Was this a new house when you bought it?? When did you buy it?? Check the history and see what the very first appraisal on it was.
this is EXACTLY right!! they appraised your property on unimproved land...then you end up kicking in backtaxes plus your new higher taxes because of the structure on your property. happened to my brother and a bunch of others out in Katy.
BUT...is that what the assessment was at the time of closing? Does FBCad have a 5 year history of assessments? Harris does, Galveston county has 3 years
Good thought on the mold coverage. I seem to remeber I had to sign a mold waiver about a year ago. I would contact a couple of insurance people for new quotes. I still use the same guy in Ft, Bend Co even though I haven't lived there in 10 years He would be happy to talk to you. You need to have the full sit down conference to determine exactly what you need. If you can combine your homeowners, car insurance and maybe personal liablility and even health under one company you can get a significant break. (Dwight Gentry 281-499-2264.) Then call the guys at Firsthoustonmortgage.com to get a refinancing review. I know them, I've used them. They are young go-getters but they will let you know exactly how much you can save on you mortgage. My guess is if you are planning to live in this house atleast 5 more years it will pay to refi. Most real estate loans in Texas have no prepayment penalty. Like Codel says have a professional firm file your appraisal protest. It doesn't cost you anything unless they win and then you only pay them a precentage of the savings for the one year. Once you get the county to reduce the appaised value on your home it has a ripple effect throughout the entire life of the house since they can only raise your value a percentage of the previous years value. It won't help last years rate though because the protest period is over.
Thats what happened. The $24K was for the land only. So when they estimated your escrow, they multiplied that times the tax rate, which, in your area, is probably 3%-4% (including school and MUD (if you have one)). So thats $24K * 3% = $720 /12 months = $60 Should have been $136,980 (or close to) *3% = $4109.40 /12 months = $342.45. Thats a difference of $280 a month right there. The rest of the increase is probably to make up for the shortage in the escrow. Some of it may also be due to home owner's insurance increases like someone else had suggested. Also, they may have not originally been charging you for PMI, which is about $100 a month or so.
have you ever filed a home owner's exemption with your local tax office?? Doing so will save you as much as 10-20% a year on your taxes.
One other thing I just thought of....usually, escrow shortfalls need to be made up in the upcoming 12 months. There's a good chance your mortgage will go down next year. Not to the level you had before, because you still have to pay enough escrow to cover the new assessment amount for tax purposes, but once the shortfall is made up, they will lower your escrow payment.
Sorry about your luck FAOS, we'v ehad a lot of problems with that in Ohio as I described earlier. A couple of the big builder sin town (Dominion and MI homes) do that exact crap to get people in houses (plus they do a sweat equity buydown thing where your first year payment is dirt cheap). Unfortunately there are lots of people who det duped into these deals. In my neighborhood you could count on tons of people selling their home before their 3rd year (when their payment finally went up). Although it prolly won't help you much you may want to contact the Attorney Generals office about the finance company. I'm sur eyou're no tthe only one, and not sure if they can do anytjhing but they began an investiagtion here on their business practices (and again hav enot heard anything about it in a couple months).
To avoid this, handle your own taxes and insurance...You need to put down 20% or do a 80/10/10 (10% Debt/10% Debt/10% Equity), but at least you know your in charge... Also, you need to fight your property tax value: HCAD Remember, it's good to have a high value when you sell, not to pay taxes... Good luck
this is also correct...for one year, this is going to suck. but then you will be back at what you might find to be a manageable level, again.
i have a semi-related question... i bought my home back in january 2003...so i couldn't file the homestead exemption thingie until january 2004...does that mean i don't get credit for it come tax time??? i'm thinking that the filing with the county and the deduction for interest and state/local taxes are unrelated...right??
You wont get credit for it until 2004 taxes are due in December, since the taxes for 2003 have already been assesed. And yeah, they are unrelated. Well, kind of. Your homestead exemption will reduce your total property tax bill. Therefore, the amount you can write off, based on property taxes, will be reduced the same amount.
i'm confused...i paid taxes on December 2003...do i not get credit for those?? ok..so actually this first year, i can write off MORE state/local taxes than next year...right?? am i understanding you correctly?
You can still write off all your 2003 property taxes. But if you didnt file your homestead exemption till this month, then that credit for that exemption wont show up until you get your 2004 property tax statement. Your homestead exemption only affects your tax write offs in that the amount you will write off next year versus this year. Example: If your home is $200K, and your total tax rate (including property, MUD and school) is 4%, then your tax bill would be $8K. After you file your exemption, you usually get a 20% break on the assessed value (it varies depending on the taxing entity). So, at the end of this year, your taxes will be based on $160K. So that will reduce your tax bill to around $6,400. So for 2003's tax return, you will be able to write off $8K and next year, you will only write of $6,400 since that is you will have to pay.
