Options buying investment property off of a relative.

Options buying investment property off of a relative.

Manufacturing Engineer · New Bedford, MA · Member since 2015 · 8 posts · 1 vote

Hi All,

It's been a while since I've been on this forum, although I am out there making moves! I have a situation where I can buy a property off of an aunt for a really good price. I want to see what options are out there to avoid her getting slammed with taxes. It is a multi family property that she uses as investment only. I would be buying it as such and don't plan on living there. She's held it for a long time and has basically fully depreciated it's cost. Sorry if some of the things I'm saying aren't completely accurate, still learning!

Here's some details:

Property Value: $280,000

Current Mortgage: $100,000

What I would buy for: $180,000

Options:

1: Sell outright. I think, even though I'm getting a deal, she would get taxed on capital gains for the market value of the property?

2. Gift. Same thing, she would get taxed on anything over the $14k annual gift limit.

3. A thought, can she 1031 the property for a better property and then put the new property in my name deferring taxes? Guessing this is a no because it will all have to occur under same name/tax id for the 1031 to be valid.

4. Is there a way to do this deal with seller financing? If so, could you give me an example?  She would probably be willing to pay off the mortgage balance and hold the whole $180,000 note for me. Is there a way to pair this where the $14k annual gift to alleviate some taxes?

All just thoughts, any input would be greatly appreciated!

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  • Investor · Marlborough, MA · Member since 2017 · 150 posts · 74 votes
    6y

    Hi Michael,

    I was in a similar situation recently and inquired with a real estate accountant in MA. I was hoping to purchase a couple of properties from my parents with the ultimate goal of minimizing tax burden for them. Unfortunately in my case (and seemingly yours) the options were limited to reduce the capital gains tax impact. As explained by my accountant, your family member could technically gift you the entire property and count that gift against the lifetime tax exclusion. However in this case your basis in the property would be 0, so in the future if you were to sell you would pick up the entire tax burden. Seller financing seems like it may be a viable option and should save your family member the need to pay for agent fees/closing costs. However your family member would still need to pay capital gains tax on annual payments so that doesn't address that concern. Hopefully this helps a little.  **Disclosure that I am not a tax professional and not giving professional advice but just sharing my .02!

  • Manufacturing Engineer · New Bedford, MA · Member since 2015 · 8 posts · 1 vote
    6y

    Thanks for this response Damian, I appreciate it! Say I do go the seller financing route, ultimately she will spread out the capital tax gain over the duration of the note? In addition, she will be making interest off the note which would help recoup some of that? Is there anyway to use the $14k tax free annual gift in this set up? Hopefully I'm thinking about this correctly.

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