What happens if I get divorced?
If you're going through a divorce and you own a home, there's a good chance that at some point someone is going to ask a seemingly simple question:
What is the house worth?
Unfortunately, the answer isn't always simple.
For many couples, the home is their largest asset. There may be hundreds of thousands—or even millions—of dollars in equity involved. One person may want to keep the house. Both may want to sell it. Or the two sides may simply have very different ideas about what the property is worth.
This is usually where an appraiser enters the picture.
At Nimbus Valuations, we work with residential properties throughout the Bay Area, including situations where a value is needed for divorce, property division, buyouts, retrospective valuation, and other legal matters.
If you've never dealt with an appraisal outside of buying or refinancing a home, the process can feel unfamiliar. Here's what you should know.
What Happens to the House in a California Divorce?
There isn't one answer.
California is a community property state, but that doesn't mean every house is automatically split 50/50. How a particular property is characterized can depend on when it was purchased, how it was acquired, how it was paid for, what happened during the marriage, and other circumstances.
That's a legal determination—not something an appraiser decides.
From the real estate side, however, most situations eventually come back to a few possibilities.
You might sell the home.
One spouse might keep it and buy out the other's interest.
The property might continue to be owned jointly for some period of time.
Or there may be a dispute over the property that has to be resolved as part of the divorce.
Before many of those decisions can be made, everyone needs to know what the property is actually worth.
If One Person Keeps the House, How Does a Buyout Work?
This is one of the most common reasons we're contacted for a divorce appraisal.
Let's use a very simple example.
Suppose a home is worth $1,200,000 and there is $500,000 remaining on the mortgage.
That leaves approximately $700,000 in equity before considering other relevant factors.
It's tempting to simply divide $700,000 by two and assume the buyout is $350,000.
Real divorces can be more complicated than that.
There may be separate-property interests, reimbursements, liens, debts, improvements, credits, or other considerations that affect what each person is ultimately entitled to receive.
Those are questions for the attorneys and other appropriate professionals.
The appraiser's job is to establish a credible value for the real estate.
Once everyone has a supportable value to work from, the attorneys, spouses, mediators, and financial professionals can address what happens with that value.
Why Can't We Just Use Zillow?
We get versions of this question all the time.
Online home-value estimates are useful. So are estimates from real estate agents. If you're curious about what your house might sell for, they're perfectly reasonable places to start.
A divorce is different.
When two people have a significant financial interest in the answer, relying on an automated estimate can create problems—especially if the property is unusual.
An algorithm doesn't walk through your house.
It may not fully understand that one property was extensively remodeled while another wasn't. It may struggle with acreage, views, ADUs, custom construction, condition differences, unusual locations, or homes where there simply aren't many comparable sales.
A residential appraiser researches the property, analyzes relevant sales and market conditions, and develops an independent opinion of value.
Most importantly, the appraiser isn't working toward the number either spouse wants.
We're there to value the property.
What Actually Happens During a Divorce Appraisal?
The appraisal itself is usually pretty straightforward.
We first need to understand why the appraisal is being completed.
Who is the client? How will the appraisal be used? What property are we valuing? What date are we valuing it as of?
Those details matter.
If an inspection is part of the assignment, we'll arrange access to the property. During the inspection, we're gathering information relevant to the valuation—things like the home's size, condition, quality, improvements, layout, site characteristics, views, garages, accessory units, and other features that may influence value.
After that comes the research.
We look at the local market and relevant comparable properties. We analyze how those properties compare with the subject and account for meaningful differences.
The goal isn't to find three houses that look vaguely similar and average their prices.
It's to understand how the market is reacting to properties like yours and develop a supportable opinion of value.
The results are then communicated in an appraisal report.
What If My Spouse and I Disagree About What the House Is Worth?
That's not unusual.
A homeowner might think:
"The house down the street sold for $1.5 million, so ours has to be worth at least that."
The other spouse might find a different sale for $1.2 million.
Neither sale necessarily tells the whole story.
Maybe the $1.5 million house was completely renovated. Maybe it had a better view. Maybe it was 500 square feet larger.
Or maybe the $1.2 million sale was in substantially worse condition.
That's exactly what an appraisal is intended to sort through.
We're looking beyond the sale price and asking why buyers paid what they did.
An independent appraisal won't necessarily produce the number either person was expecting. That's part of the point.
The conclusion should be driven by the property and the market—not by which party ordered the appraisal.
What If We Need to Know What the House Was Worth Years Ago?
This is where divorce appraisal work can become more specialized.
Sometimes the question isn't:
What is the house worth today?
It's:
What was this house worth on a particular date in the past?
That's called a retrospective appraisal.
For example, there may be a legal or financial reason to determine what a property was worth several years ago.
The appraiser goes back and researches the market as it existed around the requested effective date.
We're not simply taking today's value and subtracting a percentage.
We analyze the historical market, sales that would have been relevant at the time, available information about the property, and other data necessary to develop the retrospective opinion.
These assignments can require considerably more research than a typical current-value appraisal.
Is the Date of Separation the Date My House Should Be Appraised?
Not automatically.
This is something worth discussing with your attorney before ordering the appraisal.
California's date of separation can be important when determining whether certain property, income, or debt is considered community or separate property.
But that doesn't mean every house involved in a divorce should automatically be appraised as of that date.
Depending on the circumstances, a current valuation may be appropriate. In another situation, a historical valuation may be needed. Sometimes more than one value is relevant.
Don't guess at the effective date.
If you're represented by an attorney, it's usually best to confirm what valuation date is needed before the appraisal begins.
It can save time and prevent you from paying for an appraisal that doesn't answer the question your attorney actually needs answered.
What If I Owned the House Before We Got Married?
This is where the distinction between property value and property ownership becomes especially important.
If you owned the property before marriage, there may be separate-property considerations. If mortgage principal was paid during the marriage using community funds, improvements were made, the property was refinanced, title changed, or other events occurred, the legal analysis can become more complicated.
An appraiser doesn't determine which spouse owns what percentage.
Your attorney handles those questions.
What we may be asked to determine is something like:
What was the property worth on a particular historical date?
or:
What is the property worth today?
Those values can then become pieces of a larger analysis performed by the appropriate legal and financial professionals.
Do Both Spouses Have to Be at the Appraisal?
Short answer is, no.
We need appropriate access to the property if an interior inspection is required, but both spouses don't typically need to follow the appraiser around the house.
And you don't need to "sell" us on the property.
If you've made significant improvements, absolutely tell us. If there are relevant features that aren't obvious, tell us about those too.
But there's no need to argue your side of the divorce or explain why you believe the property should be worth a particular amount.
We're there to look at the real estate independently.
How Long Does a Divorce Appraisal Take?
It depends on the assignment.
A fairly typical single-family home requiring a current market value may be relatively straightforward.
A custom home on acreage with limited comparable sales is different.
A retrospective appraisal requiring historical research is different again.
If you're facing a mediation, hearing, settlement conference, or another deadline, tell the appraiser before accepting the assignment.
That gives everyone an opportunity to determine whether the requested turnaround is realistic.
How Much Does a Divorce Appraisal Cost?
There isn't one price that makes sense for every divorce appraisal.
Fees can vary depending on the property, location, complexity, effective date, amount of research involved, reporting requirements, and turnaround time.
For example, developing a current value for a relatively typical home in a subdivision can be very different from determining what a custom property on several acres was worth five years ago.
The easiest way to get an accurate quote is to provide the property address, explain why the appraisal is needed, and let the appraiser know whether your attorney has specified a particular valuation date.
What Should I Do Before Calling an Appraiser?
You don't need to know appraisal terminology.
You also don't need to have every detail figured out.
Start with the basics:
Property address
Why you believe an appraisal is needed
Attorney's information, if you're represented
Required valuation date, if one has been established
Any important deadlines
Significant improvements made to the property
Any unusual property characteristics we should know about
If you're unsure about something, say so.
We'd much rather identify the right appraisal assignment at the beginning than discover later that a different valuation was actually needed.
One Last Thing
People going through divorce already have enough on their plate.
There are attorneys, financial decisions, living arrangements, paperwork, family considerations, and often a lot of uncertainty about what life is going to look like afterward.
The appraisal should not make that process harder.
Our role is actually pretty narrow.
We don't decide who gets the house.
We don't determine what each spouse is entitled to receive.
And we don't take sides.
Our job is to answer one important question about the real estate as independently and credibly as we can:
What is the property worth as of the date we're being asked to value it?
Once that question has a supportable answer, the people involved can make better-informed decisions about what comes next.
Need a Residential Appraisal for a Divorce?
Nimbus Valuations provides independent residential real estate appraisals for divorce, property division, spousal buyouts, retrospective valuations, and other family law matters throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout California.
Whether you're a homeowner, family law attorney, or mediator, you can contact us with the property address and a brief explanation of what you need. If you're not sure what type of appraisal is appropriate, we can help identify the appraisal requirements before the assignment begins.