Nobody buys a home expecting to have this conversation. But I have it more often than you might think.
A couple separates. They have lawyers. They have a plan, in theory. And then someone asks: what do we actually do with the house?
It’s one of the most complicated questions in real estate, not because the answer is technically difficult, but because it lands in the middle of one of the hardest moments in someone’s life. The Globe and Mail reported last week that a growing number of separated couples are staying under the same roof simply because they can’t afford not to. The market has softened, equity has shrunk, and renting a second place in Toronto is its own financial problem. People who decided to split are still living together months later because the math doesn’t work out.
I’m not a lawyer or a financial advisor. But I am the person you call when it’s time to figure out what the house is actually worth and what your real options are. Here’s how I walk people through it.
You Have Two Options, Essentially
When a shared home is involved in a separation, it almost always comes down to this: one person buys the other out, or you sell.
There are variations, but that’s the core of it.
Buyout means one person takes ownership of the property and pays the other for their share of the equity. This keeps the home in the family, avoids a sale, and can make sense if one person can qualify for the mortgage on their own and genuinely wants to stay.
Selling means you list the property, split the proceeds according to whatever agreement you’ve reached, and both move forward separately.
Neither option is automatically better. It depends on the equity you’ve actually built, what the home is worth right now, what each person can afford going forward, and sometimes, what your lawyers are working out.
The First Thing You Need Is an Honest Number
Before any of this can move forward, you need to know what the home is actually worth in the current market. Not what you paid for it. Not what the neighbour sold for in 2022. What a buyer would pay for it today.
That number matters for both paths. If someone is buying the other out, they need to pay fair market value for that equity. If you’re selling, you need a realistic sense of what you’ll net after fees, closing costs, and any outstanding mortgage.
In the east end right now, the market has shifted. The Globe and Mail cited HouseSigma data showing the median GTA condo sold for $548,000 in May 2026, down 7.8 per cent from the year before. Detached homes dipped too. About 74 per cent of all homes are selling below list price. That’s not a crisis, but it’s a meaningful shift from where things were a few years ago, and it affects how much equity is actually on the table.
Getting a proper market assessment early, before anyone has committed to a number, prevents a lot of painful surprises later.
Timing the Sale Is Its Own Question
One thing I see come up often is whether to wait. The thinking is usually: the market is soft right now, maybe we hold on until it recovers and get more out of the sale.
That logic is understandable. It’s also complicated.
Holding the property together while separated comes with its own costs. Someone has to keep paying the mortgage, property taxes, and maintenance. If neither person is living there, that’s carrying costs with no benefit. If one person is living there and the other isn’t, the situation can get complicated quickly.
Sometimes waiting makes sense. Sometimes doing it now, even in a softer market, is the cleaner call financially and emotionally. That’s a conversation worth having with your lawyer and your real estate agent together, because the real estate math and the legal math don’t always point the same direction.
What I Can Actually Help With
My role in this situation is specific. I can tell you what your home is worth right now. I can walk you through what a sale would realistically look like, what it costs, what the timeline is, and what you’d net at the end. I can be a steady, no-drama presence in a situation that already has plenty of drama.
What I won’t do is take sides. When two people are selling a shared property under difficult circumstances, my job is to get the best outcome for the asset, which is ultimately what both parties are relying on.
If you’re in this situation and trying to figure out what your options actually look like, I’m happy to have that conversation. No pressure, no pitch. Just a straight answer on what the home is worth and what the process looks like from here.
Call or text: 647-212-8599 or book a free call here.
Scott Duvall is a real estate agent based in Cliffcrest, specializing in the east end of Toronto and the Durham Region.