Taking aunts offer to buy her house cheaply when my sister wants/needs it more?

[Anonquestion125]

When my husband and I were at my aunts a couple months ago we talked to her about how we were looking into buying our first house. My aunt after inquiring what our price limit was asked if we would buy her house. Her house is a beautiful five bedroom and was out of our price range. She however said she would sell it to us for far less. Her husband died a couple years ago and she said she had wanted to move back to Scotland and live with her sister, but had only been holding off because she didn’t want to sell her house to strangers.

I have always loved this house and have lots of fond childhood memories of the please, so we had the house inspected and it’s in really good condition. Even after calculating the extra expenses associated a home of this size it’s still a great deal. So we accepted my aunts offer.

My sister found out and she is upset because she knew that I knew she and her husband were also looking into buying a house and that I should have brought the offer to her first since since she has a larger family and a greater need for more space.

This whole situation has been brought to my aunts attention and she has said that my sister can have the house if I say no, but it’s completely up to me and she doesn’t want to get any more involved and refused to talk about it more.

My main thought on why we should have the house is that my aunt had said she didn’t want to sell the house to strangers. Yes, my sister isn’t technically a stranger, but she very rarely ever goes to visit our aunt (maybe twice a year). Meanwhile me, my husband, and our daughter visit my aunt regularly. Usually twice a month. My husband goes by even more often to help her with any heavy duty chores or to fix things.

My sister says that bringing that up is unfair because she doesn’t have as much free time to visit our aunt as she has four kids all under the age of 10 and no help while I only have one and my mother in law helps out a lot with childcare.

Take your aunts offer. She clearly wants peace of mind about it going to someone who will love it.

To be honest either you or your sister lose out, you were offered first so I think you should go ahead and buy it. You can't reject something of benefit to your family just to appease someone else.

This has the potential to become a real mess so seek professional advice before proceeding.

Your aunt would be gifting you the amount of discount, think about if you would feel differently about it if she was handing you 100k cash and your sister nothing?

Will your aunt be expecting anything in return in terms of staying whenever she wants, final say over decoration choices etc.?

Will other family members have their nose out of joint and constantly be turning to you for assistance because you got a big gift and got a family house so they should get to stay for free if they fall on hard times?

Would there be a problem with family members if you sold the house in the future? Would your aunt expect her discount back if strangers ended up owning the home?

If your aunt spends all her money or just doesn't like Scotland will she be back at your door because you owe her?

There's probably way more questions to ask yourself but those are just some of the pitfalls to consider before proceeding. Please think about it first not because you owe your nephews and nieces but because you may be opening yourself up to a load of hassle and accusations that you have exploited and tricked your aunt.

So incredibly ageist.

There is no indication that the aunt is mentally challenged. And she may well have substantial other assets.

No one is doing anything TO the sister. OP and aunt were going about their business when greedy sister decided to insert herself into the situation.

She is entitled and reprehensible, and any rift will be entirely due to her presumptuous and obnoxious behaviour.

I think you're coming across as grabby tbh. Neither you nor your aunt have considered the financial implications of a cheap sale for her afterwards. What will happen if your aunt needed elderly care & doesn't have enough money to pay for it?

If she does sell it to you at a big discount then you'll benefit twice over because of its increased value. You should not benefit from her will afterwards if you do buy the discounted house.

I hope someone is encouraging your aunt to take independent financial advice. This all sounds very dodgy and raises concerns that your aunt is being encouraged in a course of action that is very much not in her best interests.

Agreed.

@Anonquestion125 can you afford to buy it at market rate? If you are, get your aunt to organise three independent valuations and buy it at the average valuation. That way you are not getting it at a cheaper than market rate price and your sister shouldn't get upset about that. If she can afford buy your aunts house at the going rage then she can afford to buy another house in the area for the same price.

You should keep the house. Your auntie offered it to you and you actually have a relationship with her.

I know you're not the only poster to say this but for all we know the sister and aunt may have a close relationship.They may talk on the phone each week, facetime or keep in touch in other ways, the OP just says that the sister isn't able to visit as much.

I doubt the Op will be back, but not visiting often doesn't mean there's no relationship, especially if distance or family life make it more difficult to travel.

Troll post? Where's OP?!

Do you think that your sister would offer you the house if the tables were turned and it was you with four children?

I would base my decision on the answer to this question.

How is it grabby to accept something offered? I’m sure the aunt is well aware of the implications, yet still wants OP to benefit from it.

As for ‘you should not benefit from her will afterwards’ - wtf? That’s entirely up to the aunt. She’s perfectly entitled to leave it all to OP if she wants to.

Yet knowing the sister’s circumstances the aunt still offered the house to OP, and only threw the sister a bone when she found out about the offer and got angry about it.

Anyway, by the sounds of it (if not a troll post) OP has already accepted the offer.

It was offered to you first. Buy it.

I don’t understand why so many ppl here have a problem with OP taking up the offer.

We have a similar situation in the family. DHs sister is close to their aunt. She was gifted the house while the aunt moved to a retirement flat. Aunt keeps visiting and staying a few weeks during holidays and xmas.

I don’t see a problem with this at all. It’s the aunt’s money and she can give it to anyone she likes!

BUY IT OP, don’t listen to jealous people here.

There will likely be inheritance tax / deprivation of capital issues if your aunt sells for less than it's worth. You should insist she gets good legal advice about this (in relation to both English and Scottish law). This may change her mind about selling to strangers.

www.smoothsale.co.uk/news/can-i-sell-my-house-to-my-child-for-1/

some information that may be useful @Anonquestion125

I imagine you both will be taking legal advice when it comes to the sale anyway, but it if not then you should. Selling under market value doesn’t inevitably mean significant amounts in tax to be paid.

one possible option would be she sells you a portion of the house worth the amount you’re able to pay, then puts the rest in a trust you’re a beneficiary of. I’m by no means an expert on the details, but it’s worth investigating as an option.