<p>Due to work distance, we have a second home that is also a primary residence. In effect, we have two primary residences.</p>
<p>How do we file the second home in CSS and FAFSA? Does the second home count as real estate in addition to the primary home? If not, how do you file it?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>You only have ONE primary residence. It doesn’t matter that one spouse is living in one house and the other spouse is living in another house (because of work).</p>
<p>I would imagine that the house where the kids live is the “real” primary resident. The other home will be considered an asset.</p>
<p>Agree. Only one can be the primary residence. The one where the family primarily resides would be the primary residence so would not be reported on FAFSA but would be reported as primary residence on CSS. The second home would be reported as an asset on FAFSA.</p>
<p>Thanks! However, when you file IRS tax returns, I thought that if the second home is used as a primary residence due to work, you can deduct interest payments on it. If the IRS treats it as a second primary home, why do the Profile and FAFSA not?</p>
<p>Because schools don’t want to subsidize the fact that you own two homes. And, the equity of the second home is “fair game.”</p>
<p>There are other reasons, but in reality…no school wants to give you more money for your kids’ college costs so that you can keep two homes.</p>
<p>Taxes and FAFSA are two completely different things. For instance a student can be a dependent for FAFSA purposes even if they are not a dependent for IRS purposes (for instance, my son was a dependent for FAFSA even though we had not claimed him on our taxes for several years as he worked and earned too much). </p>
<p>FAFSA lets you exclude the principal residence from need based calculations. </p>
<p>It is probably a moot point anyway. If you have the income to maintain two residences you are unlikely to qualify for any federal aid other than loans. And schools that require CSS for awarding their own funds will all treat real estate differently according to their own rules. You can ask them how to report the 2nd property. though I doubt that they will be willing to exclude it from their calculations to determine need.</p>
<p>Thanks again! I have another question, do “monthly mortgage payments” include property tax and home insurance?</p>
<p>Based on my personal experience, property tax and home insurance are not part of your mortgage payment. Sometimes the mortgage lender will require you to pay them at the same time and they are held in an account called an escrow account to make sure that the funds are there to pay the insurance and property taxes when they are due. But they are not part of your actual mortgage payment.</p>
<p>I would imagine there is somewhere else to report property tax and insurance payments on CSS. People who have paid off their mortgages still have to pay their property taxes and home owners insurance (well they don’t have to pay insurance but would be foolish not to). So if those expenses are something the CSS takes into account there must be somewhere else to report them.</p>
<p>Ooh, I know the answer to this one! The monthly mortgage payment only includes principal and interest. See this thread:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1037129-css-profile-does-mortgage-payment-include-piti.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1037129-css-profile-does-mortgage-payment-include-piti.html</a></p>
<p>Swimcat is right…</p>
<p>For FAFSA, your family income is too high for anything but loans.</p>
<p>for schools that use CSS Profile, your income and assets may also be too high. They’re not going to give you extra consideration because you’re making 2 house payments.</p>
<p>Sometimes they will. I know a family with the same situation – two houses for work-related reasons – and their son’s private college let them appeal the treatment of the second house. The school ended up making an adjustment that improved their FA award.</p>
<p>This is just CSS Profile related, though, and has nothing to do with the FAFSA. It was institutional funds that were adjusted. As Swimcatsmom said, private schools use their own methodology when calculating institutional aid. You’d need to talk to the school about it. In my friend’s case, they wanted her to file the FA apps first, get the preliminary award, and then appeal the second house issue. That’s what she did and the college resolved the issue favorably enough for the student to be able to afford to go there.</p>
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<p>No (why can’t that be ten characters long?)</p>
<p>Your primary residence for financial aid purposes is likely the one where your CHILDREN live. That is the permanent residence. You will use that on the Profile as your primary residence and the second one as your secondary residence.</p>