Depending on your point of view. ;) You might remember those ancient days of yore back in Lawrence where we would have get-togethers at my place and have "Unspecified drinking". That was where some of the guys would empty the liquor cabinet and have coke-and-rums until we would be up till 5 AM talking about whether trees dream. ;)
Oh MY!!....Yes there are pros / Cons to home ownership....I thought you had a Impound Escrow account with your payments??? It combines all: Spreads your Taxes / Insurance payments out over the year, combined with your house payments....Sorry I don't drink...But I will sip a cup of tea for ya...and wish you the best......
I'll second that. Mine is broken down by month. I have to admit it is a flawed system though. My house payment went up this year when the insurance kicked in the need for a higher escrow payment despite lower taxes, and the condo payment went down because of lower taxes without an increase in the insurance. They keep overestimating it too which means they kick back a check every now and then. I learned on the first kickback that they can't hold more than 3K in that account legally. They sent me a check and I bought new windows only to find out that was the tax payment they were supposed to have sent in. They did the same thing to my on my condo, so it's not a flawless system for sure.
That also doesn't get into the supplemental tax surprise when the county says they undertaxed you and asks you to just come up with even more tax money during the year.
Yeah, the fun part has been trying to deal with all the property tax stuff.. since I bought near the peak of the real estate market (May 2008) I get taxed for the full amount, and they didn't even give me the homeowner's exemption. We'll see what it ends up with for next year. Managing my own personal escrow account is supposedly better (or so my dad tells me) but it does take more work.
Still not used to writing multi-thousand dollar checks, since I don't do it that often. ;)
I have my own separate account that I sock away property tax money into every month-- but it's still a pain writing a huge check every 5 and 7 months, especially since I get taxed at the full sale price of the house, even though it's gone down by $150k since I bought it.
(Since I put down more than 20% down, I didn't have to do the impound escrow account thing, and I manage it myself... for better or for worse).
So I've been pretty much socking away money for the property tax and the insurance deductible the whole year... mostly I'm marvelling at how much it costs to have a house, especially since Property Tax Season is right during Income Tax season and all the other silliness. I've known about it since I bought the house, but it doesn't mean it's any less of a pain!
Comments 8
I tried a good stout from a brewery on the coast recently, that Old rasputin stuff... wasn't half bad.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
That also doesn't get into the supplemental tax surprise when the county says they undertaxed you and asks you to just come up with even more tax money during the year.
Reply
Still not used to writing multi-thousand dollar checks, since I don't do it that often. ;)
Reply
(Since I put down more than 20% down, I didn't have to do the impound escrow account thing, and I manage it myself... for better or for worse).
So I've been pretty much socking away money for the property tax and the insurance deductible the whole year... mostly I'm marvelling at how much it costs to have a house, especially since Property Tax Season is right during Income Tax season and all the other silliness. I've known about it since I bought the house, but it doesn't mean it's any less of a pain!
Reply
Leave a comment