Gardening Grandma
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Post by Gardening Grandma on Jan 17, 2020 21:10:41 GMT -5
I’m in the “I hate escrows too” club. We do have an escrow account because we got a lower interest rate. But I just paid over $800 to cover a shortage. Our payment is still going up $35. Not that taxes or ins has changed; the company just underestimated them. I don’t know how. It’s annoying as hell.
I am probably going to look into seeing if we can drop it.
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buystoys
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Post by buystoys on Jan 18, 2020 15:51:07 GMT -5
We don't have an escrow account. I just keep a spread sheet for the taxes and insurance amounts I'll need for the year. I overestimated taxes this year. We knew last year that they would go up, which they did. I just expected a bigger hit than we actually got. I underestimated on the rental though. The homestead amount was much larger than I anticipated. What we paid last year gave us the homesteaded amount.
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tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on Jan 18, 2020 17:50:10 GMT -5
Totally not escrow but building off Ti4ny... the family i tutor for just bought their first house... the phone company says it is no longer doing DSL? Which they found out after they closed... and there are limitations for internet, and their cell phones don't work at the new house and there are already a lot of new expenses and I don't think we talk about these things enough when we talk taking on home ownership... its like, the mortgage payment is blank... as if that is all that goes into the decision. I used to hire young folks who would often become first time home buyers as they transferred to our location. I used to tell them two things. First, it’s not a question if something will go wrong. The question is what will go wrong and what will it take to resolve the problem? Second, plan to spend about $5K once you move into the house. You’ll need gardening tools and equipment so you can mow the lawn, prune the shrubs, and shovel the snow. And want to do a little decorating. And probably have to do some minor repairs. All that will cost some money.
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jeffreymo
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Post by jeffreymo on Jan 19, 2020 3:31:53 GMT -5
This thread got me thinking...
I like the ability to autopay my property taxes which would not be possible without an escrow account.
I HATE taking the time to pay bills that don’t have an autopay feature.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2020 11:26:04 GMT -5
This thread got me thinking... I like the ability to autopay my property taxes which would not be possible without an escrow account. I HATE taking the time to pay bills that don’t have an autopay feature. I like having things on autopay too, but really, it's just once a year so not a huge time suck. You probably spend more time reviewing the annual statement from the escrow company. Plus, even when my taxes were escrowed, I still took the time to go in and make sure they were actually paid.
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Jan 19, 2020 11:53:26 GMT -5
I look up my taxes and insurance online to make sure they are paid.
Takes about 5 minutes to do both.
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ripvanwinkle
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All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing - Edmund Burke 1729 -1797
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Post by ripvanwinkle on Jan 19, 2020 23:28:51 GMT -5
We don't have an escrow account. I just keep a spread sheet for the taxes and insurance amounts I'll need for the year. I overestimated taxes this year. We knew last year that they would go up, which they did. I just expected a bigger hit than we actually got. I underestimated on the rental though. The homestead amount was much larger than I anticipated. What we paid last year gave us the homesteaded amount. When I bought my house, if I got a escrow account I got a discount. It really never occurred to me that I had the choice. Just as well though, over the last 20+ yrs my income went up and down and having taxes and insurance in escrow seemed a safe bet. There was some lean times over the years. 2000 and 2008-2010 come to mind . Having to pony up a few thousand in a down year would have been hard.
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Gardening Grandma
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Post by Gardening Grandma on Jan 20, 2020 11:21:20 GMT -5
This thread got me thinking... I like the ability to autopay my property taxes which would not be possible without an escrow account. I HATE taking the time to pay bills that don’t have an autopay feature. Same here. I have to write a check and mail it in to pay the property taxes. And I have to remember to do it before the 30th of April and Oct. I use auto pay whenever I can, but this is one bill that I cannot set up autopay.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2020 11:52:45 GMT -5
Our property taxes can be paid online and once the bill posts (usually sometime in March) you can set up the payment to come out whenever you want. First half is due in May and second in October, but I normally pay in full in May just to be done.
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countrygirl2
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Post by countrygirl2 on Jan 21, 2020 19:20:32 GMT -5
I've never paid escrow, but I think there was some kind of law passed, wow, must be 10 years ago at least, that annually escrow had to be reconciled and refunds made or the unpaid amounts paid. Seems like it had something to do with the fact sometimes it would go on for years and folks didn't know how much was owed or vice versa. You can look it up and see if this is true, but its lurking somewhere in the reaches of my brain.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2020 19:32:05 GMT -5
I've never paid escrow, but I think there was some kind of law passed, wow, must be 10 years ago at least, that annually escrow had to be reconciled and refunds made or the unpaid amounts paid. Seems like it had something to do with the fact sometimes it would go on for years and folks didn't know how much was owed or vice versa. You can look it up and see if this is true, but its lurking somewhere in the reaches of my brain. You are right. I don't know the details, but I vaguely remember that they are only allowed to keep like 2 months reserves. That is why they do an escrow analysis every year. And honestly the 2 months reserves make sense because my taxes and insurance keep going up. They had to do an escrow advance this year, which they don't charge interest on. Of course, it was only for two months. Our property tax and insurance are only paid once a year and in the same month, November. The escrow analysis happens in January (or maybe late December) and goes into effect with the February 1 payment.
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jerseygirl
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Post by jerseygirl on Jan 21, 2020 20:26:53 GMT -5
In NJ we pay property taxes 4 times/year Of course our taxes are outrageous, we pay $16000 for our house. My sister has s 2BR condo, no property and pays $6000
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countrygirl2
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Post by countrygirl2 on Jan 21, 2020 21:19:06 GMT -5
My son pays $5k to $6k on a $250k house and I thought that was bad.
Ours is $2000 on about $300k but going to keep going up because they gave Indiana farmers a big cut.
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Jan 22, 2020 13:31:26 GMT -5
I can't remember a time in 40 years that I haven't had an escrow account. I never knew I had an option to say I didn't want one.
That said, being an anal account, I go over the escrow analysis each year and call if I have questions.
This year if they try to spread the increase over the year instead of letting me pay it, I will be on the phone.
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Apple
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Always travel with a sense of humor
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Post by Apple on Jan 26, 2020 0:37:04 GMT -5
This thread got me thinking... I like the ability to autopay my property taxes which would not be possible without an escrow account. I HATE taking the time to pay bills that don’t have an autopay feature. Same here. I have to write a check and mail it in to pay the property taxes. And I have to remember to do it before the 30th of April and Oct. I use auto pay whenever I can, but this is one bill that I cannot set up autopay. Not autopay, but when I get my tax bill, I set up billpay through my credit union to send the checks a couple weeks before they are due. Then I can forget about it until next year.
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dogmom
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Post by dogmom on Jan 26, 2020 13:51:46 GMT -5
Rather timely. We received our first installment for taxes yesterday. I do have a checking account that I put funds in FOR THAT reason. Yep, my calculations were accurate But the bank decided now they want a minimum balance that kinda ticks me off. So, I paid the taxes our of our usual checking and will let the other checking account grow for a while. Either way, yeah, the funds were there, available and done.
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jd2005
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Post by jd2005 on Jan 26, 2020 14:29:18 GMT -5
Drives me crazy. I too have WF, and they have increased my payment every year for the last 3 years due to "escrow shortages." I use quotes, because I always have more than enough in the escrow account to cover my taxes, but apparently "not enough" overage that makes them comfortable (read, my mortgage docs say I have to have 2 months escrow "in the bank").
I have paid the shortage every year, but my payment went up because of the now higher tax estimate.
Just more motivation to earn more money to pay my house off early.
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schildi
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Post by schildi on Jan 29, 2020 6:56:11 GMT -5
I have never done escrow. It's easier for me to deal with the taxes separately. And it avoids many potential issues. Within 5 years being in our new house, I have found and corrected two errors on my property tax statement/calculation. Both in their favor of course. Would have been much more difficult with escrow. In the previous residence of 15 years (different state and county) only one correction was needed. Still much easier without escrow. Am I the only one finding errors on the property tax statements? I always compare to the previous year, and to the increase of a few neighbors to make sure it makes sense. The statements are publicly accessible online here. I have found issues on 2 neighbors tax statements this way last year, LOL. Amounting to several hundred dollars for the tax year in question, and then every year thereafter.
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