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should i take out a loan vs pay off with mother's help?
user
is it a gift or a loan? either way, ask the same lawyer who will do the closing to record a mortgage on the property, your mother holds it.  you are required to pay her market interest, 4% or so should pass irs scrutiny.  if it's truly a loan, decide on the payoff time and calculate the payments, she'll have a bit of interest income which will be taxable to her, and you might have a write-off if you itemize, which is unlikely.  if it's a gift, since you mentioned gift concerns, she can forgive the interest, and principal each year to total $13k, or file the popular form 709 to declare the whole gift against her $1m unified lifetime gift exclusion (which negates the whole mortgage/lien thing)
assistant