Can Divorcing Spouses Use the Same REALTOR® to Sell the House?

A divorcing couple may dislike each other intensely and still have the exact same real-estate objective:

Sell the house for the strongest reasonable result.

The listing agent's job is not to repair the marriage or determine which spouse is right.

Lisa's job is the house.

That distinction is important.

What Lisa does

She can analyze value.

Recommend pricing.

Market the property.

Communicate buyer feedback.

Present offers.

Negotiate terms.

Manage inspection issues.

Work through appraisal problems.

Coordinate the transaction with the other professionals involved.

What she should not do

What she should not do is become one spouse's secret ally against the other.

If someone says:

“Come on, Lisa. You know he's being ridiculous.”

Lisa can bring the conversation back to the market.

• “Here are the comparable sales.”
• “Here is the buyer feedback.”
• “Here is the financial difference between these offers.”

That's useful.

Establish how material communication will work

The cleanest divorce listings also establish how material communication will work.

If both owners need information, important information should reach both through the appropriate process.

If attorneys need to be involved in certain decisions, Lisa needs to know that.

The real-estate transaction should never become another place for one spouse to control information.

Neutral between sellers does not mean weak against the buyer

Neutral communication between the sellers also does not mean weak negotiation against the buyer.

Lisa can aggressively protect the sellers' real-estate interests.

• If a buyer's repair request is excessive, she can say so.
• If the offer is weak, she can recommend a counter.
• If the appraisal appears problematic, she can work through the appropriate real-estate response.

Lisa is a negotiator.

She simply keeps the negotiation where it belongs.

On the real estate.