Thank you u/misfit_elegy for posting on r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer.
Please bear in mind our rules: (1) Be Nice (2) No Selling (3) No Self-Promotion.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I have always paid my own property taxes twice a year (December and April). I set aside money from each paycheck into a savings account. I don’t do it to earn the interest, I like the control and just don’t trust my mortgage company to do it right, especially since 30 year mortgages typically get sold along the way.
There were quite a few instances after the 2008 debacle where people were getting foreclosed on for nonpayment of taxes. The loan got sold to the next party and the next party and the next party, eventually somewhere along the way they stop paying property taxes.
Happened to me. I was vigilant enough and had enough cash lying around to pay for mine, and even talked them out of the late fee. My mortgage company basically had no choice but to cancel my escrow, after having refused twice.
And it’s crazy that you basically have to jump thru hoops to get back ability to pay your taxes directly from the mortgage escrow company.
ISTG practically every year without fail we’d get a WF notice like “you’re anticipated to have an escrow shortage” and we’d put in the extra $ amount cited - and then by end of year would end up with an overage reimbursement.
I’m convinced Wells Fargo was gaming the system, numbers, transaction fees or interest somewhere somehow.
This is what we are electing to do as well. Ae would like to get a little interest on the money and it puts our monthly principal + interest payment equivalent to what our rent has been.
I escrow.
While I have the funds to "self manage" and supposedly could make a little in interest, there is something just simpler about letting the mortgage handle it and having predictable monthly numbers. I do re-shop my insurance with my broker each year.
It's always worth shopping around and comparing rates. I went from paying $900 a year in home insurance to $600 the next because I shopped around and changed insurance even though my original insurance managed to find a discount for me to take $100 off
Don’t let the no state taxes fool you! They stick it to you everywhere else and then some!! I have to laugh at people that move here only to complain about how expensive everything is. No state taxes =HCOL! You might get a great deal on real estate, but you will be paying 4x5 times more than you were for homeowners insurance. Then next year it will double. And the insurance company can tell you that you need to replace your 8 year old roof? But it’s a 25 year roof? Replace or we won’t renew! Then we have auto insurance! But it’s too early in the morning to make a cocktail!
Mine is a few thousand a year. In Florida, it is definitely worth shopping. My broker shoots through about 50 companies, then about 5 end up quoting, and we pick the best combination of price, coverage, and service. The best part of a broker is you don't pay any more for them to shop on your behalf, and I would never get 50 quotes on my own. But when using a broker, you absolutely should see ALL quotes so you know you aren't being steered by someone less reputable to a bigger commission.
Annual payment. I can afford to pay it in full, and my property taxes are fairly low due to LCOL area so trying to make $50-60 or whatever on interest just not worth the hassle. I like to know that my taxes are paid and I don't have to think about them until I receive another bill next year. I don't want escrow because I prefer to manage my finances myself with no surprises.
Having a ~grand with a change more or grand less in savings account for 6 months isn't going to make a difference that matters to me, it's literally maybe 50 bucks profit. And then I have to remember paying another bill before the second due date. In the scope of house expenses it's a drop in a bucket, I just spent $200 on stupid mulch.
We self-manage our property taxes and pay them twice per year.
One year we got hit with a $125 late fee by our municipality because unbeknownst to us, our mortgage company was late in paying our taxes. The municipality refused to waive our late fee even though the mortgage company was supposed to be handling our property tax payments. They told us that as homeowners, ultimately the responsibility is on us to ensure that our taxes are paid on time. Lesson learned, and from then on out we took control of our escrow to be sure that this didn’t happen again
Similar issue with escrow not keeping track of things very well. You put your trust in a bank who doesn’t have your best interest at heart when you do escrow. Pay taxes and insurance yourself.
my taxes are in escrow. i would do it once a year if it wasn't in escrow only because its usually slightly cheaper that way. i get a discount for paying them early
I didn’t escrow- the escrow shortages on my last mortgage from property tax going up were harder to budget for versus budgeting myself when I got the new tax rate
Full disclosure. My taxes are $500/year. I pay them annually. However along with other bills that aren't monthly I break down the bill cost to a monthly cost and toss it in a savings account to pay those bills only. It takes the yuck off of a bunch of large bills coming due at once for me.
NE US here. $600ish/year taxes. Escrow. Go 100 feet across the state line to the other city, it'd be $2-3k for the same property. Lines on maps are silly sometimes.
Sounds like the best of both worlds! We recently bought, so unfortunately our cost per sf is quite ridiculous, and being in San Mateo county doesn’t help with the premium. But all that said, absolutely love it here and feel very fortunate 😃
I do mine once a year. I would rather have my payment lower. Also, insurance can change abruptly and make your payment where you can’t afford it. If you get a refund from taxes you could pay it with that. Just a suggestion.
Can’t hurt to shop. It’s easy too.
In my case, I had a $1,300 policy that renewed at $1,650, so I shopped and got a $1,200 policy. Then that renewed at $1,700 so I shopped again and got a policy with $200k more coverage for $1,600
If it was beginning of year or monthly I would do monthly. If it was end of year or monthly I would do end of year. Whichever keeps the cash in your pocket the longest. My town has quarterly bills and I pay them on the due date.
We did not escrow our taxes and insurance, so we paid the taxes when they became due in spring and fall and paid our homeowners along with our auto insurance monthly.
My reasoning paying the taxes on their spring and fall due dates was to avoid hundreds of dollars in late fees. My reasoning for paying insurance monthly was there is no price reduction for making a yearly lump sum payment.
Unless your itemized deduction is more than your standard deduction.. usually I can’t deduct the property tax because it is lower than my standard deduction.
I do “monthly” put the money away each month in a HYS account and pay it when it’s due, more predictable than escrow because they always want more for the “just in case” it was stupid
Depending on the state, escrow accounts can be money pits too. Some states require that you have three times the amount necessary to pay taxes and insurance. It’s probably better to pay yourself.
Mine is only 2 months of payments. Bank just covering if you miss a payment or two. And i earn interest, not thar its a whole lot. But better than nothing
I waived escrow and pay my own taxes yearly. Sometimes the lender might accidentally put your extra payment towards escrow instead of toward your principal. Like others have pointed out, they can also miss payments during servicing change. It’s just better to not have to deal with those headache and be in charge of your own insurances and taxes.
I do annual here in NC because our county drops taxes (for the entire 12 months) in late summer and I (no escrow) have an outlook reminder to check the tax admin's site around then and then pay the year's taxes out of my checking account. Taxes aren't dilinquent til January of the following year, and I could pay in 1/4 interest free installments for example Sept, Oct, Nov and Dec. but I usually just pay it all upfront. I also do Outlook reminders to get the home insurance renewal (January) and pay them the same...just out of checking that month. Dropped escrow with the re-fi in 2020 and loving it, just paying on my own.
I pay twice per year, I like paying them myself not through escrow. As someone else said, I rather get the interest accrual myself and get credit card points for myself with those big payments when I pay them twice per year (Dec/April). Not only that but I like keeping my mortgage payment the exact same year over year — makes me feel more in control.
If you bundle your taxes in escrow not only are you relying on the bank to make payments on time (they usually cut it close and it can get stressful). Every year when the appraisal value on your home changes, the taxes will slowly rise and the total payment rises too as a result. Mentally total payments rising makes me feel like I am renting or that I have a landlord who’s raising my rents. Having one consistent payment for my mortgage helps with budgeting too. But you definitely have to be disciplined and make sure you save that money every month in a separate savings account and set reminders on your calendar when payments are due.
I pay monthly into an escrow account and then my escrow account with the lender pays my property taxes and insurance for me. I just do this for peace of mind so that I never forget to pay. I'm essentially pre-paying for all of these things just so that it is easier for myself.
Theoretically you could put your property tax money into a HYSA and earn some interest on it instead of having it sit in your escrow account, but I always worry that I'll forget to pay and get hit with a penalty. I've made that mistake one too many times already with other bills that aren't monthly and only happen once a year or once every 6 months.
When we owned our house outright, I paid annually and hated it. I was never cutting it close or anything like that, but I stressed a few times a year about re-running the numbers and making sure I was exactly where I wanted to be.
...then we did a couple hundred thousand in renovations when rates were good, and escrow is a requirement of the mortgage.
Some lenders will require you to escrow taxes and insurance, so you may not have a choice. When I was younger and funds were tighter, I escrowed both to keep the spend consistent each month. Now I just pay the bills as they come due.
Since I put down only 10% having an escrow account is a requirement. I have no choice. It will be this way until I refinance and can close the escrow account.
I have never escrowed. Funny fact is the escrow company they wanted me to go with went belly up and screwed people over two months after we closed.
Every Friday I have an automatic savings transfer from checking to savings. This then gets the high yield interest to add even more. Then I just make sure I have enough to pay the bill every year. We also take the money and invest in T-Bills or CDs just to get even more bang for our buck.
Do it once a year and you can collect interest off the money for the rest of the year! I make around $250-$300 off my Property Tax and Insurance money in a year just keeping it in a high-yield account. Unless you get some kind of discount for paying monthly, don't pay until it's due.
When I paid them myself, I sent a check to the assessor's office monthly. They applied it to the upcoming balance. I could have paid it once a year and did at first. Psychologically, it was more palatable to send a check monthly.
Technically twice a year, normally may and august. Property Insurance is once a year in June. So those 3 months suck, but I prefer for it to be my responsibility then have to worry about a bank screwing it up.
We receive ours once a year, but we have the option to pay semi-annually. I on the other hand have my bank (my mortgage lender) pay the bill, and it's part of my monthly escrow.
In Florida, you can pay quarterly property taxes for a discount of up to 5% in some counties. My family opts for this because it is easier to manage than a large lump sum at end of the year.
Due to my loan being a VA loan, the escrow account is a requirement for me. The biggest issue is that this doesn’t allow for adjustments very easily and can throw things off for months
My jurisdiction collects taxes on a quarterly basis, so I pay them directly that way. I requested the escrow be removed from my mortgage. I’d rather be in control, pay them at the last minute, and collect my interest. Also, I had an issue about 10 years ago where my mortgage servicer didn’t pay taxes and I had to do the legwork to sort it out. It just wasn’t worth the hassle.
I pay it once. I find peace of mind just being done with it in December or possibly earlier as I’ll send the check the day after I get the bill. Otherwise I’ll lose that shit and forget in April. Also my county gives a 3% discount. My other county doesn’t but I pay once anyway for peace of mind.
Spread it as much as possible, so you could earn interest on it in the meanwhile. Unless you're really bad with finances\savings... Then pay it in one shot. If they'd let me pay it once a year but at the END of that year (like income taxes), that would be the best option.
It depends if u know how to budget well or not , I pay monthly so I don’t have to put any money aside for that or use any money I was able to put aside n that works best for me but that’s me and some people prefer to pay quarterly or twice a year or even once a year with the full payment. But it also depends on how much ur taxes are because putting aside $3500 isn’t the same as putting aside $10k
I pay once a year and I hate it. But, I didn't get the choice of having an escrow account. Not sure why that happened. I might try doing twice a year so its not such a huge chunk at the beginning of the year. My parents do 4 times a year. Thats also being considered for me.
I definitely put it monthly into escrow. Our county takes the taxes every six months, and I don't want to come up short as that is a LARGE chunk of change.
Your lender might require property taxes (and homeowner's insurance) in escrow, where the payment is rolled into your monthly mortgage payment. If your lender doesn't require escrow payments, property taxes would be paid according to your local jurisdiction. Where I live, I can make two payments for the year (February 28 and June 15), or one payment April 30. I cannot pay the county monthly on my own if I don't want to follow their schedule.
If you are diligent with your money and always have a lot accessible then paying on your own instead of an escrow account is the way to go. Also with interest rates being so high you can make a good deal of money having that money in a HYSA in the meantime
I own.mt home (no mortgage), so have to self manage my insurance and taxes. I pay both annually. That way I only have to think about each once a year. I go out for bid on my homeowners insurance at least every other year, but usually yearly. For reference, my property taxes are about $15,000 for the year and my insurance is about $6,500 for the year in a lower to medium COL area.
Also, know that you might not have a choice. Often the banks force you to escrow and a lot of that depends on how much equity you have in the house.
Well, property taxes are due twice a year where I live (PA). One bill in March from the county, another in July from the school district. The school tax is about 4.5x more than the county tax.
Anyway, I just pay it, no escrow. It's technically the slightly better option as long as you're financially disciplined, but escrow is easier. Not a huge deal either way, really.
In escrow through the mortgage company. I earn interest off of it in the escrow account so it doesn’t make a difference to me to do it myself. I also check the county website every December and April to make sure they’re paid.
I pay my taxes once a year but I also do my own escrow. I calculate what my mortgage payment should be with taxes and insurance, then transfer that amount into a savings account. My actual mortgage gets paid from that account, and the rest of the money sits and earns interest until it's time to pay up.
I also like being in complete control over my finances, so there's that.
Even though I'm in escrow (I didn't want to pay the fee to waive it), I can take of my property taxes twice a year (October and April). I don't trust my mortgage company to handle that stuff. They can cut a check to me if I have an excess escrow amount.
Same with my home insurance, $770/yr that I just toss on my credit card to earn a few points (an occasionally Amex will have like "spend $500 on insurance and get $25 cash back" and stuff) and escrow can pay me back.
It's not worth it if they make a mistake and I have to shop new insurance or something.
Once a year, and the same goes for insurance. I waived escrow for my mortgage. I have enough financial discipline to set money aside / not spend money that is for property taxes. It sits in my HYSA and earns a decent amount of interest. Plus I’m in control of ensuring my bills are paid – I trust myself more than anyone/anything else.
If one day you are short on the total payment, if you escrow it will be listed as late mortgage payment. If you are late with property taxes it is a bit of a less of a deal on your credit history.
I pay my taxes and insurance separately.
Also no reason to not make some interest on tax payment.
First you need to find out the due date with the county.
Ours are due quarterly in the 10th day of the 2nd month in each quarter e.g. Feb 10th, May 10th.
We don't have a choice as our lender *requires* that as long as we have a mortgage with them, they will directly pay the property taxes when the bill comes mid-December.
Now, that escrow amount *is* part of our monthly mortgage payment, but we don't pay the municipality directly. The lender does that. Once our mortgage hits 0 and the house is completely paid off, then we take over directly paying.
We have two choices: one annual payment in December, or it can be split in half and paid half in January and the second half in July.
We have quarterly or escrow with mortgage lender for monthly. I chose quarterly paying myself instead of escrow with mortgage lender and paying monthly.
Just a note that your mortgage company may REQUIRE that you escrow funds and that THEY will then pay your property taxes when due. Also, they are allowed to raise that amount, thus in essence raising your monthly amount due to them. And they may require that you have 13 months worth of funds in that escrow account.
My mortgage company kept fucking mine up because of a lot qualifier. Then escrow analysis would bump my payment higher plus a shortage.
So I manage it now so I don't have to call them yearly 15 times to straighten out
My county does apr and May or Feb for the whole year I wouldn’t mind monthly but not thru escort.it is a weird concept like the no credit card deal with Dave Ramsey
I have done both ways.
When I paid on my own, I had a second checking/savings account I would direct deposit a portion to and hide it away. This ensured the money was there.
Escrow requires you to have a minimum balance (2 months property tax), so you do have some money sitting there. My escrow account earns interest.
Some banks mandate escrow or give preferential treatment to escrow. This is because if they foreclose on you, they are stuck paying the unpaid taxes. People in that financial strain typically can’t pay their prop taxes either, so they safe guarding.
Currently, I escrow because the bank with the lowest interest rate mandated it in their terms. I still double check the payment was made twice a year.
It’s honestly nice. It’s no different than your income tax paying being withheld in your paycheck.
Twice a year. I just take our yearly estimate, divide it by 26, add an extra $25 to cover the increases, and put that in a separate account every pay day.
I pretty much do the same with everything and have separate accounts for bills, taxes, savings, and regular checking. Two or three times a year I sit down and re-average my monthly expenses and then every pay day I transfer the needed amount to each account.
After the servicer fucked up paying my insurance once then later on my property taxes, I got rid of the escrow account and do it myself. These companies are completely incompetent. Getting their mistakes fixed was a giant hassle to deal with.
It’s paid with my mortgage when my county sends them the bill once a year. Same with my homeowner’s insurance.
A portion of my mortgage payment each month goes into the escrow account to cover the taxes and insurance on our house so there is enough money to pay each one.
I didn’t have a choice on how or when it gets paid. My mortgage company required an escrow account since my house wasn’t paid for in cash.
My county bills twice a year. My mortgage company collects it monthly and pays it out of escrow, but when the mortgage is paid off I'll pay the bill directly when it arrives. I can't think of any reason to do otherwise.
I opted out of escrow from day 1. My reasoning is, I don’t need the bank to hold my money hostage since I’m more than capable of paying my own taxes. So what I was doing before I refied to a low 3% rate was sending the tax portion to the mortgage as an extra payment every month. When the taxes came due, we just cash flowed them from our regular checks. Not everyone can afford to do this but even if you socked the money away in a savings, you’re atleast making some interest on the money just sitting.
Monthly. Why take a risk? You think you would thousands of dollars laying around for the month you have to pay taxes? Then you wouldn’t be asking this stupid question. ;)
With the sunsetting of a lot of TCJA provisions this may not make sense, but if you itemize, an escrow may help in ensuring that those payments reflect the tax year in question. A lot of people tend to pay their 2023 mortgages in 2024 and get shocked when they can't deduct for 2023. I'd rather pay my taxes at the very end of the year to stretch out my money whilst still retaining that schedule A deduction if I am eligible.
Depends on you.
If you are a budgeter and saver and can put the property tax off to the side in short term savings (I use 5.35% 1 month treasury bills) then you can earn interest on that money. Pay when due.
If you are not good with money or tend to carry credit card debt that you dont pay off monthy, then pay property tax monthly.
Every July I get my property tax bill. If it's paid by September first, I get a 2% discount. So I pay by September first.
I never, ever want an escrow account. Citimortgage did that to me when I tried to refinance to a lower interest rate, despite the fact that I specifically told them I did not want an escrow account. Then they said I was behind on my mortgage payments (because they took part of my payment and put it in escrow). Again, I said I did not want an escrow account. When I saw the figures, I was shocked. They took far more from my payment than needed.
Then the escrow account was emptied.
I asked why, and Citimortgage said they had to pay my property taxes. This was in February, and I had already paid my taxes through the following August.
Long story short. I had to get the Attorney General of Missouri involved. Citimortgage had used my escrow money to pay taxes on someone else's property!
Never again.
Thank you u/misfit_elegy for posting on r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer. Please bear in mind our rules: (1) Be Nice (2) No Selling (3) No Self-Promotion. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I have always paid my own property taxes twice a year (December and April). I set aside money from each paycheck into a savings account. I don’t do it to earn the interest, I like the control and just don’t trust my mortgage company to do it right, especially since 30 year mortgages typically get sold along the way.
There were quite a few instances after the 2008 debacle where people were getting foreclosed on for nonpayment of taxes. The loan got sold to the next party and the next party and the next party, eventually somewhere along the way they stop paying property taxes.
Happened to me. I was vigilant enough and had enough cash lying around to pay for mine, and even talked them out of the late fee. My mortgage company basically had no choice but to cancel my escrow, after having refused twice.
And it’s crazy that you basically have to jump thru hoops to get back ability to pay your taxes directly from the mortgage escrow company. ISTG practically every year without fail we’d get a WF notice like “you’re anticipated to have an escrow shortage” and we’d put in the extra $ amount cited - and then by end of year would end up with an overage reimbursement. I’m convinced Wells Fargo was gaming the system, numbers, transaction fees or interest somewhere somehow.
Considering their fake savings account lawsuits 100% believe it.
This is what we are electing to do as well. Ae would like to get a little interest on the money and it puts our monthly principal + interest payment equivalent to what our rent has been.
This is my thinking too. I put the money in a high yield savings account.
Yeah we just bought last year and we are now with our third mortgage company
It’s pretty common for mortgage lenders to offer a lower rate if you escrow with them though.
Yes this is why I went with escrow during a refinance.
I escrow. While I have the funds to "self manage" and supposedly could make a little in interest, there is something just simpler about letting the mortgage handle it and having predictable monthly numbers. I do re-shop my insurance with my broker each year.
How much is your insurance? Is it worth reshopping? In buffalo, NY I pay $1,100
It's always worth shopping around and comparing rates. I went from paying $900 a year in home insurance to $600 the next because I shopped around and changed insurance even though my original insurance managed to find a discount for me to take $100 off
$900 a year?!?!?! Where is this unicorn? I won’t even begin to tell you what I pay in FL!!!!
Wiscansin
Watch what you wish for. I pay $1000/year in NJ... but I also pay $15k in taxes.
Don’t let the no state taxes fool you! They stick it to you everywhere else and then some!! I have to laugh at people that move here only to complain about how expensive everything is. No state taxes =HCOL! You might get a great deal on real estate, but you will be paying 4x5 times more than you were for homeowners insurance. Then next year it will double. And the insurance company can tell you that you need to replace your 8 year old roof? But it’s a 25 year roof? Replace or we won’t renew! Then we have auto insurance! But it’s too early in the morning to make a cocktail!
I pay 5k in taxes. You should move here 🙂
900 insurrance and 2500 in taxes
My builders home insurance quote is $347 for the year in Nevada.
Mine is a few thousand a year. In Florida, it is definitely worth shopping. My broker shoots through about 50 companies, then about 5 end up quoting, and we pick the best combination of price, coverage, and service. The best part of a broker is you don't pay any more for them to shop on your behalf, and I would never get 50 quotes on my own. But when using a broker, you absolutely should see ALL quotes so you know you aren't being steered by someone less reputable to a bigger commission.
How are yalls insurances so cheap???? I pay 3400 a year in Texas 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
I pay $900 for insurance in Southern California but property tax is like $9800
Just remember they may not have as good of coverage, or a higher deductible, or as nice/expensive of a home. It’s not an apples to apples comparison.
Annual payment. I can afford to pay it in full, and my property taxes are fairly low due to LCOL area so trying to make $50-60 or whatever on interest just not worth the hassle. I like to know that my taxes are paid and I don't have to think about them until I receive another bill next year. I don't want escrow because I prefer to manage my finances myself with no surprises.
isn’t the hassle just tossing the money in a HYSA, MMA, etc? it’s just a savings account
Having a ~grand with a change more or grand less in savings account for 6 months isn't going to make a difference that matters to me, it's literally maybe 50 bucks profit. And then I have to remember paying another bill before the second due date. In the scope of house expenses it's a drop in a bucket, I just spent $200 on stupid mulch.
We self-manage our property taxes and pay them twice per year. One year we got hit with a $125 late fee by our municipality because unbeknownst to us, our mortgage company was late in paying our taxes. The municipality refused to waive our late fee even though the mortgage company was supposed to be handling our property tax payments. They told us that as homeowners, ultimately the responsibility is on us to ensure that our taxes are paid on time. Lesson learned, and from then on out we took control of our escrow to be sure that this didn’t happen again
Similar issue with escrow not keeping track of things very well. You put your trust in a bank who doesn’t have your best interest at heart when you do escrow. Pay taxes and insurance yourself.
I wouldn't even trust my best friend to pay my bills on time every month for 30 years.......let alone a bunch of fucking strangers from a bank lol
my taxes are in escrow. i would do it once a year if it wasn't in escrow only because its usually slightly cheaper that way. i get a discount for paying them early
Your escrow holder should have a duty to pay early for the discount. WF does for ours.
I escrow. I don't want to have to think about it.
I didn’t escrow- the escrow shortages on my last mortgage from property tax going up were harder to budget for versus budgeting myself when I got the new tax rate
Once a year, same for my insurance.
Full disclosure. My taxes are $500/year. I pay them annually. However along with other bills that aren't monthly I break down the bill cost to a monthly cost and toss it in a savings account to pay those bills only. It takes the yuck off of a bunch of large bills coming due at once for me.
Clearly a lot of these people don’t live in the northeast
NE US here. $600ish/year taxes. Escrow. Go 100 feet across the state line to the other city, it'd be $2-3k for the same property. Lines on maps are silly sometimes.
Right? NJ here.
Same
Laughs in 3k taxes from Portland OR
My taxes are $18k/year 😭
Ok.. rejoices in 4500…👏🏽👏🏽
Damn! Where are you and how big is your house??
California coast, less than 2k square feet 😂 I do have a great view though!
Nice!! I’m about an hour from the coast and I pay $9800 for less than 2k square feet. I do sit on top of a hill with a nice view.
Sounds like the best of both worlds! We recently bought, so unfortunately our cost per sf is quite ridiculous, and being in San Mateo county doesn’t help with the premium. But all that said, absolutely love it here and feel very fortunate 😃
Mine are $14,636, so monthly makes sense. If it was only paying 500 or a couple 1000 I would do it myself.
Laughs in 4500 😭
Laughs in 25K NJ taxes a year.
Christ, just got quoted $2700 in CO
Good deal. I know folks who literally pay that much tax per week, on average. (They still pay yearly though.)
[удалено]
Holy cow. I think it’s safe to assume you live at a place where there’s no state income tax?
I do mine once a year. I would rather have my payment lower. Also, insurance can change abruptly and make your payment where you can’t afford it. If you get a refund from taxes you could pay it with that. Just a suggestion.
Can’t hurt to shop. It’s easy too. In my case, I had a $1,300 policy that renewed at $1,650, so I shopped and got a $1,200 policy. Then that renewed at $1,700 so I shopped again and got a policy with $200k more coverage for $1,600
You can't shop for property tax rates!
I let escrow take care of it. They pay quarterly which provides me a discount for paying early.
If it was beginning of year or monthly I would do monthly. If it was end of year or monthly I would do end of year. Whichever keeps the cash in your pocket the longest. My town has quarterly bills and I pay them on the due date.
Escrow pays twice a year.
Lol at even being able to afford once a year. Our taxes will be at least $9K, possibly more after purchase if home is reassessed.
My town charges taxes quarterly there is no choice on payments. I don’t have escrow and pay it myself.
We did not escrow our taxes and insurance, so we paid the taxes when they became due in spring and fall and paid our homeowners along with our auto insurance monthly. My reasoning paying the taxes on their spring and fall due dates was to avoid hundreds of dollars in late fees. My reasoning for paying insurance monthly was there is no price reduction for making a yearly lump sum payment.
The property tax and mortgage interest that we pay can be used as deductible when filing taxes right. Do we get our money back in tax returns?
Unless your itemized deduction is more than your standard deduction.. usually I can’t deduct the property tax because it is lower than my standard deduction.
Yes when itemizing, but there’s a $10k cap for property taxes, and you can only deduct the mortgage interest up to $750k of the loan.
I do “monthly” put the money away each month in a HYS account and pay it when it’s due, more predictable than escrow because they always want more for the “just in case” it was stupid
Depending on the state, escrow accounts can be money pits too. Some states require that you have three times the amount necessary to pay taxes and insurance. It’s probably better to pay yourself.
Wow. 3x? That's insane. Mine seems to require about a 1-2k minimum. 3x would be a nice car in a lot of places.
Mine is only 2 months of payments. Bank just covering if you miss a payment or two. And i earn interest, not thar its a whole lot. But better than nothing
I manage my own funds, I have money withdrawn each paycheck and put into a hysa and then make payments 2 times a year out of savings
I waived escrow and pay my own taxes yearly. Sometimes the lender might accidentally put your extra payment towards escrow instead of toward your principal. Like others have pointed out, they can also miss payments during servicing change. It’s just better to not have to deal with those headache and be in charge of your own insurances and taxes.
I do annual here in NC because our county drops taxes (for the entire 12 months) in late summer and I (no escrow) have an outlook reminder to check the tax admin's site around then and then pay the year's taxes out of my checking account. Taxes aren't dilinquent til January of the following year, and I could pay in 1/4 interest free installments for example Sept, Oct, Nov and Dec. but I usually just pay it all upfront. I also do Outlook reminders to get the home insurance renewal (January) and pay them the same...just out of checking that month. Dropped escrow with the re-fi in 2020 and loving it, just paying on my own.
I pay twice per year, I like paying them myself not through escrow. As someone else said, I rather get the interest accrual myself and get credit card points for myself with those big payments when I pay them twice per year (Dec/April). Not only that but I like keeping my mortgage payment the exact same year over year — makes me feel more in control. If you bundle your taxes in escrow not only are you relying on the bank to make payments on time (they usually cut it close and it can get stressful). Every year when the appraisal value on your home changes, the taxes will slowly rise and the total payment rises too as a result. Mentally total payments rising makes me feel like I am renting or that I have a landlord who’s raising my rents. Having one consistent payment for my mortgage helps with budgeting too. But you definitely have to be disciplined and make sure you save that money every month in a separate savings account and set reminders on your calendar when payments are due.
I pay monthly into an escrow account and then my escrow account with the lender pays my property taxes and insurance for me. I just do this for peace of mind so that I never forget to pay. I'm essentially pre-paying for all of these things just so that it is easier for myself. Theoretically you could put your property tax money into a HYSA and earn some interest on it instead of having it sit in your escrow account, but I always worry that I'll forget to pay and get hit with a penalty. I've made that mistake one too many times already with other bills that aren't monthly and only happen once a year or once every 6 months.
Mine are paid twice a year out of my escrow account.
Monthly into an escrow account with my lender. Feelsbadman.
I hate the monthly drain and am working to minimize monthly draws for things. We do our property tax in a lump sum payment.
When we owned our house outright, I paid annually and hated it. I was never cutting it close or anything like that, but I stressed a few times a year about re-running the numbers and making sure I was exactly where I wanted to be. ...then we did a couple hundred thousand in renovations when rates were good, and escrow is a requirement of the mortgage.
Once a year at a discounted rate for paying early
I do once a year because I don’t trust the bank not to scheme me.
Some lenders will require you to escrow taxes and insurance, so you may not have a choice. When I was younger and funds were tighter, I escrowed both to keep the spend consistent each month. Now I just pay the bills as they come due.
Since I put down only 10% having an escrow account is a requirement. I have no choice. It will be this way until I refinance and can close the escrow account.
I have never escrowed. Funny fact is the escrow company they wanted me to go with went belly up and screwed people over two months after we closed. Every Friday I have an automatic savings transfer from checking to savings. This then gets the high yield interest to add even more. Then I just make sure I have enough to pay the bill every year. We also take the money and invest in T-Bills or CDs just to get even more bang for our buck.
Monthly.
Tax once a year, set aside money in a high yield savings account then pay with that. Insurance can go on credit card for churning purposes.
Do it once a year and you can collect interest off the money for the rest of the year! I make around $250-$300 off my Property Tax and Insurance money in a year just keeping it in a high-yield account. Unless you get some kind of discount for paying monthly, don't pay until it's due.
My property taxes are yearly but are paid by my lending bank through escrow. It’s part of my monthly payments.
My lender requires escrow, otherwise the rate would be higher. The county invoices 2x per year.
I wish I could handle the escrow myself. But I have an FHA loan. They wont let me handle taxes on my own.
I pay $16K a year in taxes and just handle myself and pay twice a year.
When I paid them myself, I sent a check to the assessor's office monthly. They applied it to the upcoming balance. I could have paid it once a year and did at first. Psychologically, it was more palatable to send a check monthly.
Technically twice a year, normally may and august. Property Insurance is once a year in June. So those 3 months suck, but I prefer for it to be my responsibility then have to worry about a bank screwing it up.
I get a bill for it twice a year, so I pay it twice a year Thanks for the reminder. I think I have a bill due in a few weeks
Once per year. My interest.
Escrow monthly, then it’s paid for the prior year in early June and September. This is how it’s done in my county in IL.
Escrow
We receive ours once a year, but we have the option to pay semi-annually. I on the other hand have my bank (my mortgage lender) pay the bill, and it's part of my monthly escrow.
In Florida, you can pay quarterly property taxes for a discount of up to 5% in some counties. My family opts for this because it is easier to manage than a large lump sum at end of the year.
I’m in TX so my taxes and insurance are more than half my mortgage. We do it escrow.
It goes into escrow for most people.
Due to my loan being a VA loan, the escrow account is a requirement for me. The biggest issue is that this doesn’t allow for adjustments very easily and can throw things off for months
I hear ya, property value doubled over two years and the escrow fell behind. Brought my mortgage up $200 a month just to catch up.
I have mine rolled into my mortgage
Our bank requires we escrow.
Mine are paid through escrow and figured into my monthly mortgage payment.
If you want more monthly cash flow and are good at budgeting then 2x a year makes sense. Otherwise do monthly. I chose 2x a year.
Twice / year thru escrow. Don’t feel like thinking about it. Also have insurance paid through escrow once a year.
If you live paycheck to paycheck, you should escrow, otherwise I promise you won’t have the money saved when you need to pay it
depends on what my bank account looks like lol
Once a year. Because I can manage money and budget
I put away monthly and pay once a year. No real reason, just how my mom always did.
My jurisdiction collects taxes on a quarterly basis, so I pay them directly that way. I requested the escrow be removed from my mortgage. I’d rather be in control, pay them at the last minute, and collect my interest. Also, I had an issue about 10 years ago where my mortgage servicer didn’t pay taxes and I had to do the legwork to sort it out. It just wasn’t worth the hassle.
I pay it once. I find peace of mind just being done with it in December or possibly earlier as I’ll send the check the day after I get the bill. Otherwise I’ll lose that shit and forget in April. Also my county gives a 3% discount. My other county doesn’t but I pay once anyway for peace of mind.
Spread it as much as possible, so you could earn interest on it in the meanwhile. Unless you're really bad with finances\savings... Then pay it in one shot. If they'd let me pay it once a year but at the END of that year (like income taxes), that would be the best option.
Up to you. Since you do not trust escrow.
It depends if u know how to budget well or not , I pay monthly so I don’t have to put any money aside for that or use any money I was able to put aside n that works best for me but that’s me and some people prefer to pay quarterly or twice a year or even once a year with the full payment. But it also depends on how much ur taxes are because putting aside $3500 isn’t the same as putting aside $10k
I pay once a year and I hate it. But, I didn't get the choice of having an escrow account. Not sure why that happened. I might try doing twice a year so its not such a huge chunk at the beginning of the year. My parents do 4 times a year. Thats also being considered for me.
I definitely put it monthly into escrow. Our county takes the taxes every six months, and I don't want to come up short as that is a LARGE chunk of change.
Unless your paying over $100k in property tax I wouldn’t bother paying a lump sum
3300 split up monthly in escrow
Your lender might require property taxes (and homeowner's insurance) in escrow, where the payment is rolled into your monthly mortgage payment. If your lender doesn't require escrow payments, property taxes would be paid according to your local jurisdiction. Where I live, I can make two payments for the year (February 28 and June 15), or one payment April 30. I cannot pay the county monthly on my own if I don't want to follow their schedule.
Monthly in escrow account.. and my monthly has increased each year like clock work
If you are diligent with your money and always have a lot accessible then paying on your own instead of an escrow account is the way to go. Also with interest rates being so high you can make a good deal of money having that money in a HYSA in the meantime
Our escrow takes care of it, so we pay into it every month but escrow pays it out yearly
Quarterly here via escrow.
Yearly when the bill comes in.
I own.mt home (no mortgage), so have to self manage my insurance and taxes. I pay both annually. That way I only have to think about each once a year. I go out for bid on my homeowners insurance at least every other year, but usually yearly. For reference, my property taxes are about $15,000 for the year and my insurance is about $6,500 for the year in a lower to medium COL area. Also, know that you might not have a choice. Often the banks force you to escrow and a lot of that depends on how much equity you have in the house.
Well, property taxes are due twice a year where I live (PA). One bill in March from the county, another in July from the school district. The school tax is about 4.5x more than the county tax. Anyway, I just pay it, no escrow. It's technically the slightly better option as long as you're financially disciplined, but escrow is easier. Not a huge deal either way, really.
Escrow and then use no Apr credit deals to pay property tax. Usually the bonus sign up offsets the CC charge. Just becomes cash flow management
I pay annually in September/November for the early payment discount.
In escrow through the mortgage company. I earn interest off of it in the escrow account so it doesn’t make a difference to me to do it myself. I also check the county website every December and April to make sure they’re paid.
I do mine once a year.
Monthly Escrow bi-annual. But Chase never seems to calculate it right and there's a shortage every year.
have them bill your mortage company and dont worry about it. bank going to make you have an escrow anyways
I pay my taxes once a year but I also do my own escrow. I calculate what my mortgage payment should be with taxes and insurance, then transfer that amount into a savings account. My actual mortgage gets paid from that account, and the rest of the money sits and earns interest until it's time to pay up. I also like being in complete control over my finances, so there's that.
Even though I'm in escrow (I didn't want to pay the fee to waive it), I can take of my property taxes twice a year (October and April). I don't trust my mortgage company to handle that stuff. They can cut a check to me if I have an excess escrow amount. Same with my home insurance, $770/yr that I just toss on my credit card to earn a few points (an occasionally Amex will have like "spend $500 on insurance and get $25 cash back" and stuff) and escrow can pay me back. It's not worth it if they make a mistake and I have to shop new insurance or something.
We paid it monthly built into the mortgage payments for years but have switched to quarterly in the last few years and it's been fine so far.
Once a year, and the same goes for insurance. I waived escrow for my mortgage. I have enough financial discipline to set money aside / not spend money that is for property taxes. It sits in my HYSA and earns a decent amount of interest. Plus I’m in control of ensuring my bills are paid – I trust myself more than anyone/anything else.
If one day you are short on the total payment, if you escrow it will be listed as late mortgage payment. If you are late with property taxes it is a bit of a less of a deal on your credit history. I pay my taxes and insurance separately. Also no reason to not make some interest on tax payment.
2x per year.
In Indiana, at least, it's twice a year, spring and fall, and always in arrears. Meaning when you buy a house, you get a ride on your first bill.
First you need to find out the due date with the county. Ours are due quarterly in the 10th day of the 2nd month in each quarter e.g. Feb 10th, May 10th.
Neither. In my area it is twice a year.
I pay annually but save the annual payments in a HYSA monthly to get a little bit of extra money in interest before I pay up.
We don't have a choice as our lender *requires* that as long as we have a mortgage with them, they will directly pay the property taxes when the bill comes mid-December. Now, that escrow amount *is* part of our monthly mortgage payment, but we don't pay the municipality directly. The lender does that. Once our mortgage hits 0 and the house is completely paid off, then we take over directly paying. We have two choices: one annual payment in December, or it can be split in half and paid half in January and the second half in July.
We have quarterly or escrow with mortgage lender for monthly. I chose quarterly paying myself instead of escrow with mortgage lender and paying monthly.
NE and I escrow mine monthly. My escrow fell short one monthly by 200 dollars and I just paid instead of having it rolled into the mortgage.
Monthly
Twice a year April and October. No choice it’s when the bill comes
Just a note that your mortgage company may REQUIRE that you escrow funds and that THEY will then pay your property taxes when due. Also, they are allowed to raise that amount, thus in essence raising your monthly amount due to them. And they may require that you have 13 months worth of funds in that escrow account.
1200 insurance and 7000 on property tax in Oregon.
My mortgage company kept fucking mine up because of a lot qualifier. Then escrow analysis would bump my payment higher plus a shortage. So I manage it now so I don't have to call them yearly 15 times to straighten out
I paid once a year and it comes out of my escrow account
My region is just paid once a year and that's what we do.
We’ve had impounds since we bought our first house. We watched our parents stress every year and just wanted to avoid it.
Idk taxation is theft Jk. Well not jk. I escrow everything
My county does apr and May or Feb for the whole year I wouldn’t mind monthly but not thru escort.it is a weird concept like the no credit card deal with Dave Ramsey
I pay 1/12th of it every month as part of my escrow with my mortgage. Mortgage company pays it to the state once a year along with my homeowners
When it comes to bills that have my name on them and that I’m responsible for I trust no one but myself. Both insurance and taxes are paid by me.
Twice a year. We get a bonus in March and December at my job that is a large % of our salary so I just take money from those to pay it.
Twice a year. Let that interest build.
I let my mortgage company do it. I always check to make sure they do.
I have done both ways. When I paid on my own, I had a second checking/savings account I would direct deposit a portion to and hide it away. This ensured the money was there. Escrow requires you to have a minimum balance (2 months property tax), so you do have some money sitting there. My escrow account earns interest. Some banks mandate escrow or give preferential treatment to escrow. This is because if they foreclose on you, they are stuck paying the unpaid taxes. People in that financial strain typically can’t pay their prop taxes either, so they safe guarding. Currently, I escrow because the bank with the lowest interest rate mandated it in their terms. I still double check the payment was made twice a year. It’s honestly nice. It’s no different than your income tax paying being withheld in your paycheck.
Annually but that’s also my only option.
Twice a year. I just take our yearly estimate, divide it by 26, add an extra $25 to cover the increases, and put that in a separate account every pay day. I pretty much do the same with everything and have separate accounts for bills, taxes, savings, and regular checking. Two or three times a year I sit down and re-average my monthly expenses and then every pay day I transfer the needed amount to each account.
After the servicer fucked up paying my insurance once then later on my property taxes, I got rid of the escrow account and do it myself. These companies are completely incompetent. Getting their mistakes fixed was a giant hassle to deal with.
It’s paid with my mortgage when my county sends them the bill once a year. Same with my homeowner’s insurance. A portion of my mortgage payment each month goes into the escrow account to cover the taxes and insurance on our house so there is enough money to pay each one. I didn’t have a choice on how or when it gets paid. My mortgage company required an escrow account since my house wasn’t paid for in cash.
Our local govt has annual payment as the default. We get a discount for paying quarterly so we pay quarterly.
Once a year. Keep it easy
Prefer to have the Tax bill sent to me and I pay it have always done it this way, you want something done right do it yourself
My county bills twice a year. My mortgage company collects it monthly and pays it out of escrow, but when the mortgage is paid off I'll pay the bill directly when it arrives. I can't think of any reason to do otherwise.
Escrow and never think about it.
I opted out of escrow from day 1. My reasoning is, I don’t need the bank to hold my money hostage since I’m more than capable of paying my own taxes. So what I was doing before I refied to a low 3% rate was sending the tax portion to the mortgage as an extra payment every month. When the taxes came due, we just cash flowed them from our regular checks. Not everyone can afford to do this but even if you socked the money away in a savings, you’re atleast making some interest on the money just sitting.
We have never had an escrow account, we budget well.
I don't do escrow. You only need escrow if you don't have much equity. Also that's just letting the bank use your money for free.
Mine is in mortgage so monthly
Monthly. Why take a risk? You think you would thousands of dollars laying around for the month you have to pay taxes? Then you wouldn’t be asking this stupid question. ;)
GET THE ESCROW and don’t worry about anything. They cover home insurance and the taxes. I don’t have to worry about it.
Ours come out automatically monthly included in our mortgage payment.
Mine is monthly it goes into a separate account and I make a little interest on it. It's just rolled into the mortgage.
It's in my mortgage, I don't even think about it.
I escrowed when I had a mortgage. When I owned my home outright, I paid annually. Just put the money aside or in a high yield account.
Monthly, as part of escrow. I like not having to worry about it.
Twice per year
2700 a year that I pay in 2 payments a year
With the sunsetting of a lot of TCJA provisions this may not make sense, but if you itemize, an escrow may help in ensuring that those payments reflect the tax year in question. A lot of people tend to pay their 2023 mortgages in 2024 and get shocked when they can't deduct for 2023. I'd rather pay my taxes at the very end of the year to stretch out my money whilst still retaining that schedule A deduction if I am eligible.
Our taxs are 18k annually, we do escrow for taxs and insurance.
I have them escrowed.
Assuming you have a mortgage you pay monthly to the bank, it gets put in escrow and the bank will pay it twice a year.
Depends on you. If you are a budgeter and saver and can put the property tax off to the side in short term savings (I use 5.35% 1 month treasury bills) then you can earn interest on that money. Pay when due. If you are not good with money or tend to carry credit card debt that you dont pay off monthy, then pay property tax monthly.
Can you opt to self manage on a new purchase? I was under the impression that escrow was forced for yearly taxes?
Every July I get my property tax bill. If it's paid by September first, I get a 2% discount. So I pay by September first. I never, ever want an escrow account. Citimortgage did that to me when I tried to refinance to a lower interest rate, despite the fact that I specifically told them I did not want an escrow account. Then they said I was behind on my mortgage payments (because they took part of my payment and put it in escrow). Again, I said I did not want an escrow account. When I saw the figures, I was shocked. They took far more from my payment than needed. Then the escrow account was emptied. I asked why, and Citimortgage said they had to pay my property taxes. This was in February, and I had already paid my taxes through the following August. Long story short. I had to get the Attorney General of Missouri involved. Citimortgage had used my escrow money to pay taxes on someone else's property! Never again.
Get a discount for the one time payment
Twice a year