buying a house with parents

[Mimi]

Just trying to figure out different options for my aging parents that would help them after they can't/stop working.  If I help them purchase a house, then their monthly housing cost will be lower.  No, I won't be living with them.

Any thoughts on this?  Would it be more MM to help them with their monthly expenses, instead of buying a house with them?

[nomad100]

Talk to both an accountant and an elder law atty.

There could be tax implications for you and Medicare impact for them to jointly own a home with someone who isn't a spouse.

[lys]

Definitely talk with an Elder Law attorney as this could impact qualifications for other services for your parents.

[mich1]

A friend of mine bought a house that she 'rents' to her folks for a very minimal cost.

[Pom]

Mar 27, 2015 17:49:07 GMT -5 mich1 said:

A friend of mine bought a house that she 'rents' to her folks for a very minimal cost.

We have family that did this, but I would check with an elder care attorney before hand.

[livinitup]

Do they own or rent now? Would they want or have the opportunity for low cost/subsidized (senior) housing rentals? Will they need long term care, do they have insurance for it? Can they maintain a property independently? Do they have savings to make your ownership an investment opportunity for you? I kinda feel like your question is comparing apples, to oranges, and pineapples and tomatoes.

[imojoebunny]

If you can afford to buy them a place and rent it back to them for the cost of the mortgage, that is probably going to be cheaper long term than a regular rental, if you can deal with it yourself.

Be careful though if they have limited assets and might need to go into home that is subsidized by the government. Usually, you have to have no assets to do this without having to pay, but that excludes your primary home, which since one parent will likely outlive the other, if there are assets, you might want to have them buy their own home using those, then help them pay the day to day instead, vs. buy the home yourself and have them keep the cash/investments.

Sorry you are dealing with this.

[niq]

I just wanted to say I'm sorry and good luck with your family's situation.

It sounds like you really ought to talk to an elder law attorney and/or state & local aging services given the situation. It's very easy to screw this up, and you may have to make tradeoffs around making it easy to stay eligible for this or that program.