User Panel
User Panel
User Panel
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 5:22:08 AM EDT
Welcome to home ownership, break out your checkbook!
So anyway, I'm not sure if you remember but my escrow amount the bank holds to pay my Mortgage Ins, County Tax, City Tax, Hazard Ins, and Property Taxes was short last year My payment was set to go up by around $50 month if I didn't send a check for around $750 to build the escrow back up. Even if I did send a check foe the shortage it would still go up by $15 a month Well that was last year.....now this year I'm short again They want another $100 and my payment will go up yet again by around $10 month If I factor in all the extra money I've shelled out over the last couple years on the escrow shortages, it breaks down to around $150 month over what my house payment started out at.  |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 5:24:53 AM EDT
[#1]
Those road, police, fire, sanitation and lots of other services need to be paid for somehow, right?
|
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 5:27:06 AM EDT
[#2]
You might want to have a sit down with your Mortg co and determine what is driving up your escrow. Is it taxes, city or county or insurance or what. You can't do much about your taxes but you can shop around for your home owners insurance.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 5:27:07 AM EDT
[#3]
Man.
I don't escrow. Never understood the logic behind giving the bank an interest free loan. Unless you won't set the money back on your own. |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 5:27:29 AM EDT
[#4]
I'm not saying this to be ugly, just stating the facts.....
If you can't afford the taxes, you can't afford the house. |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 5:28:14 AM EDT
[#5]
Government doesn't shrink during a recession, didn't you know that? You are creating jobs my friend!
|
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 5:28:36 AM EDT
[#6]
Quoted:
I'm not saying this to be ugly, just stating the facts..... If you can't afford the taxes, you can't afford the house. Here here citizen, we are just renting the kings land. |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 5:29:07 AM EDT
[#7]
Quoted:
Man.
I don't escrow. Never understood the logic behind giving the bank an interest free loan. Unless you won't set the money back on your own. So instead you'd keep it in an interest free checking account. |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 5:30:08 AM EDT
[#8]
Think taxes are bad wait till you get termites, they are worse than politicians at eating up your profits!
|
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 5:31:32 AM EDT
[#9]
Your escrow payment is about the least of my worries as far as expendiatures
In 20 years in this house with an ARM I've never had escrow problems except for the year after we got re-valued after a house rennovation. Someone somewhere is not calculating your escrow properly |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 5:32:21 AM EDT
[#10]
Quoted: I'm not saying this to be ugly, just stating the facts..... If you can't afford the taxes, you can't afford the house. What he said... When we lived in London, OH, our property taxes went from $1700 the first year (2001) to $2600 by the time we left (2006) because they kept wanting more and more for the local schools... FWIW, the house was around 2400 sq ft on about 1/4 acre in a subdivision. This is in addition to the 2% local income taxes they were taking (also to "prop up" the local schools), which amounted to another $1500 from me. I didn't even have any kids in their lousy schools.... |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 5:34:05 AM EDT
[#11]
What's going up? Taxes? Insurance? or both? If it's taxes, time to vote differently. If it's insurance, time to re-evaluate your options. You should be doing this every few years anyway.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 5:34:09 AM EDT
[#12]
Quoted:
Man.
I don't escrow. Never understood the logic behind giving the bank an interest free loan. Unless you won't set the money back on your own. Some mortgage companies require it. Ours did. They don't want a home they own being confiscated for lack of payment on taxes or burned down and lost because the owner didn't pay up his insurance. |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 5:57:01 AM EDT
[#13]
Quoted: Those road, police, fire, sanitation and lots of other services election promises need to be paid for somehow, right? FIFY |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 6:04:24 AM EDT
[#14]
I had a mortage a long time ago with Wells Fargo and those a-holes were taking 1/3 more for escrow than was required and then would give us our extra money back at the end of the year. We re-financed as soon as possible after bitching up a firestorm.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 6:07:07 AM EDT
[#15]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Man.
I don't escrow. Never understood the logic behind giving the bank an interest free loan. Unless you won't set the money back on your own. So instead you'd keep it in an interest free checking account. No! You can get a 1.04% CD with it at any bank. Duh.... |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 6:11:30 AM EDT
[#16]
Even if your house is paid off like mine is, I still pay $100 bucks a week for property tax and need to maintain the place. That means a roof, siding, driveway, bathrooms and last but not least keep the yard looking like someone lives here. I spent 13,000 2 weeks ago updating my leaf blowers and I bought a zero turn mower just to rake my freaking yard!
Money is worth shit, and I just can't earn it fast enough |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 6:12:31 AM EDT
[#17]
Quoted:
Man.
I don't escrow. Never understood the logic behind giving the bank an interest free loan. Unless you won't set the money back on your own. Because you can retire on the 0.5% that the $1200 a year makes? 
I'm too lazy to do the math but since the escrow account takes electronic transfers and the county, city, and insurance companies needs a stamped envelope is 2 (months) x $0.41 (stamp) better than the interest made? I'm almost certain it is. We have a 1% maximum real estate tax so the money isn't too much to begin with. 
|
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 6:16:18 AM EDT
[#18]
Quoted:
Even if your house is paid off like mine is, I still pay $100 bucks a week for property tax and need to maintain the place. That means a roof, siding, driveway, bathrooms and last but not least keep the yard looking like someone lives here. I spent 13,000 2 weeks ago updating my leaf blowers and I bought a zero turn mower just to rake my freaking yard! Money is worth shit, and I just can't earn it fast enough I have a 15,000 sq ft yard and I rake my leaves by hand It sucks and I hate it but I refuse to spend money on a bagger for my JD LT180. I actually just had to spend $150 to get new bearings as I have one going out in the deck and it only has 240hrs on it
|
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 6:22:23 AM EDT
[#19]
OP, who is your bank?
My parent's mortgage got bought out by BOA and they have had these stupid "oops, we goofed on the escrow, please send us $1200 RFN or we'll raise your payment" letter a couple times I've actually thought about setting up a separate escrow account for my property taxes just because I hate transferring that money over and writing those big ass checks 3x year  Speed |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 6:24:05 AM EDT
[#20]
Check your property tax assessment. Get some facts together (comparable sales, listings) and appeal the assessment for a 10%-20% discount.
About ten years ago, I lived in a rural low tax area. Property taxes were about $250/year... yes about $20/month. But I had to pay ~$1200/year for homeowners insurance (only a local volunteer fire department), plus ~$300/year for garbage service, plus extra gasoline... and none of that was tax deductible. Now I live closer in. |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 6:24:51 AM EDT
[#21]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Even if your house is paid off like mine is, I still pay $100 bucks a week for property tax and need to maintain the place. That means a roof, siding, driveway, bathrooms and last but not least keep the yard looking like someone lives here. I spent 13,000 2 weeks ago updating my leaf blowers and I bought a zero turn mower just to rake my freaking yard! Money is worth shit, and I just can't earn it fast enough I have a 15,000 sq ft yard and I rake my leaves by hand It sucks and I hate it but I refuse to spend money on a bagger for my JD LT180. I actually just had to spend $150 to get new bearings as I have one going out in the deck and it only has 240hrs on it Why rake it? Why not just mow it? I've been mowing the leaves in my yard for years. It's a hell of a lot faster and you get a fresh cut out of the deal. |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 6:34:14 AM EDT
[#22]
Quoted: OP, who is your bank? My parent's mortgage got bought out by BOA and they have had these stupid "oops, we goofed on the escrow, please send us $1200 RFN or we'll raise your payment" letter a couple times I've actually thought about setting up a separate escrow account for my property taxes just because I hate transferring that money over and writing those big ass checks 3x year Speed PNC |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 6:35:03 AM EDT
[#23]
Quoted:
Man.
I don't escrow. Never understood the logic behind giving the bank an interest free loan. Unless you won't set the money back on your own. I have never escrowed those expenses. Everything has always been paid on time. Why pay fees for someone else to pay your bills? |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 6:38:50 AM EDT
[#24]
Welcome to home ownership, break out your WATER COOLED checkbook! The wife wants turn the house into a home or some such nonsense. 
|
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 6:41:50 AM EDT
[#25]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Even if your house is paid off like mine is, I still pay $100 bucks a week for property tax and need to maintain the place. That means a roof, siding, driveway, bathrooms and last but not least keep the yard looking like someone lives here. I spent 13,000 2 weeks ago updating my leaf blowers and I bought a zero turn mower just to rake my freaking yard! Money is worth shit, and I just can't earn it fast enough I have a 15,000 sq ft yard and I rake my leaves by hand It sucks and I hate it but I refuse to spend money on a bagger for my JD LT180. I actually just had to spend $150 to get new bearings as I have one going out in the deck and it only has 240hrs on it When you get older you will break down. I have an acre (43,560 sq feet) with a shit load of trees on the back yard line. When I was a kid, I use to tarp it and drag the leaves away either by hand or with a tractor. I use to drag a 20' X 40' tarp heaping 11 times to the road for the town to suck them up. Now I will stroke out pulling them by hand and the raking and tarp work is too much work. Sucks to get old... Here is my new ride. Happy Homeowner here!
|
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 6:42:43 AM EDT
[#26]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Man.
I don't escrow. Never understood the logic behind giving the bank an interest free loan. Unless you won't set the money back on your own. So instead you'd keep it in an interest free checking account. So instead I'd keep it in actual money in case of an emergency instead of untouchable at my local bank. 
Amazing that arfcom of all places ridicules someone for keeping tangible funds on something like that. Never ceases to amaze me. |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 6:44:35 AM EDT
[#27]
Quoted:
Government doesn't shrink during a recession, didn't you know that? You are creating jobs my friend paying for a FSA member to have a Section 8 house in your neighborhood! |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 6:48:12 AM EDT
[#28]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Man.
I don't escrow. Never understood the logic behind giving the bank an interest free loan. Unless you won't set the money back on your own. So instead you'd keep it in an interest free checking account. No! You can get a 1.04% CD with it at any bank. Duh.... And at the end of the year, that extra value meal will be puuuuuuuure profit. |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 6:51:01 AM EDT
[#29]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Man.
I don't escrow. Never understood the logic behind giving the bank an interest free loan. Unless you won't set the money back on your own. Because you can retire on the 0.5% that the $1200 a year makes?
I'm too lazy to do the math but since the escrow account takes electronic transfers and the county, city, and insurance companies needs a stamped envelope is 2 (months) x $0.41 (stamp) better than the interest made? I'm almost certain it is. We have a 1% maximum real estate tax so the money isn't too much to begin with. In Texas, the property owner is legally responsible for the taxes. If the escrow holder fails/collapses/forgets to pay the taxes, and absconds with the money, the property holder still owes the full amount. I don't escrow. TRG |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 6:57:21 AM EDT
[#30]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Man.
I don't escrow. Never understood the logic behind giving the bank an interest free loan. Unless you won't set the money back on your own. So instead you'd keep it in an interest free checking account. No! You can get a 1.04% CD with it at any bank. Duh.... And at the end of the year, that extra value meal will be puuuuuuuure profit. 
|
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 8:01:21 AM EDT
[#31]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Man.
I don't escrow. Never understood the logic behind giving the bank an interest free loan. Unless you won't set the money back on your own. So instead you'd keep it in an interest free checking account. No! You can get a 1.04% CD with it at any bank. Duh.... And at the end of the year, that extra value meal will be puuuuuuuure profit.
Is that before or after taxes?
|
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 8:16:43 AM EDT
[#32]
Funding our troops in the FSA isn't cheap.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 8:22:24 AM EDT
[#33]
Quoted:
I'm not saying this to be ugly, just stating the facts..... If you can't afford the taxes, you can't afford the house. Pretty much |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 8:22:55 AM EDT
[#34]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Man.
I don't escrow. Never understood the logic behind giving the bank an interest free loan. Unless you won't set the money back on your own. So instead you'd keep it in an interest free checking account. No! You can get a 1.04% CD with it at any bank. Duh.... And at the end of the year, that extra value meal will be puuuuuuuure profit.
Is that before or after taxes? I say risk it and buy before paying the taxes.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 9:03:27 AM EDT
[#35]
There are a few things you can look at to lower your escrow:
1) Challenge your home valuation. You taxes are based on a rate and a valuation. You cannot do anything about the rate (and rates can vary from year to year). You can challenge the valuation of your home. This is typically done by comparing valuations of similar homes in your area. You can only do this once a year, and there is a limited window. 2) Find a different home owners insurance provider. Home owners insurance is like car insurance...different companies will provide different rates and valuations. Home owners insurance has been going up fairly steadily for the past few years. The insurance companies will claim i'ts because building costs have gone up. Personally, I think it's a BS excuse with at most a hint of truth. Doesn't really matter though. If you feel you are paying too much, shop it around. 3) Escrow. Years ago I used escrow for simplicity (make one payment). However I learned that the bank is allowed to escrow up to 20% more than your estimate taxes+insurance. They are allowed to do this to cover shortages if they estimate your taxes wrong. Fortunately I was able to eliminate my escrow and just pay direct. The additional problem with escrow is that people tend not to pay attention to the specifics. What were your taxes last year? How much was insurance? If you don't pay attention to these things, you're bound to be surprised come settlement time. |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 9:27:07 AM EDT
[#36]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Man.
I don't escrow. Never understood the logic behind giving the bank an interest free loan. Unless you won't set the money back on your own. So instead you'd keep it in an interest free checking account. No! You can get a 1.04% CD with it at any bank. Duh.... And at the end of the year, that extra value meal will be puuuuuuuure profit. I have to admit that one made me chuckle.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 9:50:00 AM EDT
[#37]
Quoted:
You might want to have a sit down with your Mortg co and determine what is driving up your escrow. Is it taxes, city or county or insurance or what. You can't do much about your taxes but you can shop around for your home owners insurance. In all seriousness, this is what OP needs to do. If his payment has gone up by $150 a month, that means at least $1800 more per year. I don't know what the OPs locality is like as far as taxes, but they would have to double the assessed value on my house in order to be getting that much more in taxes. And the likelyhood of them doing that to one house is very low, which means that the would have to double everyone's assesment, which would have people out in front of the government center with pitchforks and tar. I also don't see homeowner's insurance going up that much - the highest state average premium is only $1700 in oklahoma. |
|
|
|
Posted: 11/20/2012 9:54:08 AM EDT
[#38]
EVERYONE!!!! Hurry down a support every new school bond that comes up. We have to spend 14 million dollars on a new softball field. Why? because its not fair that the boys athletics get everything new!!!!
|
|
|
Win a FREE Membership!
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.
