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It is convenient for you.Yes and no. When I refinanced a while ago an escrow account was a required part of the deal (to get the lowest interest rate). I figured I better check that the company paid my taxes, but they had not! I called the mortgage company and: "For homeowner's convenience, escrow won't pay the first installment of the taxes. Didn't you see paragraph 7 of page 120 of your mortgage documents?" Nice little trap theres.
That is the ONE good thing about Cali: Once your property tax rate is set, it is set until you sell the property, for the most part.
I'm paying this on a 160K purchase, I can just imagine what people in Jumbo loan homes are paying in taxes
if you bought a really long time ago when it was worth like $100,000 and then it’s only appreciating at 2% per year for taxes, so in 30 years it might go up to $200,000 for tax assessment but be worth a cool million in value. ... “I got mine and fuck everyone else” things about California.
I
The funniest thing is that mortgages out here in California don't seem to require earthquake insurance. This is for free-standing houses; I don't know about condos.
5K for Insurance.
Once your property tax rate is set, it is set until you sell the property, for the most part.
3K for taxes and 5K for Insurance.
I have ocean front in Maui maybe 8ft above sea level
I would not feel comfortable owning property only 8ft above sea level near the shore anywhere.
I bought my house four years ago for $735,000. The tax has increased in that time from just under $9,000 a year to maybe $9300 a year.
So no, it’s not set. It’s only “set” if you bought a really long time ago when it was worth like $100,000 and then it’s only appreciating at 2% per year for taxes, so in 30 years it might go up to $200,000 for tax assessment but be worth a cool million in value.
The funniest thing is that mortgages out here in California don't seem to require earthquake insurance. This is for free-standing houses; I don't know about condos.
Escrow accounts are highly regulated. They're only allowed to charge the amount to avoid a shortfall plus a buffer of up to 1/6 for cushion.
Local government is addicted to that revenue like it's crack cocaine. Maybe meth is a better analogy.
What if I told you that if Democrats repealed prop13, you’d instantly become a Republican?
B.A.C.A.H. saysSurprisingly, there hasn't been any repeal yet. I have been expecting that corporations would lose the prop13 protections first, but even that hasn't happened. I would like to see prop13 only count to your primary residence — that wouldn't kick anyone out of their home, by definition. It would also mean that people claiming out-of-state residence to skip CA income tax wouldn't be able to get prop13 benefits.Local government is addicted to that revenue like it's crack cocaine. Maybe meth is a better analogy.
What if I told you that if Democrats repealed prop13, you’d instantly become a Republican?
I have been expecting that corporations would lose the prop13 protections first
There are exceptions. Like you can challenge the calculated tax amount after the value of your house drops.
A few days ago, my sister was upset because her monthly charges for the escrow account had been increased hundreds of dollars without justification. I urged her to hire a lawyer to protest this arbitrary increase. Friday, I picked up our mail. There was a letter from our mortgage company. They claimed that there was a shortfall in our escrow account. They raised the monthly escrow withholding from $884.00 to $1,200.00. This is strange. Our property taxes have not increased. Our insurance premiums have not increased.
Then I saw the light! We have a disaster in this country. Roughly 28- million families are able to keep their apartment or house because of a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions. If this ban fell away, we would see massive evictions and foreclosures. Politicians of all parties grudgingly extend this moratorium a month or two at a time. With an election coming up, no one wants to have thousands or millions of their constituents on the street.
The mortgage companies are suffering a huge loss in interest income. If they have to start a big round of foreclosures, there is a fascinating statistic that I learned during the 2008-2010 financial meltdown. Each foreclosure costs the mortgage company $50,000. Back in the last financial crisis, these companies got bail outs from the US government. Such a bailout is questionable this time. So, the mortgage companies are collecting extra cash from those who can still pay to offset their losses.