Ask an Agent: Should You Ever Buy a Home from Family?

As an agent, I've often been in the middle of these situations. I even have a current listing for a grandchild who received a plot of land from a grandparent, rather than the aunts and uncles in the middle. We're of course not all in agreement with this situation. To combat similar issues, I think that effective communication goes a long way. I think family dynamics are tough for all families. The families that communicate the most and can lay out expectations ahead of time will do the best at completing these transactions successfully, as almost all disappointment stems from miscommunication.

That's what typically happens when people have issues with these transactions—if somebody had an expectation of more inheritance or something like that, they now feel they're being cheated. If they didn't voice that expectation, it wasn't fair to the original owner for them not to know it. And so, communication is why this is key. I don't think we can avoid these family-to-family sales altogether; they're going to happen, no matter what. Again, just try to communicate as well as you can. But in the end, whoever owns the property has the right to do whatever they want with it.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.