Why You Should Buy Your Parents’ Home and Rent it Back to Them

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Mark J. Kohler August 25, 2025 • 6 min

Mark J. Kohler, CPA and attorney, has helped millions of Americans improve their finances through practical, trustworthy tax and wealth strategies. Mark's mission is simple: deliver credible, actionable financial advice and guidance you can always rely on.

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Don’t wait to inherit it. Buying your parents’ home and renting it back may sound unconventional, but it’s one of the smartest moves you can make. It frees up cash for them, gives you tax perks, and keeps the home in the family where it belongs.

Why Not Just Wait to Inherit?

That’s the big question. Why buy it now if you’ll get it later anyway? A few reasons:

Cash flow for your parents: Selling now can give them the liquidity they need to cover retirement, healthcare, or long-term care costs.
Asset protection: If the home is debt-free, it’s a big target in lawsuits. Taking it out of their name shields it from risks tied to them, like accidents or creditors.
Medicaid planning: If long-term care is on the horizon, owning the home can make Medicaid qualification tricky. Selling it now (and doing it right) can smooth the path.
Control and flexibility for you: Once you own it, you decide whether it’s rented, rehabbed, converted into a short-term rental, or sold later in a 1031 exchange.

Inheriting might seem simpler, but buying the house now can solve financial stress today, give you options for tomorrow and come with the following benefits:

Unlock Cash Without Losing the Home

For many parents, their house is their biggest source of wealth, but it’s also locked-up equity. Selling it to you provides them instant access to that cash without having to deal with banks, strangers, or a reverse mortgage that wipes out any inheritance.

With a properly structured sale, your parents often won’t owe any tax on the transaction. Thanks to the home sale exemption ($250,000 for singles and $500,000 for married couples), most gains are completely sheltered. That means they get the cash out tax-free, while you acquire the property at a stepped-up basis equal to your purchase price.

This move also gives you options on financing. Sometimes you can assume their existing mortgage, sometimes they “carry the paper” and simply forgive the balance later. Either way, the result is the same: they get liquidity, you gain control, and the home stays in the family.

Give Your Parents Peace of Mind

A home is more than four walls. It’s comfort, security, and community. By buying the property and renting it back to your parents, they get to stay in the place they love, without the financial burden of ownership.

Rent should always be set at fair market value to keep the IRS happy. But here’s where you can be flexible: courts have allowed reduced rents (up to about 20%) when renting to family members, because you’re saving on management and upkeep. And if your parents can’t afford the rent at all? You can “gift” the difference back using the annual gift tax exclusion. With multiple family members involved, that could be as much as $60,000 a year in tax-free gifts. On paper, it looks like rent is being paid. In reality, your parents feel secure, and you’re creating the right documentation to keep auditors satisfied.

The bigger point: you’re giving your parents dignity. They can keep living where they want, surrounded by familiar neighbors and routines, without feeling like a burden. That peace of mind is priceless.

Protect the Family Wealth

If your parents own a home free and clear, it’s not just a blessing, it’s a liability. One lawsuit, accident, or creditor could put all that equity at risk. And let’s be honest, older parents behind the wheel can be one fender-bender away from a major legal mess.

Transferring ownership protects that equity from being exposed to personal liability. It can also help with Medicaid planning down the road. While Medicaid rules vary by state and include “look-back” periods, removing the home from your parents’ balance sheet may eventually improve their eligibility for long-term care benefits.

Think of it this way: you’re building a firewall around the family’s biggest asset. The home is no longer vulnerable to accidents, lawsuits, or state recovery programs. Instead, it’s producing rental income for you and stability for them.

Maximize Tax Benefits While You Help Them

Once you own the house, it becomes a rental property—and with that comes a whole basket of tax perks. You can depreciate the property, deduct repairs and improvements, and write off travel costs when you go to “visit your tenants.” Those deductions can offset the rental income, often leaving little or no taxable profit.

And don’t underestimate how valuable depreciation can be. Even if your parents aren’t actually writing you checks for rent, having the paper trail of fair market rent gives you legitimate deductions. Down the road, if you sell, you may even be able to use a 1031 exchange to roll the gains into another property, keeping the family wealth growing while deferring taxes.

The true beauty? You don’t have to be a “real estate professional” to use these benefits. Because this is a true rental property (not a second home), you get to claim deductions just like any other landlord.

Avoid Estate Fights and Inheritance Surprises

Too many families blow up over “the house.” Maybe one sibling wants to sell, another wants to keep it, or someone secretly got added to the deed. I’ve seen it more times than I can count, and it’s ugly.

By buying the home now at fair market value, you avoid all that drama. Everyone knows the score. Your parents get the benefit of the sale while they’re alive. You take ownership transparently. And your siblings don’t have to wonder what’s hiding in the will or trust.

It’s not just about money, it’s about family harmony. Done right, this move eliminates confusion, avoids probate, and keeps the peace when emotions are running high.

The Bottom Line

Buying your parents’ home and renting it back isn’t for every family, but in the right situation, it’s a win-win. Your parents get cash and peace of mind, you get a rental property with tax benefits, and the family wealth stays intact instead of slipping away through probate, lawsuits, or bad planning.

The key is making sure it’s structured properly—fair market values, written documentation, and the right tax elections. At KKOS Lawyers, we’ve helped families across the country navigate this process in a way that builds wealth, protects assets, and keeps everyone on the same page.

Head to kkoslawyers.com to book a comprehensive tax and legal consult and make sure you’re not just keeping the family home, you’re turning it into a cornerstone of your family’s financial legacy.

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Mark J. Kohler