4 Ways To Help Your Parents Own A Home

Real estate can be unpredictable. Learn tips and tricks you can use to keep your finances in check throughout the buying or selling process.

4 Ways To Help Your Parents Own A Home

20 August 2019
 Categories: Real Estate, Blog


If you want to help your parents own a home, you can go about it in several ways. Below are four ways that some people have found useful.

1. Buy and Gift to Your Parents

One way to give your parents a house is to treat it just like any other gift. This means you buy the house and deed it to your parents as a gift. For this method, your parents won't even become involved in the purchase process, so they don't need to come up with the deposit or make the mortgage payments.

This option makes sense if you are wealthy and can easily buy a home without batting an eyelid. However, you need to consult tax professionals first to understand the tax obligations before you go through with the plan.

2. Buy and Rent to Your Parents

Another method is to buy a house and let your parents live in it as tenants with you as the landlord. This is a good option if your parents can easily afford the rent, but they cannot qualify for a good mortgage rate and don't have the down payment.

Again, you have to consider the tax implications before taking the plunge. For example, you can only claim all the tax deductions available to landlords only if you rent the house to your parents at the prevailing market rates.

3. Co-sign the Mortgage

Another option is to co-sign your parent's mortgage. This is particularly a good way to go about the problem if your parents have the down payment money, but they cannot afford the monthly payments without running into financial difficulties.

Note that co-signing the mortgage loan makes you essentially a co-owner of the house as far as the mortgage financier is concerned. This means you will be on the hook if your parent's default on their share of the loan. Carefully evaluate how the loan and the risk of default form your parents might affect your credit rating in the future.

4. Gift Them the Down Payment

The last option is to gift your parent's down payment money and let them handle the rest of the process on their own. This is good if your parents can qualify for and have the means to pay the mortgage, but they are struggling to come up with the down payment.

It's best to give your parents the money far in advance so that the large deposit doesn't show up on the financial statements when the lenders ask for the papers. Mortgage lenders tend to be skittish about the sudden influx of money around the mortgage application time. Since financial gifts are taxable above a certain amount, you should also factor in the tax issues for the donation. Speak with a real estate agent to learn more tips for potential property buyers in your situation.

About Me
Talking About Real Estate Finances

Welcome to my website about real estate finances. My name is Reina. I would like to talk to you all about the financial aspect of buying, selling and renting real estate. I will share tips and tricks you can use to keep your finances in check, even when the market feels unstable or you have to dip into your savings for yet another repair. I will also discuss the pros and cons of hiring a property management company to assist you in the renting process. I hope you will follow along and learn all you can about managing your real estate finances. Thanks for visiting.

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