How to handle being given a house

[Andrew Jones]

Let me start off by apologizing if this is the wrong section. 

Ok so here is the deal. My uncle has owned my great grandmother's house for about 15 years. No one has lived in the house since Hurrican Katrina. On Good Friday my sister and I asked him about the house and he said that it had around $10,000 in back taxes and that if we paid the taxes we could have the house. It is a shotgun double in Uptown New Orleans valued at around 310k. He doesnt want to rent it out or sell it to a stranger because it is a family home. So my questions are:

1. What is the easiest/cheapest way to transfer the house into our names?

2. What are the tax implications in the transfer? Is it considered a gift or anything like that?

3. What is the best way to go about renovating it?

4. Can we use the equity in the house to finance and first rental property?

Sorry there is so much here but I can't find much on the internet involving a situation like this.

P.S. We do plan to live in it. Her in one side and me in the other.

[Mike Wood]

@Andrew Jones I would recommend finding out more information on the delinquent taxes.  If its in New Orleans, the tax assessors website is very good about showing whats due and if there were any tax sales.   In most cities, delinquent taxes are sold as tax sales, to private investors.  If this is the case, you will have to pay off the people that purchased the tax sales first (with interest), then any delinquent taxes to the city.  I also think its unlikely that the parish will allow a transfer will outstanding tax debt.  You also likely have city code enforcement liens to deal with.

I would transfer this property using a real estate closing attorney.  Quick claim deeds are very, very messy in Louisiana.  We have some very strange laws for property in this state.  A real estate closing attorney can insure that you get the property with clear title.

Since you mentioned the house has been vacant for over 10 years, its likely to need a ton of work. This will become an issue with any financing.  Definitely something to consider. It would be very difficult to get a loan on a house that is not livable (best bet is some type of construction loan).

Lastly, do some research in the home valuation.  I cant imagine that a house that has been abandoned for 10 years is worth anything near $300k in NOLA, no matter what the area is (and if it is, someone bought the tax liens hoping to do a tax foreclosure in the future).  If its in need of complete gut renovation (very likely), you looking at at least $50/SF if you don't do all of the work yourself.