Help! An ill family friend wants to sign over house, But...

[Chad Bernstein]

Hey Guys, I am just trying to get some feed back on a situation I am currently involved in. It is still fairly early in the process and do not have all the numbers at this point.

Here it goes. I have a close family friend who has recently gotten sick and it does not seem like it is going to improve. He does not really have any family and considers us his family. He owns a multi family house in College Point Queens NY, I pulled up the comps for the house and it is worth around $550,000, the house was bought in 2003 has a mortgage of $2,900 and is rented out for $3,900 (3 levels each one rented out). So the equity has built for about 10 years, he is willing to sign the house over for $15,000 for medical expenses he has (he is a close family friend so no funny business). He also asked that when I sell I give him 5-10% all of which I have no problem.

This is where it starts to get sticky, he only owns half the house there is another women who he use to be friends with that bought the house with him. My soon to be mother in law has been in real estate for years and put this deal together for the two of them. The relationship went south with the women a few years ago.

I am tempted to make the transaction but I am a little worried, I know there can be many head aches to deal with. I am not afraid of a challenge but I just do not want to be in a position where I get into a legal battle that gets dragged on for a lengthy period of time.

Should I get involved or leave this alone?