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Zander shops all the top term insurance companies to save you money. Get started at zander.com. We are currently in a
multi-generational
Household, we just moved in not too long ago with my in-laws
But there has been some costly updates that
Probably should have been taken care of a while ago
But my in-laws are expecting us to pay for it, but they haven't fully given us the home yet
Does that make sense? Yeah, I mean when are they planning on giving you the home?
When it's paid off
Okay, that's still a bad idea for tax reasons
But we can couch that for a second and talk about this multi-generational home. So is it just your in-laws and you guys right now?
Yes, there are
Ten of us living here and now
So it sounds like more than that. Is it kids who else is there? We we have six kids. Oh
Okay, so how does this work? I'm curious because I've heard about these
How who pays who so they own the house? They pay the mortgage and then you pay them rent and then we're just paying the utilities
So you don't pay rent
No, okay. So you're living pretty cheaply and they're going to well
Hey, listen, you guys are living here pretty cheap. The house is going to be yours. We think you should pay for these renovations
Yeah repairs. How much is it? Yes
Well, just for example, we have to order like a new
Like a window and that was like nine hundred dollars. So
But it had you know been
Needed to be taken care of before we moved in
So they waited until you guys moved in and said hey a lot bunch of repairs to do
That's fun
Kind of but not really but my husband
Go ahead. Well, I was gonna ask how did this all come about?
Did they offer this as you know a great option in life and you guys were like, let's do it
Yes
My husband got a job opportunity. And so we moved back to his hometown
Left to your own devices. Would you guys want to have your own place?
No, my we we want the multi-generational to to work we want it to work
Okay
Well, then I would do a reset if you really want this to work
I would do a reset on all things finances because it sounds like you guys never actually came to any agreements as to how would
Work other than you guys pay utilities. That was pretty much it
We need a whole lot more than that and the thing about taxes
I mentioned if they give you the house while they're still alive then you lose
The ability to have the step-up in basis
So if they bought the house for a hundred thousand dollars when they give it to you and now it's worth five hundred thousand dollars
Well, you're gonna owe taxes on all the gains
But if they and if you inherited the house after they pass
Well now there's a step up and so the IRS says hey the house is worth five hundred and you got it
And you got it at five hundred. So there's no taxes
So if you went and sold it within a couple months you have no taxes to pay
And so that's one of the issues with giving a home to your kids
It sounds like a really sweet thing to do while you're alive
But it's actually one of the worst things you can do from a financial perspective
So I'd caution you against it
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Recommendation for nearly 30 years go to zander.com today, but it's actually one of the worst things you can do from a financial perspective
So I'd caution you again
Which then complicates it right? Well, how do you get the house?
Well, you need to like buy it from them or or you all live there until they die
I mean, you know you mean from oh, yeah
But if that is that what you guys want though, you want a long-term
Life like this
Yes. Yeah, that's what we're planning on. How old are the parents in their seventies? Okay, so
Listen and people do life different
And if this is how you choose and what you guys value and want to do you do what you guys want
I mean, you're both of you're all adults. Here's my fear Valerie. Is that
Down the line and we've heard crazier than what I'm about to throw out. I'm just making this up
You know, his mom passes away in five years dad 75 meets a woman online at 80
She wants to go and leave and sell the house, whatever whatever and you're 10 15 years into this wonderful plan
Something gets derailed and for 10 to 15 years you and your nuclear family have done nothing from a home
Perspective of building equity of having your own of saving for a home
Quote unquote you're out of the deal now
in this pretend scenario and
Here you guys are in your 40s or 50s and you're starting from nothing from a home perspective
Which is one of the it's the largest purchase you make as a home
It's the thing that if you rent it continues to go up. So that avenues not smart long-term
I mean it just puts you in a in a scenario that can be very sticky that you don't see right now
But could happen in 10 15 years
Someone gets sick right or you have to take care of them
There's a run out of money and now they're doing a reverse mortgage and you can't even inherit the home without paying
Yes, so there's a lot of issues that could arise in the meantime this it sounds
This is why doing deals with family can be a little sticky
and and what I'm gonna propose is gonna sound probably a little heartless, but I would I would almost write some type of
Legal contract that could hold up. Yeah art that literally plays out
It's what we would do if someone did a partnership in business
We don't recommend partnerships that if we do like you got to think about it all
Addiction divorce, you know
You go through all the things that could happen to put you guys in a bad situation and you guys need to lay out scenarios
to protect yourselves
For whatever that could look like in the future. So that's my only word of caution. That doesn't always happen
Sometimes there's crazier things that happen sometimes nothing happens and everything's fine
But we wouldn't have jobs if everything went according to plan for people. Yeah, and they are willing to
Write something, you know get something in in written form
In case, you know XYZ happens
Okay
and then I would also come to an agreement on how repairs and renovations are gonna work because you're gonna have more of this as
Time goes on and so are you guys gonna cover it forever? Are we gonna split it 50-50?
Yeah, that's up to you guys to decide and if you want to foot the bill for this one
But I think if it's $20,000 in repairs and they just neglected to do them
I don't think that should fall on you. Mm-hmm. And then Valerie you and your husband need to have
some really healthy check-ins as well because
Sometimes you get locked in a situation where you start to be really unhappy
Living with his parents and again, maybe not next year, but five six seven years
Resentment plays up and unity mean comes in and yeah, and it starts to erode you guys, right?
Okay, like you just need to be thinking through all of this
Or if he gets another job offer he got a job offer to move home
What if he gets an offer that would triple his salary and it moves you guys somewhere that you like really want to but then
you feel
Stuck in some situations, right? Yeah the house so I they expect you to take care of them regardless of the finances
Yes, because they are in their 70s. Yep
So I would just be I would be looking at every
Possible thing and saying it out loud and you and your husband be in agreements
And I would meet with an estate planning attorney just to help you navigate this not out of like we're not suing anybody
It's just more. Hey, can you help us craft this in a way that makes sense for everybody?
Yeah, I think that would be great and I would feel comfortable probably doing that
Yeah
and they can walk you through those financial aspects of well as well of what I mentioned of inheriting the house versus them giving
It to you while they're alive because that's also some pieces to think about we get too many calls where someone calls in and they go
Yeah, they just gave it to me while they were alive and we go
Well, you have a tax bill on that
$700,000 in gains from when they bought it in 1982
Yes. Yes. Okay. How many bedrooms is this? I'm just curious with ten people there
Three, four, five bedrooms. Wow. So are the kids all bunking up?
No, just some of just some of our boys. They're younger and so they
Also have a bedroom, but there's essentially two like primary suites
And the six kids are splitting three rooms
yes, okay, and then we have a baby with us, but also
There's potential to like make other bedrooms if we need to along the way, but it's a pretty spacious house
It's 7,000 square feet. Oh, wow. This is polite. That's great. Okay. Well, I wish you the best. I really do. Hope it works
It sounds so good on paper like grandma and grandpa there and and dr. Arthur Brooks
He's mentioned this because he his kids live with him. Yes kids, and it's a great situation
Yes, because there's healthy boundaries in place. Yes. It takes everyone has to be functional
He studies this for a living too, which you need to have some financial footing have boundaries be emotionally mentally financially healthy for this to work
Yep
And a lot of thing a lot of people go in blindly
Not thinking about what could be or don't address things and that's when the dysfunction starts to play out
So it can be a beautiful thing if it works
But a lot of times people aren't you know aware of all the traps so just going into it, you know
Eyes wide open is important
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