I am filling up the CSS profile for our youngest son. As of this writing, we just paid off our home. I am not sure how to answer the market value of our home if not based on an assessment. Do I just google it and use any information from sites like Zillow?
Yes you google and put that value.
Thank you!!!
I suggest grabbing a screenshot of zillow as of the date that you take the data.
This may be the easiest way to get a guesstimate of your home’s value, but it will rarely be the most accurate or honest way to go about it. But a lot of people don’t care or don’t want to hear that, because the more accurate ways usually take more time and effort.
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We typically used the estimated market value from the most recent property tax statement. Probably understated the value some years but I confirmed that was okay with a few FA offices. It has the virtue of being easy to document.
The FA office has your address and if they prefer to run a Zillow type algorithm they can do so.
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In our state, assumed market value is twice the assessed value. That amount is typically less than what is on Zillow, but it’s acceptable for financial aid purposes.
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When I was filling it out and had this question, I contacted the financial aid office, and they told me to get a few estimates and average. I used Zillow, Redfin, and Realtor.com. Sometimes one is way off of the others so this mitigates that somewhat.