Purchasing a friend's home for lower than appraised/market value

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
November 11, 2018
1 reply
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Hi Everyone,

First, Thank you ahead of time for taking the time to answer my question.

Is there any legal/tax issue to purchase a property from a friend in California who is willing to sell it below appraised value. Example: appraised value of the property is $750K and my friend purchased it awhile ago for $400K and the loan left on it is $300K. Is there any issue for him to sell it at $380K, which is $300k loan amount left and 80K gift equity to cover 20% and closing cost? I've been living at this property and basically been making the payments for the past 10 years and we both decided that it makes sense for me to purchase it at the loan amount. What are the tax implications for the seller and the buyer? What about in California?

Thank you,

Ted

Carl11_2

Employee

The IRS could care less about appraised value. The only entity that cares about appraised value, is the mortgage holder/lender. They want to know that if the borrower doesn't make the payments and they have to foreclose on the property, then the lender can feel comfortable that they can see it for "at least" what is owed on it. So for tax purposes, you can completely disregard appraised value. The IRS doesn't care about that. The IRS only cares that the seller pays their taxes on any gain realized, unless the seller qualifies for the "lived in 2 of last 5 years I owned it" capital gains exception rules.

S

Stinkerbellkity

Employee

Has the seller been claiming this as a rental property for the years you've been living there , with your payments as rental income,as he should have?