Buying Mom a House: Give It or Keep It?

Buying your mother a house is one of the proudest things a young athlete can do. It is also one of the biggest checks you will ever write, and the paperwork decides a lot more than people think. There are really three ways to do it: give her the house, keep the house in your name and let her live there, or hold it in a trust that protects both of you. Each one is legal. They are not the same.

Option 1: Buy it and put it in her name

This is a gift. In 2026 you can give anyone up to $19,000 a year without filing anything. A house is far more than that, so you file a gift tax return (IRS Form 709) for that year. You almost certainly owe no gift tax, because the amount over $19,000 just counts against your lifetime exemption, which is $15 million per person in 2026. The paperwork is the cost, not the tax.

• Good: it is fully hers. She gets the pride of owning it, and in many states she can claim a homestead exemption that lowers property tax.
• Risk: it is fully hers. If she remarries, gets sued, takes on debt, or passes away, the house goes where her life and her will send it, which may be to other relatives, not back to you.
• Tax catch: a gift keeps your original cost as her cost (called carryover basis). If she sells years later, she can owe capital gains tax on all the growth.
• Bills move to her: property tax, insurance, and repairs become her job. If she cannot afford them, they come back to you anyway.

Option 2: Keep it in your name and let her live there

You own the house (in your own name or your own LLC), and Mom lives there. You stay in control, the house stays on your balance sheet, and it cannot be pulled into someone else's divorce, debt, or estate. For a lot of players this is the smarter setup.

If Mom can pay real market rent from her own income, it can be a true rental: you report the rent as income and deduct expenses and depreciation against it. For most families that is not the point of the house, and that is fine. Just do not let anyone sell you tax savings that will not hold up.

Option 3: Put it in a trust

An estate attorney can set up a trust that owns the house, lets your mother live there for the rest of her life, and then passes it back to you or to your kids. Some states also allow a life estate deed, which gives her the right to live there for life while you hold the rest. These setups give Mom security and dignity and keep the house from drifting to relatives, creditors, or a new spouse. They cost a few thousand dollars in legal fees, which is small next to the price of the house.

Before you buy, do these five things

1. 1
   Pick a price your normal-year pay supports

   Not your signing bonus year. Run your numbers in the calculator and use the regular-season take-home.

2. 2
   Decide whose name goes on the deed

   Yours, hers, or a trust. Decide on purpose with an estate attorney, not at the closing table.

3. 3
   Pay cash or keep the mortgage in your name

   Do not have Mom take on a loan she cannot carry.

4. 4
   Set up the upkeep account

   Five or more years of taxes, insurance, and repairs, set aside and untouched.

5. 5
   Put it in writing

   A short family letter saying who owns it, who pays what, and what happens later prevents fights nobody wants.

There is no wrong answer to wanting to take care of the woman who took care of you. The goal is to do it in a way that still protects her, and you, ten years from now.