<p>I heard on the CSS profile its not best to put the true market value of ones home, and that you can sorta lowball it. how much can one lowball it without lying?</p>
<p>Lowball = lying if you don't put the true market value.</p>
<p>You should look at recent home sales of homes like yours in your area and give the low end of possibilities and save your research. If you know a realtor they might give you a quick written estimate of what they would list it for for quick sale. Your whole application is going to be audited if your estimate looks ridiculous.</p>
<p>Use this calculator. FinAid</a> | Calculators | Federal Housing Index Calculator</p>
<p>Add 10% to the result. This is the minimum you should put on the CSS form. </p>
<p>Also, look your house up on Zillow.com. Their values are usually high, but all the FA people know about this site, so be sure your figure is somewhere in the vicinity of what Zillow has for your home.</p>
<p>hmm, if its slightly lower than the figure in the link that the post above me provided but its still reasonably within my zillow estimate, would that kind of estimate work? </p>
<p>the only think i dont want is some school to go crazy and say i lowballed too much. but i still want to put the lowest amount possible.</p>
<p>My "zillow" value is 40% above what I think I could get for my house on a good day. If I could sell it for the Zillow number, it would be gone tomorrow and me and D would live in apartment till she finishes HS and then I could retire.</p>
<p>exactly! i asked my dad, and the amount he thinks we could get for our home is close to the lower end of our zillow estimate. he said hed be extremely surprised if our home could actually sell for the zillow estimate in this day and age.</p>
<p>Well, the way the market is going, it's best to quote the low number because house prices do drop significantly. Zillow is highly inaccurate. I wouldn't use it for anything.</p>
<p>All you have to do is research recent sales in your neighborhood (public info) and go from there. We have the misfortune of living in a high priced area while having the least improved home for blocks...So for example, we never added on an addition and never finished the basement (very common in these parts)...That money went towards education for the children...So I look at recent sales, property tax valuation and then deduct for the fact that we have drifted into fixer upper territory. It's much higher than that Fed calculator but not as high as ZILLOW. I suspect that as long as you are not way off the mark, you wil be okay.</p>
<p>If the school adjusts the EFC for home equity, you might be able to make the arguement that in today's mortgage market you don't have access to the home equity. Similar to if you own a $30,000 car without debt. Yes, you have $30,000 equity in the car, but just try to get to the equity without selling the car.</p>
<p>There is no reason to inflate values and who can really say what a home is worth today- I would look at homes in my area to see what they have been selling for and make adjustments for size, age, features, then see if that is a realistic number and use that. I have seen people here say to put the net value, so less any commission, transfer tax, etc = actual equity.</p>
<p>When people protest their tax valuation here a common question asked is, "would you sell your house for that?" That being the property owner's low ball estimate, so find some data and still be realistic.</p>