Posted by Dave T on June 27, 2001 at 10:39:04:
“Just didn’t want to let a good thing slip away is all…I am certain that the executor (NOT me) will wish to sell when my parents are gone, and I would have liked to have the upper hand in any possible investment strategy I could put into effect THEN, by owning the property.”
This sounds like an emotional response. Why is it so important to you to own your parents’ home? Why is this such a “good thing”. Why not let the executor sell the property and divide the proceeds. On a cash basis, you end up with the same amount in cash as you would have in equity if you buy out your siblings’ shares of the property.
“This isn’t something I am planning to cashflow immediately, just looking to the future and would like to be in control… or isn’t that a good idea?”
If it doesn’t cash flow immediately, when will it cash flow (if ever)? If it doesn’t cash flow, why not put your money into something that generates income/profit for you?
“Isn’t there some way I could just take over the deed & make some sort of mortgage payments to fulfill the value of the estate (minus my part), or should I just wait and buy out my sibling’s parts of the property at their time of death?”
Once again, if you buy your parents’ home now, you lose the tax advantage of inheritance. You mention giving a mortgage and in your earlier post you said you would give your parents enjoyment of the property for the rest of their lives. Your parents’ estate is not diminished because they sell you the home. They are just converting equity in their property to cash. The cash will still be in their estate, so you really do not diminish the value of their estate by buying their home. Your parents will diminish the value of their estate by spending the cash. Whatever amount they do not reinvest, they may choose to give to your siblings or to charity. If instead you are considering asking your parents to hold the mortgage (owner finance), then the estate executor could accelerate the mortgage to facilitate settling the estate. You would need to be prepared to refinance in your own right if that should happen.
Again I challenge you to submit this plan to a rigorous investment analysis. Since you did not give any numbers, I can’t give you an objective opinion. However, I suspect that when you eliminate emotion from the process, and you may find that this is not really a very good deal for you.