My wife and I paid off my stepdaughter’s $415K mortgage in exchange for her house, but it’s now worth $310K. Should we sue?

The Moneyist

‘We are 71 and 67 and can’t afford this kind of loss in retirement’

Last Updated: May 18, 2025 at 4:45 p.m. ET
First Published: May 14, 2025 at 5:15 a.m. ET

Dear Quentin,

My wife decided to agree to purchase a home from her daughter, my stepdaughter. As her daughter is family, a simple agreement was drawn up, not an actual real-estate contract to purchase. The agreement was for us to make periodic payments, large payments, while her daughter paid off the mortgage on the house.  

In the agreement, there were four homes in her daughter’s rental portfolio that were named as collateral. There were no terms in the agreement pertaining to a prepayment penalty on the loan she took on the property, and nothing noted in regard to force majeure even though the home was in Florida and within one mile of the water.