Gift of Equity?? Help

[Inemesit C.]

Is anyone familiar with a gift of equity? 

I'm thinking about purchasing my mother's home as my family consisting of me, my husband and daughter have been living in it and paying the mortgage the last 4 years. The house is located in Brooklyn, NY. It is valued at about $550,000 based off of neighborhood comps and she still owes $384,000 on the home. She currently in a ballon fixed rate loan from a remodification and we will not have the money to pay off the deferred amount of the loan at the loan term which is in 18 years. So I've been trying to figure out ways to save this house as my mother worked very hard to purchase it. I would like to keep it in the family if possible. My concerns are I am currently working on my credit (low 600 Fico), I have limited savings and the house is in need of renovations to bring it up to date. Most of the repairs are cosmetic, but in my opinion the home is in need of a full gut job. I did look into a FHA 203k loan which helps cover renovation costs and also a conventional loan.

I did some research on a gift of equity and I seem to understand the basics including how it can be beneficial in the sense as I can use part of the equity as a down payment for the home. Then I have also read that there can be huge cons like a huge tax bill for my mother on the gift of equity. 

Is this even possible in NYC?