Quitclaim, Gifting Real Estate

[Brennen Cook]

Hey BP! I need some help.

My Uncle owns a home with significant equity. My family, Uncle Included, want to take advantage of this equity to invest in real estate. Thing is, of course, there are a few hoops to jump through, but first let me get into some details.

My Uncle built the home himself and would rather not sell it if there is some other way. My uncle owes $151,000 on the property and currently has a $89,000 income tax lien on the property. The house is in need of serious repairs and as it sits, my educated guess ( Based on property tax values of comps and the fact that the same architect built 3 similart homes and his neighbor sold his house a year ago for $2.8 Million) its worth $1.5 Million or so. Completely renovated we've been quoted, priced to sell, at $2.95 million. He is also on Prop 13 tax rules!! VERY IMPORTANT! Our bottom line is to simply pull out the equity for use as we see fit. We are working with legal counsel on estate planning and the like but I thought I would reach out to the BP community.

My main concern is how can we achieve our goal in a timely manner while being the most tax efficient? Is there anyway we can gift the estate in its entirety without paying hundreds of thousands of dollars? Could we use a quitclaim deed ( Not sure if I even understand that or if I am using it correctly)? Any other ideas?

My uncle is fully on board to do whatever it takes. Create an LLC or whatver else.... If we have to renovate and sell we will. Trying to avoid that. Thanks again everyone. BP has not failed me yet!