Escrow Accounts

[TheTwinAndreBen]

Im just trying to halp out my tax challenged deac brothers. Dnt worry Im going all in on filthy mormons on the CT too.

 

[Paul Hogan]

Yeah, It makes me wonder how people in this country could conceive of electing Mitt Romney POTUS. Granted, Mitt seems great now, but FFS the shit that guy believes sounds like some narcissistic acid trip.

 

[dot com]

Municipalities being what they are, your taxes could be under appeal for months or over a year, and the lender's policy will still be to hold your money until the appeal is resolved. You can characterize that any way you want, but if you dont have a lender escrow account, you dont have that problem. You won't lose the money, but again, if we are talking thousands of dollars I'd rather keep that money in my account, since its mine and all.

Don't you still have to pay the higher tax while it's under appeal?

 

[TheTwinAndreBen]

No, the tax authority usually adjusts it to a 70% value once appealed and they settle up with you after depending on the results.

Maybe your lender will get this, maybe they wont, but you still have a dumb middle man customer service type experience bt you and the state. My only point is that this is a real and valid concern, and one that is more prevalent in today's climate.

 

[scooter84]

As I recall, mortgage companies often require you to escrow when you put down less than 20%?? In any event, you should get rid of escrows if and when you can - you are allowing your mortgage company to hold that money all year when you could be investing it or earning interest or whatever. You just need to discipline to save it so you can pay the tax and insurance when they come due.

Perhaps you can negotiate yourself out of it if you have been in the house a while and the value has gone up and you have paid the principal down some so your equity has grown...?

 

[2&2 Slider To Leyritz]

Don't you still have to pay the higher tax while it's under appeal?

No, the tax authority usually adjusts it to a 70% value once appealed and they settle up with you after depending on the results.

In NC it doesn't get adjusted at all when under appeal. You can either pay the full reassessed amount and get a refund if you win on a reduced value (which is what the municipality will tell you to do), or you can pay what you think the tax should be but run the risk of owing interest/penalties if you lose and are stuck with the higher value. But they won't foreclose or anything while it is under appeal, so it just comes down to how confident you are that you will win.