimum she may have trouble renting her own place due to her name still legally being on the mortgage.
Right now we owe ~400k and have a 3.5% interest rate. Looking at the math for refinancing right now seems like it would be financial suicide to refinance. Sale wise, I'd love to keep the home, but I'm not sure if I have any other real options. The home has appreciated in value, Zillow estimates it's worth ~600k now, but I'm not sure what sort of tax implications I'd have if I sold the home and didn't immediately put the money into a new property.
Would love to get advice on if there are any other options for us?