Father’s Day and real estate

Dads do all kinds of things to help their kids in life. When it comes to real estate and the American Dream, fathers want their kids to be financially successful and not have to rent and pay their landlords mortgage. They want their sons and daughters to have a home of their own for the grandkids to be safe and happy. Over the past 35 years in the business I have seen dads gift or loan money for down payments and co-sign to help qualify. I have seen fathers actually subsidize the house payment for a couple of years till the kid becomes a journeyman in the trades or until the kid finishes school and becomes an RN or doctor. I have also seen equity share agreements where the dad owns 50 percent of the house as a rental property and the daughter owns 50 percent as an owner occupant. One of my favorite transactions is when dad sells his residence to the kids so they can assume his very low property tax rate under the county parent-to-child exemption at the county tax assessor’s office. This parent-to-child transaction keeps the home in the family like my mom and dad did with my brother in San Francisco 25 years ago.The other thing a dad can do, and I have witnessed this a lot with the upper middle class, is teach their sons and daughters about how to buy a house and build equity. Many dads in all classes will occasionally help their kids with home repairs and maintenance. Sons and daughters help their aging parents with real estate. Kids can help with property maintenance and repairs and help their parents negotiate with contractors for home improvements. Grown children can help their parents by matching them up with qualified estate planners to avoid probate issues and in some cases set up a living trust. They can help their parents investigate reverse mortgage options so the folks can afford to stay in the family home. They can educate their parents on all the different scams out there that focus on seniors.We can thank our dads for raising us to be productive members of society and helping us achieve the American Dream. We can assist when it is time to move down to a smaller, lower maintenance home and reduce the stress level for them by hiring a real estate professional that cares about their clients. Fathers, daughters and sons can work together as mortgage bankers or Realtors. Three of my kids work for me at Solano Mortgage and if you look around Fairfield and Solano County, you will find a bunch of kids that have followed in their dad’s footsteps and career path. The kids follow their fathers because they have seen their success and they have witnessed how great their dads feel when they get home after doing something truly great for a customer. Happy Father’s Day, and thanks Dad.