Genewiz posted:

My parents are moving out of the country to enjoy a more affordable retirement and would like me to take over their current home. Since I currently live in it and fore see doing so for the next 15 years, I fully support this idea. Living in this Californian city is extremely expensive and having no rent to pay is a huge advantage. Currently, as we understand it, we have 2 options:

Option 1: Gift. We are aware that my parents are allowed to gift $26k to me a year and the rest of the property value will be taxed. How much, I'm not sure. My mum is throwing out 35% but I cannot find that number in my searches.
Option 2: Sell to me. Apparently this has to be made at market price or "it'll look suspicious to the IRS." Their current strategy for this option is to become my private mortgage providers and I'll make "mortgage" payments to them. Of course, I cannot afford a standard mortgage but they plan to forgive late payments. I have no idea how this will affect my credit score and how is this not suspicious to the IRS.

My Dad and I are trying to find reputable legal advice. In the meantime, how do people usually transfer a property from parent to child without having to pay massive amounts of taxes or resorting to overly complicated schemes?