Can I help my Mom by buying her house?

[Oddmund T.]

I need help and ideas as a new investor and hoping to get good sound advice from a seasoned and trusted investor, preferably someone familiar with the South Florida market or general advice.

My Mother is looking to me for answers to a dilemma that my sisters and I are struggling to figure what to do with our childhood home built in 1988.

After Hurricane Harvey, Mom took advantage of Florida’s Hardest Hit Home Remodification program. She owes the bank $280,000 and Zillow Zestimate has the home valued at $560,000. I estimate it’ll need roughly $100,000 in repairs. We would all love to keep the home since our late Father built it and it’s in an excellent location and home prices are rising so we’d ideally keep it as an investment and Airbnb it for cash flow. At 80, she doesn’t have money to fix it up so she wants to sell as is. Our neighbor wants to buy the house for their children but is lowballing us which is understandable for after market valuation.

Without going into much detail, I just bought a house 2 years ago and my sisters and I also got Mom a smaller place in Houston Texas where we all reside. So now my likely options that I am looking into include:

1. Somehow acquiring the property to fix it up to Rent thereby keeping it as an asset to jumpstart my portfolio investing journey?

2. Maybe something like a Cash out Refi, then pay the bank back, use the rest to remodel the house to sell for $680k ARV or keep to Airbnb

3. Sell as is, give bank money back and take a loss and just be done with it (Our least favorite option).

4. Is a Private Lender an option for me to Buy and Hold?

I’ve read so many books in the last two years as well as watched vids on BP and I may be confusing different concepts from learning so much but I’m still new and need to jump in the deep end so I’m coming to the community in order to make an informed decision. I know which way I’m leaning but if anyone has some other creative ideas or something I may not have thought of, I’d love to hear them.

Thanks in advance and best regards,

O.T. Menson