Renting vs Selling/Transferring Home to Family Members

Renting vs Selling/Transferring Home to Family Members

Member since 2020 · 1 post · 0 votes

I currently have a 30-yr fixed rate mortgage on a single family home that is my primary residence. My parents live there as well. I'm looking to move out and get a house with my girlfriend within the next few years and have my parents continue to live in the current house. The mortgage is in my name (my parents' names are not on it), so I'm looking for the best way to make this happen. 

If I keep the house in my name and use it as a rental, would I need to do anything other than notify the lender and adjust my homeowners insurance to reflect the house is a rental? It's been a couple of years since my last refinance (conventional loan of $200K, value is around $275-300K). 

If I want to instead make it so that my parents' names are exclusively on the mortgage (without mine), I'm wondering if a sale is the only way to go (the loan is not assumable) or if it's feasible to refinance to get their names onto the mortgage with me, then refinance again to get my name off of it in a year or two. 

I figure the upside to the rental scenario is, of course, investing in multiple properties, while a downside would be having to most likely get a conventional loan on the second house with 20+% down and proof of sufficient enough financial reserves to handle two mortgages. 

In terms of the second scenario, the upside I see is the option to get a different kind of loan (say, FHA with a lower down payment and other assistance programs for K-12 educators like me) since I'd be getting a new primary residence instead of a second home. A concern, however, if we do a sale, is with the price, as I understand that if I sell at too low a price (say, $200K, give or take a few thousand to pay off my current mortgage), the IRS could assess a tax on my parents if the price is more than 25% below market value.

Overall, my primary goal is to create the opportunity to get into another home at minimal cost while keeping my parents in the current home, so I'm leaning toward transferring/selling the current property to them. Thanks for any input! 

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  • Eastern Shore MD · Member since 2018 · 139 posts · 79 votes
    6y

    Jared, you might be surprised what you can do with an FHA loan. FHA loans include one property per FHA loan, owner occupied for at least 1 year, and can apply for new FHA loan in 2 years. If you need to leave in less than a year, you need a really good reason because Fannie/Freddie/FHA/VA and other secondary market makers don't like for you to get owner occupied loans and then not stay in the property.

  • Rental Property Investor · Greenwich, CT · Member since 2015 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    6y

    @Jared Basker, your best route is probably to sell your current home to your parents at FMV. Here's why:

    1. Long-term this isn't a good rental property. At this price point you'll never hit the 1% rule. That means either you won't cash flow or your Return on Equity (ROE) will be terrible.
    2. Since this is your primary residence you'll be exempted from paying capital gains taxes when you sell.
    3. If you sell to your parents, it will be considered a non-arms length transaction and will get closer scrutiny. I've never heard the 25% thing before, but any difference between FMV and sales price would technically be considered a "gift" with potential tax implications for your parents.
    4. You can avoid most seller costs as there's no reason to use agents in this case.

    As an FYI: I always recommend avoiding a FHA loan, if you qualify for a low-down payment conventional loan. FHA has a lot more paperwork, up-front PMI, plus you have monthly PMI for the duration of the mortgage.

  • Member since 2024 · 1 post · 0 votes
    1y

    Hello Jared. 

    can I ask, what did you end up doing with your home?

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