<p>When our son was purchasing his condominium my husband had to be listed on a loan along with our son, since our son will not qualify for a loan. My husband’s name is on a title along with our son’s. Son is making monthly payments for his property and claims property tax on his tax return. Will this property be counted toward our equity for financial aid purpose for our second child?</p>
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Your husband is co-owning the condo. The half of net worth of this second home should be enter on the FAFSA.</p>
<p>4kids is correct.</p>
<p>Thank you. Another question then. If he removes his name from the title only, not from the loan (one have to do refinance to get name off the loan) would it still be considered second home?</p>
<p>If your son is claiming 100% of the property tax, and making 100% of the payments, and your son is living in the condo, I don’t see this as a parental asset – more like a co-signer on a loan. I wouldn’t report this as an asset. </p>
<p>I don’t think it meets the test of beneficial ownership. </p>
<p>Two co-owners of a property (tenants in common) do not have to own the property equally. One can owe 99.9% (son) and the other the remainder. The bank is going to require any co-signer to be on the deed, but often you can do a quitclaim deed after the purchase to put the entire deed into the name of the true owner and the bank will ignore it (it can trigger a ‘due on sale’ clause for the loan, so ask permission).</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for a very valuable information. And yes, our son pays 100% of his mortgage, the only one living at the property and the only one claiming it on his tax return.</p>
<p>The condo is property that your husband has a legal right to sell, so it is an asset.</p>
<p>Before taking his name off the deed, I would talk with a financial consultant and the lending bank. Does the condo board have any legal requirements for him to stay on the lease for their financial security? Some condo associations do. Also, as much as you trust your son, keeping dad as co-owner gives you some financial security. If the name goes off the lease and for some reason he defaults on the loan, your husband has all of the responsibility for paying off the loan, but does not have the property to sell (does your son have a will?),</p>
<p>Another suggestion. Before thinking about going through a lot of financial gymnastics to improve your chances for financial aid you may want to spend to time to figure out if these strategies are likely to increase your financial aid. The vast majority of colleges in the USA do not fully meet aid so going through a lot of effort to change the family’s EFC is wasted effort at these schools … OOS public schools typically do not meet aid for OOS students. lots of in-state state schools do not fully meet need either, and most privates do not either. Frankly, unless the student is shooting for in-state state schools that fully meet need or top privates (Ivies, NASCAC schools, and their cohorts) which fully meet need then this effort may not help. </p>
<p>PS - even then if the schools likely expectation of what your family can pay is very different than what you believe your can pay then this strategy won’t help even at meet full need schools.</p>
<p>I agree that your husband needs to full consider what the ramifications are in the whole context of things before removing his name from the deed and giving up his right to the property. It may or may not make sense in the big picture, future as well as present. </p>
<p>Some friends of ours bought a place for their son and wife in some convoluted ownership thing, for mortgage qualification reasons as well as gift, who knows, what the full story was. Bottom line, they stayed on the mortgage since it gave the young couple a better rate and even qualification, but waived ownership of the place somehow. The marriage broke up in less than two years, and that arrangement really was not a good one is all I can say. They were literally left holding the bag which did not smell good. </p>
<p>So you need to think it all out as well as look at what difference it 's going to make in financial aid. Also, how much can your first son even net if he sells that condo? It usually takes a while to recoup ones cost in the condo market. I bought some years ago when the market truly bottomed out and sold a few years later when it perked up, put a lot into the unit, and I don’t think I really made out much at all. Like less than $5K after all fees and things were paid. So even getting a down payment back on a place within a short period after buying it is difficult (unless it was a huge amount). </p>