<p>I was put on the title of my father's home about 10 years ago. He has since died and now I co-own the home with the other person on the title, my brother. We both equally own the home now. The CSS profile asks how much was the house worth when I bought it. I obviously didn't buy it but have to put something of the value at the time it was given to me. How do I do this? Also, when it asks what it's worth now, I plan on putting down half of the value. This is a locked house title with rights of survivorship. In other words, I cannot sell the house even if I wanted to without express consent of my brother. Also, they ask what the mortgage is on the house. I pay one lump payment which includes taxes and insurance. I suppose those are not to be included in that question, right? Thanks in advance for your help.</p>
<p>Cost - use the value from the estate (1/2 for just you) when your dad died. I believe that is your cost basis for taxes.
It appears that you don’t have a mortgage.
Estimate the value by using using the value (1/2) if you sold it today minus selling expenses (6-8 %)</p>
<p>Just a couple of ideas</p>
<ol>
<li> It is o.k. to leave some parts of the CSS profile form blank.</li>
<li> At the end of the form there is space for you to explain things -so you will be able to add a note indicating that the property was acquired by inheritance and that you own a 50% interest.</li>
<li> I believe that the reasons the CSS asks you the value of the house time of purchase are:
a) So there is a number to plug into the federal housing index, which is used by many colleges to calculate current market value
b) It gives a better picture of your true financial circumstances, especially in a situation where a person has home equity that seems out of proportion to income and other assets. You can see that there is a big difference between someone who bought a home 25 years ago for $150K, and has seen that home appreciate in value to $500K, as compared to someone who bought a $500K home 2 years ago. </li>
</ol>
<p>Anyway, the best thing to do is to give the basic information – if it doesn’t fit on the form, explain it at the end.</p>
<p>Since you own half of this house, it would be half of the value that is yours. I believe you would need to list this as an asset on the Profile.</p>
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<p>It sounds like you DO have a mortgage on this property. What they are looking for is the BALANCE owed on the mortgage. So…call the mortgage company or bank and ask what the remaining balance on the mortgage is. Then what you will do is take the full value of the house (current value) and subtract the remaining mortgage balance. The difference is the equity you have in the house. Since it is half yours, I would use 1/2 of this number.</p>
<p>E.G. House is worth $200,000. Remaining mortgage is $100K. The difference is $100K (that is the equity you have). Divide by 2, and your equity value is $50K. </p>
<p>Calmom, my understanding is that you need to complete all required fields on the Profile. Schools will not process your application without a complete form. BUT you are absolutely correct in that the OP can (and should) list the reasons for this acquired property and explain it fully.</p>
<p>That you cannot sell it without your brothers consent really doesn’t matter. The reality is that you COULD sell it if he consents. I’m not an expert on this, but it seems to me this is no different than property owned in trust where you can’t sell without everyone’s consent to do so. A trust asset must STILL be listed whether or not you actually have easy access to the asset value or not.</p>
<p>I don’t know what other assets you have but if your equity is low enough, m.ost of it is likely protected by the asset protection allowances.</p>
<p>Is this the only real estate you own or is this in addition to your primary residence.</p>
<p>I think if a field is N/A then it can be filled in with 0’s and the explanation provided below. I don’t really remember the specifics, but I have an interest in real property acquired through inheritance, so I was in the same situation. I honestly don’t remember what I put on the form – I do remember that I always simply explained the information at the end.</p>