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Old 03-08-2017, 08:20 AM
 
946 posts, read 1,135,613 times
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This is my first home and after a year I received a escrow shortage letter stating my mortgage is increasing per month. I don't recall my home insurance increasing. Is there anything I can do like apply for Homestead Exemption?
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Old 03-08-2017, 09:36 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Surfertx View Post

This is my first home and after a year I received a escrow shortage letter stating my mortgage is increasing per month. I don't recall my home insurance increasing. Is there anything I can do like apply for Homestead Exemption?
Perhaps you have a variable rate mortgage, and it has re-adjusted?
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Old 03-08-2017, 09:51 AM
 
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Since you have an escrow account with your lender, they are predicting that your property tax and homeowner's insurance will likely go up for this year. So, that's why your lender increase your monthly payment so that they will have enough at the end of the year to pay for them. This happens to a lot of people I know that has an escrow account with their lender.
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Old 03-08-2017, 09:56 AM
 
Location: Houston
455 posts, read 525,069 times
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Well, you should certainly apply for the homestead exemption if you haven't already done so. Really, you should have done it right after purchasing your home.

Another reason is simply that your taxes went up. I would recommend that you protest your taxes every year. If you don't have time to do it yourself, search the board for recommended tax protest services. Typically you pay nothing if they don't bring it down or around 50% of your projected savings if they do. I actually got about 20K knocked off my appraisal last time around.

And you did say that your "mortgage" is increasing... do you actually mean that the escrow amount is increasing? As Milton suggested, and actual mortgage increase would suggest the interest rate changed.
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Old 03-08-2017, 10:22 AM
 
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The letter says "adjusted mortgage payment to reflect changes in your real estate taxes or property insurance". My loan is at a fixed rate. I'll guess I need to protest my taxes.
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Old 03-08-2017, 11:00 AM
 
Location: Houston, TX
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Apply for the homestead exemption for sure now that you have owned it as of Jan 1 this year. Depending on where you are and your home's value, it can drop your taxes 10-20%. Most likely, your first year escrow for taxes was based on the prior year's value, and it will more than likely go up this year. You will be stuck with the higher payment until the homestead is in place and they see that you have an escrow overage for this year, then they will adjust it for next year.
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Old 03-08-2017, 11:05 AM
 
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The first step is filing a homestead exemption if you live in the house, which it appears you do. You are eligible to file it in any year you reside in and own the house on January 1st of the year. The filing deadline is April 30th. It reduces your taxable value from the appraised value for the different entities you pay tax to (not uniform across the board but a reduction nonetheless).
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Old 03-08-2017, 12:07 PM
 
946 posts, read 1,135,613 times
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Originally Posted by Failed Engineer View Post
The first step is filing a homestead exemption if you live in the house, which it appears you do. You are eligible to file it in any year you reside in and own the house on January 1st of the year. The filing deadline is April 30th. It reduces your taxable value from the appraised value for the different entities you pay tax to (not uniform across the board but a reduction nonetheless).
I looked up at my Property record and it's showing $250k Value as of January 1, 2016 but the purchase price was $170k. Do I contest the 80k difference?
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Old 03-08-2017, 12:20 PM
 
Location: New Braunfels, TX
7,130 posts, read 11,832,217 times
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Originally Posted by Surfertx View Post
I looked up at my Property record and it's showing $250k Value as of January 1, 2016 but the purchase price was $170k. Do I contest the 80k difference?
In a heartbeat - but do some research on how to do so. You can't just go in and say "it's too high". You need good comparables in your neighborhood, etc. Ask the Realtor that helped you find the house - they'll usually spend a little time to help educate you on how to do it.
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Old 03-08-2017, 12:41 PM
 
158 posts, read 181,664 times
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Originally Posted by TexasRedneck View Post
In a heartbeat - but do some research on how to do so. You can't just go in and say "it's too high". You need good comparables in your neighborhood, etc. Ask the Realtor that helped you find the house - they'll usually spend a little time to help educate you on how to do it.
When did you buy the house. If it was recently, and you have your closing papers, they'll drop it down to that value. They did the same thing to me.
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