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Fun With Escrows Closed on my house back in August and it's been awesome, so good luck to everyone buying, but had an interesting little story to tell. Recently my escrow went under by about $2500. This caused the mortgage company to recalculate my payments to balance the debt and add enough to ensure it doesn't happen next year.. This raised my payments $500/m I knew this was wrong, and in researching, it turns out that the mortgage company paid my township almost $5000.00 for some unknown reason.. Many calls (including a 3-way call with the township) they determined nobody has any idea why that payment was ever made. So they need to reimburse me that money. 2 months later, still not reimbursed. In the mean time I have to pay the $500 extra a month since they can't recalculate until the reimbursement is fulfilled. Now I know, even when this does get fixed and they reimburse me, my account is likely to have excess, which will result in next year a smaller payment, which will result in a shortage causing the following year to go up.. Back and forth, back and forth. Got to love escrow accounts. Enjoy being homeowners! Moral of story, keep an eye on your statements, be persistent, and make sure you have money set aside for unexpected expenses.
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Jan 12, 2010 19:34
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 10:49 |
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Wow, Glad I got mine in during the no-proof phase.. That did seem really odd to me when I amended my 08 return. All they really asked for was the address. Got my check in about a month after mailing the amendment in. Also an update to my Escrow Fiasco: The current reason for them sending a check for about $5k to my township was apparently that the township billed them for the property reassessment of "my 39 properties".. No freaking idea why the township thought I was the builder, which is even dumber since they know my property taxes for one single property, why would I own 39? Bank is baffled, township is stubborn and i'm still caught in the middle waiting for my 5k back.
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Jan 22, 2010 20:08
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The last page had some references to using "gifts" For down payments.. Really, the only time this comes into play is when the bank is going over your finances and notices something funny.. In our case, my father lent us the 8000 stimulus money, and knowing I was building a home, we slowly transferred it into my accounts up to closing, and then when the Gov. check came in the following month, I repaid him.. As long as they don't see a sudden growth of 20k unexplainable dollars, it shouldn't be a problem. We did a conventional mortgage in case you are wondering. Also, the whole gift thing is just a way for the banks to gain confidence in its customers. Someone who can't even afford a down payment or took the time to save one up might be a risky customer, hence why they look down on gifts. At least in our case, they never questioned where our finances were coming from, so it may not be an issue.. I transferred in chunks just to be safe though. Oh, on a side note.. I think the worst part about owning a house is scheduling things.. Anytime you need a contractor, or an inspector from the township to come, you better be taking a day off of work because they only come during business hours.. So frustrating. FidgetyRat fucked around with this message at 19:54 on Feb 3, 2010 |
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Feb 3, 2010 19:46
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Strict 9 posted:Got my refund! About three months to the day. In a month or so, you'll get a reminder from the IRS basically saying: "Remember to claim the interest we gave you on this years taxes ^_^". Can't get a break. I was pretty surprised when my letter arrived. Regarding loans for down payments. As i've mentioned in previous posts, we took the "borrow 8k from family members and repay with the refund check" route.. We took out a conventional mortgage so needed 5% down, which we had, but then later in the process our bank was considering forcing 10% down for the conventional mortgages, so we used the money to bump our 5% to a 10% which was actually quite a nice decision. Regardless of how much you have, adding $8000 to your down payment never hurts and could even bump you into a better PMI bracket. But I wouldn't consider even looking for a house with under 5% down at hand, because don't forget about closing costs which are NOT part of the down payment and can be VERY expensive in some areas. For comparison, our closing had roughly these numbers. 10% down on house (230k new house) = $23,000 Closing, escrow, insurance, taxes, etc = $7000 Total check written at closing $30,000. After closing, we needed a refrigerator, washer and dryer since we were moving from an apartment, added cost.. And even with as much down as we have, we still have to pay PMI since we're under 20%. I would honestly suggest having as much up front as you can before considering a purchase. I was also lucky enough to get a NEW house, so there wasn't any out of pocket repair costs and my house came with a warranty. FidgetyRat fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Feb 9, 2010 |
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Feb 9, 2010 19:05
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Last time I spoke to my mortgage guy, he said banks are trying to make a push to not allow appraisals or equity to be involved in PMI.. Only paying down the mortgage to 20% would allow PMI to be terminated. Likely due to how screwed banks got during the last crash as people with high equity had PMI disabled, only to have their home value plummet and forclose. Don't know if this ever happened though. stash posted:Also, the PMI rates should change at 5, 10, and 15% downpayment. If you pay 10% down, you should get a better PMI rate than if you only put down 5%. I'm not sure if this changes as you pay the house off, or only on the downpayment. This is correct. PMI will not change during the duration of the payments. The rate is determined at the time of the loan underwriting and stays until PMI is disabled. Also note, that 7% will not get you a rate between 5% and 10%, you MUST hit the full bracket to get a reduction. FidgetyRat fucked around with this message at 17:17 on Mar 5, 2010 |
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Mar 5, 2010 17:15
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 10:49 |
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Backno posted:Going to add into this as well, hell there is a poster here who is fight with his ex-fiance about a house they had together for a few years. Seriously do not get a house with a gf/bf, a group of buddies, etc unles you know you can cover the full mortgage payment your self. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&threadid=3277341&pagenumber=1#pti35 Thread Here
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Mar 10, 2010 20:46
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