My mom wants to purchase a home with cash and have me and my neice sign to be the owners

Submitted by Roland_18 t3_yho3kb in personalfinance

Per the title, my mom wants to purchase a home and have my niece and I own it. She's expecting my niece and her boyfriend to live in the home and pay her (mom) a monthly rent.

I already live somewhere else and do not need a place to live or anything. I feel like there's a lot that could happen because of this situation but I don't know a lot about property ownership or what questions I need to ask.

So I ask you fine folks for help! What are the big things I need to know about, what questions do I need to ask and who do I ask? Do I need to have a contract drawn up between my niece and I?

Thank y'all!

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ChassidyZapata t1_iuhev85 wrote

You’d be responsible for taxes if something were to happen and your mom doesn’t pay. What is the reason she can’t put her own name on the home?

And if the niece and boyfriend don’t pay the monthly rent, they don’t have to since the niece will legally own the home. Good luck with that. If anything, why can’t your mom just let you own it?

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Roland_18 OP t1_iuhj57t wrote

Happy cake day! Lol

So, mom is on disability and is worried that the government will take it away if she adds property to her name.

I also said that only one of us should own it.

A lot of this just makes no sense at all to me and I'm definitely worried about it being a headache

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kaprin_02 t1_iui8gm2 wrote

If your mom is the disabled person (ie, not collecting a spouse’s disability payments as a widow or something like that), there is no means testing to qualify for SSDI payments. The disabled person is disabled, and qualifies for payments, no matter how much money/assets they have.

If your mom has enough cash on hand to buy a house, how is that any different from owning a house? Assets are assets, regardless of what type they are.

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KReddit934 t1_iuhjdwm wrote

The group is going to advise no, I think, with the info you've given us.

If Mom has the money, the house should be in her name.

If she is trying to hide assets, there are a ton of ways this could go wrong and make a mess for you.

Just say, No, thank you.

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ChiSquare1963 t1_iuho3nt wrote

You said your mother is on disability and is afraid she’ll lose the home if the agency paying disability finds out she bought a house. That sounds like she’s hiding assets to defraud government. She needs to check rules of the disability program, as they are usually based on replacing income, not on assets.

Co-owning a house makes you responsible for taxes and insurance and maintenance.

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Roland_18 OP t1_iuhob4o wrote

Interesting thought and a quick Google tells me that it looks like they don't give a damn about assets and she will be fine. This is a huge help! Thank you!

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Subnauticawtf t1_iui33ni wrote

If your mother is on SSDI specifically and not SSI. Assets and unearned(passive and rental income) does not affect anything. She could buy a house, then buy 3 rental properties and as long as shes not managing them personally, they are considered unearned income and will NOT be held against her SSDI. There is no restrictions based on property. Donald Trump could recieve SSDI and still own all that rental real estate and collect the rent. Thats how the current law is setup. She should call and speak to a disability attorney, they should be able to explain all of this and answer all questions.

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AlissonLeech t1_iuhghlf wrote

This can end bad for your mom and be a huge headache for you and your niece.

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yourlittlebirdie t1_iuhj5ph wrote

What is your mom’s reasoning for wanting to set things up this way?

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Roland_18 OP t1_iuhjflz wrote

She's on disability and is worried that it will be taken away if she adds property to her name.

Other than that, mom is a pretty quiet person and hasn't really told me much else. In this situation, I dislike she's so secretive

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EmberOnTheSea t1_iuhkqu6 wrote

Sheltering assets from a government program is fraud. Getting involved in this would not be a good idea.

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BogBabe t1_iuhjyt5 wrote

Why why why?

Why does your mom want to purchase a home with cash, if she's not going to live there?

Why does your mom want your niece to pay rent on a house that your niece will own? What's the plan if the niece stops paying? There would be no legal recourse.

Why does your mom want your name on anything, if you're not putting any money in and won't be living there?

Why does your mom want you and your niece to co-own a home?

What's the benefit to anybody from any of this?

This is a disaster waiting to happen, and could potentially also be fraudulent, depending on why your mother wants to buy a home but not have her name on the deed.

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Roland_18 OP t1_iuhkdwb wrote

These are all questions I have as well! Very little makes sense to me.

Mom is on disability so that's shy she doesn't want it in her name.

I think she wants me to eventually own the home but with that it makes no sense for my niece to own too. I feel like it's a disaster as well.

Can you elaborate on how it could be fraudulent? That's the kinda stuff I don't understand but definitely want to know how to sus it out

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BogBabe t1_iuhq4ex wrote

People often put assets (such as money, houses, cars, etc.) into someone else's name in order to keep their own assets below a certain level so that they're eligible for Medicaid, nursing homes, or other such programs. I don't know if your mom's disability income has a limit on assets — I'm not at all sure that any disability income has an asset limit — but if she wants to buy a home and put it in someone else's name in order to keep receiving that income, then yes, it would be fraud.

Basically, if she would lose that income because she has money in the bank or a house in her name, then doing what she wants to do would be fraud.

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