What is the current value of your parent’s home? I’m not sure how to fill this out.
Should I use what Zillow gives me? btw my parents have not finished paying off their mortgage
Many (most?) parents of college age students haven’t paid off their mortgage.
Zillow can be wildly inaccurate. We’re about to sell a house. The Zillow market value is less than half the price of what comparable houses in the neighborhood have been selling for this summer.
But for FA qualification, better to err on the conservative side.
Most homeowners get a reported appraisal (for annual property taxes) so your parents should have a record of what the city/county thought the house was worth lately. That information is also online in many areas.
Dont worry that its not paid off. After it asks for current value it normally asks more questions to determine the mortgage balance or equity.
You would need to check your tax appraisal for two things.
- Most important. Very often tax appraisal amount is a %age of the value of a home. Here it is 2/3. So the number on your tax bill is NOT the current value of your house.
- There is a required appraisal schedule in most states. In our state it is every five years...but it used to be every ten years. If your tax appraisal is more than a few months old, it is extremely possible that it does NOT reflect your current home value.
A property’s value is assessed for property tax purposes; it is appraised to establish market value. These are not the same things, and although the values that a tax assessment and an appraisal come up with may be similar, very often they are not. The assessed value as used for property tax purposes should never be used to report a home’s value on the CSS financial aid forms.