Alex Hunt:
Welcome back to the Texas Family Lawyer podcast. My name is Alex Hunt. I am the managing attorney of Hunt Law Firm serving clients throughout the greater Houston area. Today we have a really exciting episode. We're going to be talking about something that a lot of clients will say keeps them up at night when they're thinking about the finances in their divorce. That's their house. Do they have to sell their house? Can they keep their house? What's it going to look like to buy out the other spouse and can they afford to keep the house? I'm very excited to have a special guest with me today, Jennifer Francois, who is a certified divorce real estate expert. Welcome, Jennifer.
Jennifer Francois:
Thank you so much. I'm happy to be here.
Alex Hunt:
So who is this video for? By the end, my hope is that you'll understand the three options for your house. You'll understand a little bit more about community property and how that plays into deciding what to do with your house. And then I'd like to hear a little bit more about a regular realtor versus a certified divorce real estate expert and how that can really impact how your divorce plays out.
Jennifer Francois:
Yeah.
Alex Hunt:
So Jennifer, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you found this niche.
Jennifer Francois:
Yeah. So born and raised in Katy, lived here my whole life. I'm one of the old school Houstonians, so I've been a little bit of everywhere. Went to school at the University of Houston. I have a degree in business management. I've been in real estate my whole career from managing apartment communities to short-term furnished housing to direct home sales for about the last eight years. I have a real estate team here in the Katy area. I service the entire metropolitan area of Houston. So all sides, Katy, Fulshear, Cypress, downtown, you name it, I'll go there.
So yeah, a few years back, I was in a conference, a real estate conference, and they had a breakout session about divorce real estate. At that point, I'd had a number of real estate transactions that were as a part of a divorce. And they're just difficult and a lot of times really messy. And so I went to that breakout session and they talked about... It was given by a CDRE, which is a certified divorce real estate expert. And I felt like it was a niche that was really underserved and one of the most difficult areas of real estate to do well because it's not fun for anybody. So I decided to learn more and I found the certification program that I now have the designation for. And it was an intense, intense certification, lots of classes. I think it was about a six-month-long program. And now I feel so much better when I'm servicing my divorce clients because we do it with grace and everybody gets through it with as little drama as possible.
Alex Hunt:
Yeah. Well, I mean, most of the time when you've got a real estate transaction, you've got two people that want to be part of that transaction.
Jennifer Francois:
Right.
Alex Hunt:
You're dealing with two parties that have ownership of a piece of property that don't want to have ownership of that property anymore. And there's other nuances and things that are going on outside of the real estate transaction. There's custody issues. They might have a trial date coming up, and all of that is playing a role in their real estate transaction. And so I'm glad to see that there's more folks that are getting these certifications. It's still not many of you.
Jennifer Francois:
Yeah, there's not.
Alex Hunt:
And it's a really important thing to have somebody that we can turn to that has shown an interest and has the specialized skillset in order to work with our clients.
Jennifer Francois:
Exactly. We wouldn't have brain surgery with a general surgeon, right?
Alex Hunt:
No, absolutely not. So let me get to the question that I probably, when it comes to financial settlements, that I hear the most, and that's who gets the house in the divorce. And I think to understand that question a little better, we need to understand community property. Texas is a community property state.
Jennifer Francois:
Right.
Alex Hunt:
There's several states in the United States that are community property states. Most of the Northeast is not, a lot of the Southern and Western states are. And the way that I explain this to clients is it's essentially your property, your assets, your money all falls into three different buckets. So you've got a big bucket in the middle called your community property, but then each of the spouses has their own separate property bucket. And when you earn money during your marriage, the money, no matter who earns it, even if you've got a stay at home parent, all of that money goes into the community property bucket and it's owned by both of them.
When you acquire property during the marriage, it doesn't matter necessarily whose name it's in. All that money's going into the community property bucket. But in certain circumstances, each party will own separate property.
Jennifer Francois:
Right.
Alex Hunt:
And that can be acquired by gift. Even if it's a gift from the other spouse, it can be acquired by inheritance if you have a family member that leaves that money to you. There's some other kind of smaller areas, personal injury settlements, things like that. The biggest reason that somebody has separate property usually is that they have owned something before the marriage, and the inception of title is before they got married and therefore it remains their separate property.
So you've got these three different buckets. And so the first question that needs to be answered is, is this house community property or not? If it was owned before the marriage, then it's most likely just one spouse's property and the court's not going to be dividing it up. Now you still need to prove that by clear and convincing evidence in court that it's owned by one side or the other.
But lets for the sake of argument say that this property is acquired during the marriage and it's community property. My question for you are what are all of the options for selling this house?
Jennifer Francois:
Yeah. Yeah. So no, you said that perfectly, obviously. Great attorney in front of us today. So we can sell the home, split the assets, right? Split the proceeds of the sale. We can refinance it into one of the party's names, right? But a lot goes into that, right? Can that person financially be approved for the sale, or of the assumption of the refinance? Or you can assume the loan, okay? Which is I tend to shy away from an assumption because that leaves the departing party still shows as a lien holder. So it may be that you're assuming the terms of the original loan, but it does not remove the risk for the party that's essentially giving up their rights to the property.
Alex Hunt:
And in that same vein, I don't know if you've had this situation come up, but we do that quite often, especially if say there is a stay-at-home parent or there's been a spouse that hasn't been working, doesn't have an income history, and the only way that they would be able to necessarily get a home is if they assume the mortgage. And so we do that quite often. We do something called a deed of trust secure assumption. They keep the house. One of the things that the other party doesn't realize is not only do they have the risk associated with that, but sometimes the mortgage companies will still include that mortgage payment in their debt to income ratio.
Jennifer Francois:
Correct.
Alex Hunt:
And so when they go to get another house, even if they get remarried or they don't get remarried, but they're just trying to get another house, they'll say, "Well, your debt to income ratio is too high. We can't give you another mortgage because you've got too much debt already." Is that something that you've run into?
Jennifer Francois:
Absolutely. And those are the things that I don't think people understand. There's so many risks that come with loan assumptions or just not doing anything and one party moving out and leaving everything the status quo. If the remaining party stops making the mortgage payment, that affects the other's credit still. Your financial situation is really affected, and it's so important that you understand all of the aspects of what the options are and what are the implications if something goes sideways. A lot of times people say, "Oh, well, we're communicating well. It's amicable." Well, but that can change in a heartbeat. We have to take the emotion out of the decision and focus on the math, right? And so those that you choose to partner with are so important. So A; your attorney. B; there's also certified divorce financial planners, which I highly recommend, becomes part of that beginning phase of the divorce because we have to focus on the financial piece and ensure that you're setting up your financial future correctly.
Your home is your biggest asset most of the time. And we have to decide, do we want the house or do we want what the house represents, right? And what the house can do for you?
Alex Hunt:
Right.
Jennifer Francois:
We don't necessarily just need those specific four walls, right?
Alex Hunt:
Yeah. No absolutely. So, one question that I have for you is what are the other options, if say one party wants to keep the house, they can't necessarily get their own mortgage. Are there other options to try to keep that house?
Jennifer Francois:
Well, I mean, if a buyout's not an option, can the terms of the divorce pay off the loan? Are there other assets that could just essentially be what they get out of the divorce? And as far as assuming the loan, that's really about it.
Alex Hunt:
I've had some situations where clients have gone to the mortgage company and the mortgage company has allowed them to assume the loan and remove the other person from the mortgage. But typically that person has good enough income-
Jennifer Francois:
Right.
Alex Hunt:
... good enough credit history.
Jennifer Francois:
They have to qualify for it.
Alex Hunt:
Yeah. They would be able to get a mortgage on their own.
Jennifer Francois:
Correct.
Alex Hunt:
Is that something that you see?
Jennifer Francois:
Absolutely. Yes. And so that's where your financial planner comes in and then also your lender. Okay? So you can absolutely have discussions with the existing mortgage company. What are their options? Will they do all of the right pieces in order to allow the assumption of the terms? But there are qualifications required.
If the remaining spouse does not have any income, doesn't have work history, has poor credit, those are all things that are going to come into play. And so the existing mortgage company is absolutely a resource, right? And that's where I would start, right? Understanding the terms and the options that that current mortgage company will allow. Then speaking with a mortgage broker, a local mortgage broker very specifically. If you have access to a certified divorce lending professional, they're also extremely helpful. They can talk about what your options are. Can the loan be recast? Can it be assumed? Can you refinance just into the one party's name, what the qualifications are? What do we need to write in the divorce decree to ensure protection of both spouses?
So there's a lot of little nuances and details in that it's so important that all parties are involved. The attorney, the lending professionals, the current mortgage company, and then all attorneys that are involved and ensure that each party is protected. And you're also looking at not just the cost of the monthly payment. Can you afford not only the monthly payment, but can you afford the taxes? Can you afford the maintenance on the home?
Alex Hunt:
So that gets to my next question is when somebody's deciding whether they can keep the house or not, what are all of the things that they need to consider?
Jennifer Francois:
Yeah. So the monthly payment, depending on how it's structured with the mortgage, could be just principal and interest. It could be principal interest, taxes and insurance. Okay? So that you'll also hear it referred to as PITI. And so, okay, can you afford that? But then it's, can you afford the upkeep on the house? Can you afford the closing costs of the refinance? Are there going to be new title fees? Are there going to be additional closing costs? Are there any real estate commissions that are required? Are there appraisals needed? Surveys needed? There's a lot of details that go into it. And depending on the financial situation and how the divorce is structured, you got to make sure that those things are considered and can be afforded. And then also if the asset appreciates, that you make sure that it's written in the decree that the spouse that's being removed is not eligible to receive appreciation in the future. Right? Because if it's not written correctly in the decree, that could come back.
Alex Hunt:
And you mentioned certified divorce financial analyst, certified divorce lending professional. It's so wonderful to have a cadre of people that can help our clients. And if you're watching this, don't think that you need to go and find all these folks on your own or you need to retain all this information. We work with professionals like this all the time and we know when you'll need them. We know how to find them. We know how to engage them and we know how to work with them. So this is really just supposed to be a primer and we have these conversations with our clients all the time.
Jennifer Francois:
We're the resource for sure.
Alex Hunt:
And the last thing that I would want a client to do is if they can get a house, because sometimes you maybe can't afford a house, but you can get it in the divorce, and then a month later, three months later, six months later, you realize, what have I done? Because I can't afford this. And then you're in a situation where you're having to do a fire sale because you can't afford the monthly mortgage payment anymore.
Jennifer Francois:
Well, I have a client who, he got the house in the sale and thought, "Oh, this is great. I got the house." Unfortunately, the home wasn't worth what he bought it for and he was upside down.
Alex Hunt:
Yeah. And I'd rather have-
Jennifer Francois:
And he had to short sale it.
Alex Hunt:
I'd rather have clients have those difficult conversations about what they can afford and what they can't before they're stuck with this weight around their ankles of this house and then they're having to struggle to sell it later on.
Jennifer Francois:
Yeah, exactly.
Alex Hunt:
So let's shift gears. We talked about the three options. You can keep the house, you can sell the house, or you can buy out your spouse.
Jennifer Francois:
Right.
Alex Hunt:
So let's dig in a little bit more on buying out. When we say buying out the other spouse, what do we mean?
Jennifer Francois:
Yeah. So at that point, that means that you essentially purchase the property from your spouse. And so the most important piece there is understanding what's the property worth, right? Because it's not the asset. I mean, real estate appreciates four to 6% annually usually. And so if you've owned the home for 10 years and you bought it for 200,000, it's not worth 200,000 anymore. Most likely it's appreciated. And so, whatever that value is on the market, so what we would do is we have a couple of options, is A; we do a comparative market analysis, also known as a CMA. That's where a real estate professional like myself, we run an analysis of what the most recent sold comparable properties are in the surrounding area. And we determine our opinion of what that marketable sales price would be should we sell the property, because that's essentially what you're doing is selling the property to the other party.
Alex Hunt:
Right.
Jennifer Francois:
So, and then we just divide it. And so if you have $200,000 in equity, then you buy out your portion of that from the spouse. But that also then takes on typically a mortgage, right? So again, we have to make sure that we can afford to do that. So going back to what we were talking about before.
Alex Hunt:
So you mentioned the comparative market analysis. That's the way that, whether it's a divorce sale or not, that's how you always start out and that's how you tell your clients what you think the list price should be looking at comparables. For us, typically the gold standard is going to be having an independent appraiser come in. And for our clients though, that often can cost upwards of, used to be $400, now 500, 600, maybe $700 depending on the size of the house.
Jennifer Francois:
Size of the house and depending. Yeah.
Alex Hunt:
And that can be expensive, especially if you're trying to do a divorce a little bit more in a shoestring or there's not a lot in the estate. And so I'll often come to you and I'll say, "Can you help us do a comparative market analysis?" And I've found when we do a CMA and when we do an appraisal, usually it comes out to around the same, but the courts want to see the appraisal.
Jennifer Francois:
Sure.
Alex Hunt:
Are there any other ways that you've seen clients appraise properties or try to get a value?
Jennifer Francois:
Yes. It's a nightmare a little bit sometimes. Yeah. So the comparative market analysis, essentially what a realtor is going to do is try to mimic what an appraiser does. Because typically when we're listing a home, we're using a CMA to start with. But we're trying to look at what an appraiser's going to look at as well, because at the end of the day, that's what the mortgage professional is going to require. Okay?
So part of a typical mortgage process requires a professional appraisal in order for the banks to say, "Yes, we'll loan you this amount of money because the property is officially worth this amount of money." So that is typically something that you need to do during the lending process anyways. But if we don't necessarily have to do it and we can get really close because we are following... A good realtor is following the process that an appraiser follows, we can get pretty close to what that number's going to be and not have the expense, that high of an expense.
So unfortunately what some people do and you should not do is trust the Zestimate on Zillow. I'm sorry. Zillow is a great resource, but it is a resource and it is a computer program essentially.
Alex Hunt:
How off are they?
Jennifer Francois:
They can be 20,000, 50,000. I've seen them 100,000 over, under. You're just not doing yourself any justice when you're just trusting a software program, right? It is reading data, just like all of our bots and AIs that are out there. It is a computer. Okay? You can use it as a tool, but it is not your be all, end all, and is not what you should trust 100% to come up with your numbers. You are doing yourself an injustice.
Alex Hunt:
Okay. So that one's at the bottom of the list of things. If the gold standard is an appraisal, the bottom of the list is a Zestimate.
Jennifer Francois:
Yep. That's correct. And ChatGPT does not know what they're talking about, okay?
Alex Hunt:
ChatGPT is down with a Zestimate.
Jennifer Francois:
Correct.
Alex Hunt:
And this comparative market analysis is maybe just a rung below an appraisal.
Jennifer Francois:
The appraisal.
Alex Hunt:
Where would you put a lot of our clients will, and we'll look at, the county appraisal district.
Jennifer Francois:
Sure. And that's a tool that is giving you one additional piece of data, but the property appraisal district amount is used for taxable value, not market value. So typically the appraisal district number is below what your property would sell for, typically. Now I've seen a few recently just because of the craziness that we had in the market over the last few years where the property appraisal value is higher than the market value. So it's a tool in the toolbox, but it is not the whole box.
Alex Hunt:
So you will routinely sell houses for above what the county appraisal district?
Jennifer Francois:
So 95% of the time. Yes.
Alex Hunt:
Okay. All right. Great. So if a client wants to keep the house, some options we talked about, just buying out the other spouse. If you've got $200,000 worth of equity in that house and you've got $200,000 in separate property, well then you're all set. You could just buy them out.
Jennifer Francois:
Right.
Alex Hunt:
Another option would be if you've got community property, is that you can just shift maybe an extra $200,000 from a retirement account or something like that-
Jennifer Francois:
Absolutely.
Alex Hunt:
... to offset that. Let's say though there aren't other assets in order to buy it out. Say you've got a $500,000 house and it's got $200,000 worth of equity. Do you have any resources or tools where you could try to get some money out of that house to pay the other person out?
Jennifer Francois:
And this is where your lenders come in and your financial planners to understand what your options are. You could do a cash-out refinance potentially. There's home equity lines of credit. But again, those, it depends on the scenarios. There's just so many things that go into it. And I know we hate that answer, it depends. But every situation is so different. But there are potentially options.
Alex Hunt:
Okay. And you've worked with... I know that we've worked with extensively divorce lending professionals where not only do they have the tools to work with parties that maybe don't necessarily want to be doing business with each other anymore, but they also have buyout options where they can potentially get more equity than you might think out of the house.
Jennifer Francois:
Yeah, absolutely. There's a lot of options out there. It's just important... Who you partner with is super important.
Alex Hunt:
Yeah. No, I agree. So just to wrap up this topic, what are some of the biggest mistakes that you've seen people make when it comes to a buyout?
Jennifer Francois:
Yeah. Well, just in general, I think setting your emotions aside, focusing on the math, thinking about your financial future is number one. You have to try not to let your emotions get the best of you, right? Not understanding the implications of how keeping the property are going to affect you as you move into the future. So understanding all of those things, not taking into account all of the additional costs that can come with a buyout or a refinance or even a sale, right? Because it's ensuring that you're splitting all of the costs and not just the price of the property.
Alex Hunt:
Right.
Jennifer Francois:
Right? So you're taking into account every little dollar to ensure that you're not getting stuck with a whole bunch of extra expenses that you shouldn't be, that should be shared. Yeah. Those are big pieces of it. And then understanding if you don't remove yourself from the loan and the other party defaults, how that can impact your future as well.
Alex Hunt:
Yeah. No, certainly. So let me ask you this. One of the reasons I was so excited to have you is you're a certified divorce real estate expert. What does a CDRE do differently?
Jennifer Francois:
Yeah. Well, aside from we go through an extensive training program, okay? To ensure that we understand how a divorce affects real estate and the important things that we can help to guide our clients on that we've been talking about, right? Because a lot of realtors don't understand all of the tiny pieces and implications that go into things. But I think the biggest differential is the way we approach the process. As you've mentioned, the two parties no longer want to be in relationship with each other. They don't want to speak and if they do speak, there's a lot of conflict and it just does not go well. So the biggest differential is, is just the way that we approach it. We have separate communication always.
Alex Hunt:
Okay.
Jennifer Francois:
Each party gets the same level of service. We remain neutral.
Alex Hunt:
So they're not meeting with you together in an initial-
Jennifer Francois:
No.
Alex Hunt:
... visit or anything like that?
Jennifer Francois:
No, absolutely not.
Alex Hunt:
Okay.
Jennifer Francois:
No, no. We don't have joint email communication. We don't have Zoom calls together. We don't meet at the property together. Typically, I start with, I have separate introductory phone calls and have what's kind of an educational meeting with each party separately to help them understand the process.
Alex Hunt:
Okay. And that's extra work that a realtor that doesn't do this might not want to do.
Jennifer Francois:
Well, it's twice as much work because you're doing the same conversations twice, right?
Alex Hunt:
But welcomed for parties that are like-
Jennifer Francois:
Absolutely.
Alex Hunt:
... "I'm dreading having to do this part of the process."
Jennifer Francois:
Absolutely. Absolutely. So that's probably what helps keep things with as little conflict as possible is ensuring that we have separate communication. And each party is getting the exact same thing from me.
Alex Hunt:
Okay.
Jennifer Francois:
And I am extensively trained on remaining neutral and keeping my emotions because I'm human also, right? But remaining neutral, separate communication, helping the out spouse so the person that has moved out understand the condition of the property, right? Because they're not there. They need to know what the condition is and if there's anything that is going to need addressed because of the condition. And so communicating those things as well. Ensuring that if the out spouse does have a need to access the property, that the in spouse has approved it and is not home and then the out spouse is then being supervised. And so there's just lots of little nuances.
We've also been trained extensively on being able to take the stand and testify, if needed. So yeah, that was a fun training and role plays, but it was really good and very, very useful. So yeah, there's just a lot of little details that go into it that make us a little more or significantly more prepared to have a successful transaction.
Alex Hunt:
And that keeping the parties separate, that starts from the beginning, does that go all the way through closing?
Jennifer Francois:
All the way.
Alex Hunt:
I mean, they're doing closing separately too.
Jennifer Francois:
Separate. No. Yes. Two closing appointments. Yeah. Absolutely. There's no need to put people in a position that A; they're uncomfortable in and that is just going to promote conflict. So no huge conflict resolution in real estate in general is challenging at times, but especially when we're going through a divorce.
Alex Hunt:
Well, I've been doing this long enough to know I've seen some unfortunate situations between parties and it's a different podcast, but some stories to tell. And I know that you've been doing this for a while. What are some of the most disastrous or unfortunate situations that you've seen and how did you approach them?
Jennifer Francois:
Yeah. So I mean, again, before I knew that I should be doing all of this separately, having listing appointments at the property with both parties together that end in them screaming at each other and me not knowing what to do.
Alex Hunt:
Yeah.
Jennifer Francois:
I mean, it's just setting everybody up for failure, right? Copying all parties on one email and then that person, we get a reply all and it turns into a fight by email. I've had parties that lock each other out, and it's just one thing after another. And then the most unfortunate and we're experiencing it now, is when the property is not worth anymore what they purchased it for and they're upside down on the house. And that's extremely unfortunate.
Alex Hunt:
So that's a situation where we actually deal with it more frequently now than we have in years past, just given the economy and the fluctuations in the housing market. What do you do when there's negative equity in houses underwater?
Jennifer Francois:
Yeah. So, I mean, best case scenario, there's enough assets to pay off the difference at closing, right? And that's what you hope. If there's not, there's options to approach the mortgage company for what's called a short sale, where the mortgage company will approve to sell the property for less than is owed on the property.
Alex Hunt:
What are the consequences of that?
Jennifer Francois:
There's a credit implication.
Alex Hunt:
Okay.
Jennifer Francois:
It's better than a foreclosure, but it's kind of like that. We were talking about appraisal CMAs estimate, right?
Alex Hunt:
Yeah, yeah.
Jennifer Francois:
It's not much better, but a little bit better.
Alex Hunt:
Okay.
Jennifer Francois:
You will be able to purchase a home in a shorter period of time than a foreclosure would.
Alex Hunt:
And is that something that you would still be involved with or does the mortgage company-
Jennifer Francois:
Yes. Yeah. So the mortgage company-
Alex Hunt:
... get involved?
Jennifer Francois:
... has to approve it. So there's an application process. You have to prove a financial need for it and then that has to go through approval. The mortgage company will then typically order the appraisal to confirm that what is the property worth? And then they'll set a number as far as what they'll accept. And then we market the property as a short sale. And then the short sale process, the short sale closing process does take a little bit longer. So those are just going to be really important that we all stay in communication.
Something else that I try to make sure that in communication when I'm representing divorcing parties is only including the attorney for updates and things that are absolutely necessary so that we are limiting billable hours.
Alex Hunt:
Yeah.
Jennifer Francois:
I know that you want to collect as many dollars as you can, but we want to make sure that we limit the financial impact to that and also not bombard you with a million things that you don't need to be involved in.
Alex Hunt:
Yeah. And if we don't need to have an update, then we don't want to bill our clients for something that is unnecessary and we've hired you for a reason.
Jennifer Francois:
Yeah. Exactly.
Alex Hunt:
And it's to do that work.
Jennifer Francois:
Exactly.
Alex Hunt:
What does a forced sale look like, when one party is uncooperative, they don't want to sell the house, or maybe they're living in the house, but they've either reached an agreement or the court has ordered that the house needs to be... How do you handle a forced sale?
Jennifer Francois:
Those are the funnest ones for sure.
Alex Hunt:
Yeah, I'm sure.
Jennifer Francois:
Obviously it's having it ordered by the court in the decree, ensuring that we have the paperwork in order is what makes my job the easiest because they don't necessarily have a choice, right? And all I can do is be empathetic to that party and help them understand that I'm not here to be the bad guy. I'm just here to help them reach the outcome that's being required.
Alex Hunt:
Yeah.
Jennifer Francois:
Yeah, and it's just communication, empathy and helping provide resources if they need it.
Alex Hunt:
Okay.
Jennifer Francois:
Yeah.
Alex Hunt:
And this is going to be more timely information. We're recording this in 2026, but how long does a divorce sale take in the Houston area right now? I'm sure that there's a lot of, you know, it depends on this and that.
Jennifer Francois:
Yes. Yeah. I mean, every little submarket has different data, right? And in regards to divorce, I think it depends on what phase we're in. Have you already been to court? Do we have initial orders? And it's also important that this be one of the first parts that you start to work on because delaying the sale, the market can change in an instant. Interest rates change daily, sometimes multiple times a day. So delaying the decision can have a massive financial impact. So it really, again, it depends on where we are in the timeline of the divorce, how quickly we can make decisions. Are we selling the property while one or both parties are still living there? Does the property have deferred maintenance that needs addressed? Because I mean, putting the home on the market without ensuring that it is marketable in its best light possible to maximize the return on the investment.
So all of those. Let's assume that we're at a point that we can sell the property where we've made decisions, we've been to court, we have things going or we're amicable and agree that we're going to sell the property. Days on the market right now are typically 60 to 90 days. Again, if the property is absolutely perfect in a pristine neighborhood that sells well, it could sell in as little as a month. But typically we're probably 60 to 90 days from start to finish.
Alex Hunt:
Okay. Well, Jennifer, I really appreciate you coming in today. My key takeaways are number one; know your options for the house. You can keep it, you can sell it, you can buy out the other spouse. The second thing is if you're going to buy out, know your options. And what I've heard from you is utilize the professionals that do this day to day. Your certified divorce financial analysts, your certified lending professionals, and of course your CDREs. And then I mean, I think you've really shown us that having a certified divorce real estate expert can be the difference maker in getting this house sold, and getting it sold with the least amount of stress when you're already going through a very difficult time.
Jennifer Francois:
Absolutely. That's the goal. Absolutely. Who you partner with matters.
Alex Hunt:
Yeah, absolutely. So tell me where folks can find you?
Jennifer Francois:
Yeah. Well, you can always call me 281-638-4873. You can email me at jfrancois@kw.com. You can find me online at francoispropertygroup.kw.com or you can find me on social media, Instagram, Facebook. I love to post funny, silly stuff, but I am also a professional, but life is too short. Might as well laugh a little bit too.
Alex Hunt:
Yeah, I agree. All right. Well, thank you so much for joining us, Jennifer. If you'd like to find Hunt Law Firm, you can find us at familylawyerkaty.com. We have offices in Katy, Cypress, League City and Sugar Land. You can also call us at 832-315-5494. We'll see you next time.