Maybe Buying Our House

Hubby and I have lived in a house my grandparents own for almost 4 years now. My grandparents bought this house back in the 50s and raised their family here. I grew up 5 minutes away sneaking off everyday just to stay in this house. As a kid I always said when I grew up I would live in this house, and well that came true. My grandparents moved out of this house when they built their dream house. It sits about 300 feet beside us, but having a field between us gives us our own privacy. Hubby and I have tried to convince them many times to sell us the house. We know they want to keep it in the family, and what better way than to sell it to their granddaughter? They aren't charging us rent, so I feel as if we're taking advantage of us in a way. If they would sell it to us, at least we would feel like we were giving back to them in some way, whether they need the money or not.

We had another discussion with them about the house this weekend. Actually, we had the discussion with my grandpa. He told me he's trying to convince my grandma to sell us the house. He knows we already take good care of it, and we would definitely keep everything in order if it were ours. This house needs a lot of work. The wiring is outdated. It's so bad that I'm changing at least 1 light bulb a week. They blow just about every time you turn the light on. There's also problems with the foundation settling over the last 60 years, so there are gaps under some of the walls. Hubby is an awesome carpenter who can fix all of the problems this house has, but my grandma just doesn't want to give us the permission to do it. If we owned it, we could take care of everything.

Now that my grandpa is trying to work with us, I'm wondering if we need to consider a Realtor to help us with the purchase if they do decide to sell. I know it's family, but I also know there are a lot of hidden costs these days. The laws have changed here, and you can no longer give a house to a family member in this state without having to pay taxes on it. I want to make sure there's nothing that can come back and bite us.