Basically, it's going to be an early inheritance with a contingency agreement drawn in that I would "owe" my brothers the equity of their shares at the time of my parents' death - the equity to pay out would come out of my parents' trust fund minus my portion. The current arrangement with my parents is 75%/25% tenants in common where I own the smaller percentage. So let's just say, for example, that their 75% is worth $450k. This would mean that at the time of their death, each of my brothers would receive $150k out of the trust fund and I would not receive a $150k portion because it was already factored into the equity of the condo when ownership was signed over.
This all came up because my wife and I are having our trust and will done and the tenants in common 25% ownership was raised where only my name is on the deed so I would need to add my wife's name. I initially let my dad know this is what we needed to do in order to get our will/trust done and factoring in the 25% ownership. I also if his lawyer could change the names on the title or if I should just have my lawyer do it. My dad first came back saying maybe we should buy their 75% portion out or perhaps they could carry a mortgage. I was hesitant about this and told them we'd feel more comfortable just having them buy our part ownership back. But he spoke with my mom as well as their lawyer and they determined that gifting it to us would be the "cleanest" most preferable thing for them - I think a large part of it is that they don't want to deal with generating additional income since they're retired, etc. But they said their reasoning is to help us build equity because we have none. Reading "The Millionaire Next Door" I'm feeling quite guilty of potentially receiving this huge economic outpatient care benefit.
One of my biggest concerns is the strings attached. Immediately after talking about helping us build equity (to buy a bigger place lol) my mom started talking about how she wants us to consider moving up to the Bay Area (LOL!). At that point I was like "See, this is why we are hesitant about all of this - there are obviously strings attached, despite the fact that you'd like to think there aren't" to which she immediately denied. But I just think there are going to be certain expectations they will hold us to, subconsciously or not, as well as other unforeseen expectations/strings that will have caught us off-guard. Not to mention, I think this *may* cause some amount of ill-will amongst my brothers and SILs based on the likelihood of appreciation and how they would not be benefitting from it. That said, do you guys think this is a good idea and worth taking them up on for the sake of "equity"? I mean, it *sounds* great but is it really?
On a side-note: for whatever stupid reason, I broached the idea of my current potential real estate investing ventures with my parents. I don't know why I brought it up - both my parents are ultra-conservative and would rather have me consult with their financial advisor for investing matters. My mom immediately started freaking out saying how she's concerned about how I'm talking and wants to know who I've been talking to and where all these crazy ideas came from. She kept telling me how the way I'm talking is really scary and that real estate is really risky. It was probably 10-15 minutes of back and forth bantering between a risk-averse person and risk-tolerant person, and a bit tense at times. I find it somewhat ironic though since they own a few rental properties themselves (but they are local except the one that we co-own here in SoCal). Her main concern is that I lead a stable life so I can provide for my family, put my two kids (for now) through college [hah], etc... she thinks that with real estate investing, I'm going to lose it all and go bankrupt. It was almost like listening to someone reading various snippets of zerohedge articles to me. She then told me to talk to both my brothers (I'm assuming because they too hold the same viewpoint as her and my dad). The oddest thing she said at the end was "well, if you think it's something you'll enjoy doing then I'm okay with you going into it full time. But I think it's not a good idea for you to do it on the side because you'll be sacrificing being there for your family" - I suppose I see what she means but I think it's way risker to dive into REI head-on and quit my day job versus trying to do it on the side when just starting out.
I should point out that I'm the youngest of three and my mom has, unfortunately, inherited her mother's worry-stress-freakout gene (if such a gene exists). The combination of "he's the baby syndrome" and her worry-wart mentality often leads her to get into her teacher/lecture mode. And she's the type of person who can't sleep at night because she'll run things through her head over and over, even when it doesn't directly concern her. They're visiting in a week, so fun-times ahead :P Either way, I realize I'm a grown-a man and plan on making my own decisions. Just looking for some feedback to make a wise(r) decision :)