This comes up frequently when some uncle or cousin puts their nephew, etc, on title to an investment property as a "gift" to them.

It takes work, I've seen people invite their bankers to a sporting event or dinner/drink after work when they have a major deal to work on, or send a nice "thank you" gift when it's all done.

Additionally they will match the Menards 11%with a gift card.

One of my bigger internal conflicts was that I've had to use some cheaper maintenance, rehab, appliance, service, etc. options over the years to save money when I was starting out, but I would do my best to facilitate the work to make sure quality & service for my tenants were still good.At the same time sending out christmas gifts, painting murals at my expense for the community, taking 6 days of personal days at my job to assist a tenant through permits/licenses/court hearings, coordinating with attorneys and consultants to help a tenant navigate his business, baby/newborn gifts, and numerous other activities over the years to just make sure I'm there for my tenants whether or not they asked.

Down payments can be gifts from relatives with certain restrictions.  

Let a few more people low ball her, get on her good side with brownies cookies, maybe even a gift card to a restaurant for lunch or something... and you'll win out on the end with great reviews from her and the property.

Have you never received a "Thank you for being our valued customer" gift/coupon from a store/creditor/etc?

For simplicity, let's assume that whatever fund I contribute would be a gift (with consideration to the federal gift tax) and there would be no repayment.

If I were you, I would show them some love this holiday season with a nice gift to say thanks for being my tenant.

-The property is a duplex located in the Bay Area, CA, smack dab in the middle of all the major tech companies, and my mom owns it outright-I currently live in one of the rooms in one of the units, and manage the property (I've done this for 2 years now)-Each unit is 1210 ft^2 with 3 bedrooms, two baths, and a garage-Both units are in very good condition, comsmetically and structurally; although, they were built around 1970-The sale price would be approximately 350k, while the FMV of the home is 1.72M (the difference would be recorded as a gift, of course, thereby reducing the lifetime exclusion amount)-The sale would be done through a term-based promissory note with the appropriate AFR at the date of sale (currently 2.8% for loans of more than 9 years)-We have just enough remaining parent-child exclusion amount to prevent the property taxes from going up after the transfer (current property taxes based on an assessed value of 650k)-Since my parents purchased the property in 2004, there has never been a shortage of good tenants (there are hundreds of high-earning professionals in engineering and tech clamoring to find a place to live here)-Each unit brings in $3,000/mo, and many say we should be getting more (since I live in one of the rooms, however, the total cash flow for both units is $6000 - $700 = $5300/mo)-After the purchase, I would continue to live in one of the rooms; therefore, it would be my primary residence, which, as far as I know, would allow me to claim a homeowner's exemption, ...Hopefully, the above details are enough to be able to form some opinions.