More advice, please!

[chowder]

If you decide to lease out your house, one idea you might consider is to get a property manager to do it for you. My parents just got one to do their rental property and it is saving them a lot of heartache. The property manager takes a small percentage but is responsible for dealing with all the repairs, leases, interviews with prospective tenants, etc. After years of renting the property by themselves, my mom is so much happier just letting the property manager deal with it all.

But, they live in a big city. I'm not sure if something like that exists by you.

I do know that around here, everyone is renting out their houses instead of selling right now because the real estate market is so bad. There doesn't seem to be a problem being able to find renters though. Good luck.

[xellil]

If you decide to lease out your house, one idea you might consider is to get a property manager to do it for you. My parents just got one to do their rental property and it is saving them a lot of heartache. The property manager takes a small percentage but is responsible for dealing with all the repairs, leases, interviews with prospective tenants, etc. After years of renting the property by themselves, my mom is so much happier just letting the property manager deal with it all.

But, they live in a big city. I'm not sure if something like that exists by you.

I do know that around here, everyone is renting out their houses instead of selling right now because the real estate market is so bad. There doesn't seem to be a problem being able to find renters though. Good luck.

We have a property manager for our house in Texas. Sometimes I get irritated because he seems to be making alot of money for doing nothing, plus he charges me $35 to make a house visit. But I would never do it myself - too much hassle, especially if you have a bad tenant or when trying to rent the place.

My realtor is telling me we should lease our house in Indiana when we move out. If it doesn't sell in the next few months, we probably will.

[MollyWoppy]

Double agree with every bit of advice xxellil gave you. Do not stay, get out and start again. It is kinder on him (he'll realise it one day) and kinder on you.
My SIL tried the live together thing for 6 months, him in the basement, her upstairs. It just got nastier and nastier, she would go out and have panic attacks about going home, where he'd be sitting drinking and waiting and getting angrier and meaner the longer she was out.
In the end she had to call the police one night. You'd have never, ever thought that would happen between those two, so don't presume it couldn't happen in your situation either. You think you know someone, but they can change drastically when they are desperate.
Renters or flatmates for your husband, they sound like your answer right now.
I'm really so sorry this has happened.

[Janet At Nutro]

Maybe I missed the answer to this question in a previous post, but why do you have to move out?
Why doesn't he move out? Then you could get a roommate, or rent the basement.

[hmbutler]

Maybe I missed the answer to this question in a previous post, but why do you have to move out?
Why doesn't he move out? Then you could get a roommate, or rent the basement.

My guess would be that because she instigated the separation, she is the one to move out. In a way I think this is fair

However I do think that if you decide to rent the house out, or continue to own it but your husband wants to live in it, he should pay a greater share of the mortgage (in essence, he should pay rent, for the right to live in the house).

I think if it's possible to rent the house out and have it cover most/all of the mortgage costs, you should definitely try to keep the house, and rent it out, rather than lose a bucket load of money by selling quickly. However if the loss of money isn't a huge issue, it may be better to sell and cut all ties to one another (though this will always be impossible because of the dogs)

As for the $200 rental - it looks like a sign to me!

[Northwoods10]

Maybe I missed the answer to this question in a previous post, but why do you have to move out?
Why doesn't he move out? Then you could get a roommate, or rent the basement.

I decided I would move out based on the fact it was my decision to get the divorce. But, last night we were talking and I brought up the subject of me keeping the house and him finding a different place. He is not against that...just isn't sure where he'd go. He hasn't taken a proactive approach to finding anything like I have. I am willing to get a part time job if need be to stay in the house and keep my dogs there, what is normal for them. I really don't think he is willing to go out and get another job to support himself to stay there. I've done it before, I know what its like to work 60-70 hour weeks.

The whole thing is just difficult because I feel like we need to make a decision so that I don't miss out on that other house.

We did decide that if the value of our house is too low, we won't put it up for sale. One of us will just have to stay there or find someone to rent it. We'll find out tomorrow...

Thanks for all the tips.