Need advice on buying out Ex

Hello. I'm in California and I bought a house with my boyfriend about one year ago (Summer 2007). We are now in the process of splitting up and I'd like to buy him out.

The down payment came from money that I inherited. The mortgage is solely in my name, but the title is joint. The monthly payments have been split 80/20, since I have the higher income. We do not have a written agreement detailing what should happen to the house should we part ways.

Assuming that the purchase price was 750K and current MV (based on zillow.com) is 800K, can anyone advise me on how to calculate a buyout amount? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Sorry to hear about your situation. This can be a little dicey since there (apparently) wasn't a written agreement about the share percentages between the two of you.

One more critical piece of information is necessary: what is your equity in the home? Adding to that, it's important to know the amount of the down payment that you made from your funds... knowing these things will help to calculate a fair amount for buying out his portion.

Thanks, Blankenship.

In answer to your questions....Downpayment was 100K and, just based on internet research, the current Market Value is about 800K (Purchase Price 750K); therefore, equity would be 50K.

I'm sorry to tell you, but absent an official agreement between you two, your boyfriend's buyout is half the equity of the home. Real estate is one of the areas of law where verbal, understood, half-hearted, intimated, guessed at, or assumed agreements don't count -- ONLY written agreements count.

He has incredible power, because you need his signature. You can't force him to quit-claim the property -- he has to agree. However, because you have more money than he does, this might be a time to bluff, big time -- make a less than half offer, and see if he will sign and go away.

For future reference, it bears to keep this in mind -- NEVER EVER own property with ANYBODY who is not a lawfully married spouse to you. The spousal relationship is the ONLY relationship with a legal way to deal with co-owned real estate in the event of a disagreement. Legally, you shouldn't even own property jointly with your mom, your sister, or your child -- because there is no legal recourse, if there is no prior written agreement.

Please don't rely on Zillow's "Zestimate" as any type of official estimate of the worth of your property. Spend $300 or so and have a real appraisal done. Considering that SFH's have fallen an average of 15.3% accross the nation over the past year, I'd be very surprised if your house actually appreciated during that same time period.

cub -

The equity in the home is the difference between a selling price (appraisal price) and your balance in the mortgage. I would hope that your equity is somewhere north of $150k since you made a $100k downpayment and the value has appreciated by $50k. Given that you made the $100k downpayment, and you've indicated that you make 80% of the payments, it would be fair to assume that your ex's portion of the equity would be 20% of any equity amount above and beyond $100k.

Back to what Puck said tho - legally he is entitled to half of the equity, including your downpayment (it would be considered a completed "gift" to him in the past).

I wish you well. Hopefully you can move quickly to get this accomplished without much difficulty - but be prepared for a countermove request for half. Determine for yourself what you plan on doing if that happens. And use this as a learning experience, following Puck's advice...

I hope the 2 of you are on good terms even though you're splitting up. What he's legally entitled to and what the two of you agree on can be 2 different things. My ex-husband and I split the proceeds of a house 60% to him, 40% to me because he'd funded the down payment with an inheritance 12 years before. I also owned a 2-family years ago with a partner and I had put down the bulk of the down payment and we split the equity accordingly. So, if he's a decent guy, you may not be thoroughly hosed. Blankenship FP's estimate sounds reasonable.

Good luck!