Thank you, PK.
I appreciate your clear explanations. It is useful to know I may need to consider the "gift aspect."
BTW, it was much more complicated than what I mentioned in my original question, I'll share a little with you for your amusement...
Actually, my brother had a will drawn up so I would inherit the house - probably because I kept in regular contact over the years and provided regular care for him the last 8 months of his life. (My siblings couldn't.) I travelled to Arizona from Maine several times and in his last dying days, but he didn't want to think about dying so I did not push him to sign the will out of respect.
After his death, we had a buyer who signed a contract to buy the house "as is" for $26,500. Up to that point, I personally paid around $15,000 for his needs/bills and for assisted living, and after his death, another ~ $2500 on home insurance, utilities, real estate taxes and other miscellaneous expenses before buying them out. That makes the net total remaining ~$9000 ($26,500 - $15,000 - $2500), thus, $3000 each, which my siblings agreed to accept. (From my reading, the $15,000 and $2500 cannot be added to the basis, but my siblings agreed that they wanted me to be reimbursed.)
THEN, the man who offered us $26,500 tried to scam us and two separate buyers - he forged my name on sales documents for buyer #1, forged "the estate of" my brother's name for buyer #2 - AND set the closing for the two separate buyers on the same day. Fortunately, I caught him and we stopped the sale through the two different title companies. He also threatened to put a lien on the property which would be fraudulent - the county recorder's office explained that anyone could put a lien on a property and it would be recorded, even though there was no legitimate claim. (He was just angry I stopped him.) All of this occurred over several months. (It was an empty threat - he never filed a lien.)
After this fiasco, I spoke with my brother and sister who said they would be happy to sell out to me for $3000 each so I could renovate the house to sell it. (They didn't have the funds or expertise to participate in the rennovation.)
I then spent $31,000 of my money to renovate the home over an 8-month time frame. It sold and I was able to just barely break even - it ends up that my capital gain would be exactly $184.25 - without factoring in the $6000 total I paid my siblings.
So, in total, each of my siblings received $3000 and my gain was $184. I am happy that it is all over and I am past the worst of it.
BTW, I am leaving out some of the challenges, like the home was repeatedly burglarized - before the deed was transferred - by the drug dealer across the street and the meth addict who lived in the house behind my brother's house. (No one was charged, but when the drug dealer - who had served 25 years in prison for murdering his business partner - asked what we did with my brother's guns, it gave it away. Neighbors and people who knew the drug dealer and meth addict also verified they had talked about their caper.) BUT, the meth addict neighbor committed arson and burned his house down (so he moved out) and the drug dealer/convict sold his home so the neighborhood was back to its quiet, lovely condition.
Now we can live happily ever after, my siblings ahead $3000 each and myself ahead $184.25 before capital gains taxes.
