Did anyone buy their parents home- the home they grew up in?

How did it work out?

Re: Did anyone buy their parents home- the home they grew up in?

We are in the process of doing this right now and I couldn't be happier!

Hopefully it works out well, I will let you know! LOL

The first thing though if you have siblings is to have your lawyer draw something up with an agreement. Our agreement is IF we ever sell, they get the sale price MINUS what we have left to pay on the mortgage MINUS any major renovations divided by 3 ( I have two siblings ). it is just a formality but it was something my mother insisted on since she didnt want it to come between us in the future.

Re: Did anyone buy their parents home- the home they grew up in?

I didn't do this personally, but my step mom did. Pro- it allowed them to live in an area they probably couldn't have afforded on an acre of land. Con- Every once in a while she would complain about how bored she was with the house, how she wanted to different type of house, etc....they definitely changed it up a lot with paint colors and stuff and redoing things, but I guess it was just hard to accept that she would be spending her life in the same house. If she had loved the house, perhaps it would be different, but it is a mid-century split and I know whenever she visits me (I have a colonial) she ohhhs and ahhs over everything, so I think that is more her style....

As far as family wise- they got it for a steal- I think the arrangement was that they paid for her parents retirement house out east- def. not an equal trade. I think it caused come issues with her brother b/c it definitely decreased his inheritance markedly....not really something you want to talk about but a consideration nonetheless.

Re: Did anyone buy their parents home- the home they grew up in?

Message edited 8/19/2009 11:47:13 PM.

Re: Did anyone buy their parents home- the home they grew up in?

I did ! It worked out just fine. My mom moved to PA. and now comes and stays with me when she visits.
The only downfall is that we do not get the first time home buyer tax credit because we bought from a relative... boooo. But other than that it's awesome.

O also to clarify, the way it worked was that my mom knew what amount she would need to pay off her bills (home equity, credit cards etc) and what she could put away to retire. That is the price we mortgaged. So we own the house out right. My two sisters did not care at all. The felt it was better to keep the house in the family then have some stranger buy it. My mom needed to sell and we needed to buy. We got a great home. We DID not get a steal, the only good thing is we didn't need a down payment because of the difference in the appraisal price and the mortgage price.

Message edited 8/12/2009 11:23:56 AM.

Re: Did anyone buy their parents home- the home they grew up in?

Re: Did anyone buy their parents home- the home they grew up in?

We did. My sister was only 20 at the time and was still in college and not interested in buying the house whatsoever.
As others think, We did NOT get it for free, we did NOT get it for a discount. We paid just what someone off the street would have paid.

Pros-I am able to call my parents (mostly in the beginning) to ask what that noise was, or what to do about this or that. My parents (now only mom) stays with us when she visits. We have updated the house and made it OUR home. Know almost all the neighbors as they have stayed or sold to their kids.

Cons-not sure if there is any. I did move out to 2 apts. before that so it wasn't like I never had the opportunity to live anyplace else.

Re: Did anyone buy their parents home- the home they grew up in?

yup!! well.. we bought DHs parents house from them... they had to move to PA for FILs job, and we decided to buy their house when they moved.
we've been here 2 years, and so far its worked out well. DH is an only child, so luckily we didn't have to deal with siblings wanting it or any of that. ILs had already paid off their mortgage on it, so basically they just put the house in our names, and we pay ILs a mortgage every month ( it gets electronically transferred to FILs account)
a lot of our friends think we got a free house, but tahts not the case- they did give us a good price for it ( about 30 K less than they would have gotten from somebody else) but we still have a mortgage to pay, and we still pay interest. FIL tried to make it interest free, but it was something like if we didn't pay interest, then it would be considered a "gift" and we would get taxed like crazy on it.
we don't regret doing it at all. its an older house, so we don't feel guilty remodeling it to make it "ours"... and ILs are good about not making comments when we change stuff. its also good becasue we know that it was maintained well and that they kept it in good shape. it also allowed us to buy a bigger house in a nicer neighborhood without being "house poor"

Re: Did anyone buy their parents home- the home they grew up in?

We did. We bought my husbands parents house. At the time, I was a little nervous about it, because it needed lots of renovations and I thought it might be awkward if we changed everything in the house. In the end, it worked out well for all involved. Good luck!

Re: Did anyone buy their parents home- the home they grew up in?

We did. I have a sibling but he didn't get involved legally. He really had no say, if he wanted it then he could have bought it.

My parents are divorced so that's where it got tricky. My father didn't give us a break at all b/c he's a prrriiickkk. He treated us like 2 complete strangers.

My mother gave us a little break on her end- thank goodness!!!!

I love my block, neighborhood and school district. We made a great choice in buying this house.

Re: Did anyone buy their parents home- the home they grew up in?

We bought my DH's parents' home. It's the one that he grew up in. Honestly...I didn't want to. It doesn't really feel like "our" house, more like his...kwim? He loves it, btw.

Message edited 8/13/2009 12:11:21 AM.