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I purchased a condo in April of 2010. I talked at length with my loan officer about my concerns with getting screwed on taxes like my friend did with her property. The loan officer even spoke to my friend on the phone to find out what happened with her property taxes to see if he could help fix it. He assured me over and over that this would not happen to me. He said my taxes would go up the following year, but it would only add $50 to $100 to my monthly payment.
In December of 2010 I told my loan officer it looked like my escrow was short by $1000. He did nothing about it.
Fast forward to July of 2011 I get a notice saying my escrow is several thousands dollars short!!!!
The bank either made a "mistake" or committed "fraud" because they based my property taxes on $200 a year when it should have been $2000 - the exact figure was $1975 for the 2009 taxes for the previous owner. The bank is now claiming they based it on a senior citizen discounted tax rate because at one time a senior had owned it, but it was not owned by a senior when I bought it and there was no way the taxes were ever $200 no matter if it was a senior.
I should have been paying $160 a month for taxes - not $16 a month - which I had no idea was happening because I discussed multiple times that I was very concerned about getting screwed on taxes and was assured the bank wouldn't do that to me.
The bank is now telling me that I have to pay an additional $300 a month to make up for this escrow shortage. They also said that I couldn't really afford to do that on my salary - duh!
I hired a real estate lawyer and she was there at closing. She never said anything to me about the $16 a month in taxes which I didn't notice either, but that's the point of me hiring a lawyer - isn't it?
Do I have any legal rights here - either against the bank or my lawyer???
In addition, my loan officer tried to cover all this up by telling me that my taxes had gone up to $2900 and that's why I had to pay more money. I called the treasurer and that's not true. They are still $1975 a year and they won't know how much the taxes are for 2012 until January 2012. So far, they have not gone up!
All of this seems dishonest and my lawyer didn't do crap to protect me.
Doesn't really matter if the bank made a mistake or not, you still owe the taxes. You are responsible for your taxes if they are escrowed or not. Some people dont escrow their taxes and just pay the town hall. If your looking for the bank to admit fault or award you free money, its not going to happen. There is no legal recourse. You agreed to pay the mortgage, period. Doesn't matter if the taxes go up, electric bills go up, sewer bills go up, condo fees go up, etc.
The bank will just adjust your monthly payment to reflect the real cost of taxes or let you pay the taxes on your own and prove to them every year, you paid them. Ask them if you can not escrow the taxes. (but you will still owe the taxes, which be the same exact amount of money the bank is asking you for, so its the same dollar amount)
In December of 2010 I told my loan officer it looked like my escrow was short by $1000. He did nothing about it.
What did you do about it? Did you expect the loan officer to pay for it?
You even knew that there was no way the tax for $200 when you purchase the home yet you ignored it. If there are no interests/fees in the back tax, consider yourself lucky for getting a free loan.
As the previous poster stated, tax is your responsibilities. It has nothing to do with the loan.
You don't call your loan officer about your escrow account, you call the servicer. You knew there wasn't enough money being collected, but you didn't make extra escrow payments. Like the others said, you are the homeowner. You need to understand what the complete costs are that are being paid on your behalf. Add up your total tax and insurance bills, divide by 12. Is your escrow payment less than that? You have a problem!
At this point, I suggest you call the servicer back and ask if they can spread the shortage over 24 months rather than 12 as you cannot afford the current payment.
Thank you Debsi. Your suggestion has been the most helpful. I figured I would get a lot of "hate" posts when all I was looking for is a solution to my problem.
People come here for help - not to be scolded and put down.
I didn't see anyone scolding, so you should be happy with the results you got.
You asked whether you had any legal recourse. Pretty much everyone responded to say no, because it is the homeowner's responsibility to know the status and make sure it is correct. If there is too much in the account, the bank writes you a check, if there isn't enough, they expect you to reimburse them. It happens all the time, but usually on only a small scale.
The right way to handle it would have been to bring it to your servicer's attention, and then paid the correct amount every month into the escrow account so that this didn't happen.
But now, I agree that Debsi offered the best solution. You do owe the money, but if the bank would split it over 24 months, that would at least ease the pain a bit.
I didn't see anyone scolding, so you should be happy with the results you got.
You asked whether you had any legal recourse. Pretty much everyone responded to say no, because it is the homeowner's responsibility to know the status and make sure it is correct. If there is too much in the account, the bank writes you a check, if there isn't enough, they expect you to reimburse them. It happens all the time, but usually on only a small scale.
The right way to handle it would have been to bring it to your servicer's attention, and then paid the correct amount every month into the escrow account so that this didn't happen.
But now, I agree that Debsi offered the best solution. You do owe the money, but if the bank would split it over 24 months, that would at least ease the pain a bit.
Got to agree with Lacerta here.....because COMMON SENSE MAKES ME WANT TO SCREAM, "YOU THOUGHT YOUR TAXES WERE $16 A MONTH?" What, did you think you were going to get something for nothing and then sue when you didn't get it? Now, that's a scolding.
Well, I am going through the EXACT same thing. The lady that lived in my condo was elderly and now my mortgage is going up over 300$ a month. mod cut: no personal attacks permittedI don't care who you are and how much money you have or don't have. When your mortgage goes up over 300$ a month for the next 12 months, it will freak anyone out. Being that you hired an attorney to sit in on your closing, it sounds to me like he just made a quick buck off of you and didn't really do his job. There is a problem with disclosure and the amount of information given to people in our situation. I just today found out what my old tax rate was and what my new tax rate is and I've had my house for a year now. I don't want to say its anyone else's fault, but for people like me who have no idea about escrow amounts or potential tax increases affecting your mortgage, I have to say im really pissed off about it. The mortgage companies/real estate brokers/ title agencies Mod cut: no profanity pleaseare only looking for a quick paycheck. I can see just how easy forclosure can be. The reason I bought my house was based upon my monthly note, and to have it jump by 300 dollars is just making me want to bite the bullet. I'm only 22 and was a first time home buyer and am now paying for that inexperience. Now, I would think that you might could do something about your lawyer not disclosing that information with you as well as him being negligent to your situation. I'm really pissed I got myself into this situation.
Well, I am going through the EXACT same thing. The lady that lived in my condo was elderly and now my mortgage is going up over 300$ a month. mod cut: no personal attacks permittedI don't care who you are and how much money you have or don't have. When your mortgage goes up over 300$ a month for the next 12 months, it will freak anyone out. Being that you hired an attorney to sit in on your closing, it sounds to me like he just made a quick buck off of you and didn't really do his job. There is a problem with disclosure and the amount of information given to people in our situation. I just today found out what my old tax rate was and what my new tax rate is and I've had my house for a year now. I don't want to say its anyone else's fault, but for people like me who have no idea about escrow amounts or potential tax increases affecting your mortgage, I have to say im really pissed off about it. The mortgage companies/real estate brokers/ title agencies Mod cut: no profanity pleaseare only looking for a quick paycheck. I can see just how easy forclosure can be. The reason I bought my house was based upon my monthly note, and to have it jump by 300 dollars is just making me want to bite the bullet. I'm only 22 and was a first time home buyer and am now paying for that inexperience. Now, I would think that you might could do something about your lawyer not disclosing that information with you as well as him being negligent to your situation. I'm really pissed I got myself into this situation.
I think I figured out what is going on here.....but I am still trying to figure out how the mortgage lender, Realtor and title company is at fault. See if this explanation fits your situation.
The seller of your unit was receiving an elderly citizen reduced tax rate, very common among municipalities across the country. That reduced tax rate was entered into public records (where it really shouldn't have been). Agents and title companies use the taxes as reported to them, via the county. The mortgage company uses the tax figures provided by title company for your payment.
So, I ask you, how are the mortgage company, title company and Realtor responsible for the county's inaccurate tax records, or not having the appropriate flag on the account the account that this is a reduced rate?
Did you look at any other units in the building? Did you happen to notice the tax discrepancy between units?
Your right, you're paying the price for a lesson learned. And while it's a shame no one caught it, it's really hard to figure out how it could have been caught if the county was reporting the incorrect tax rate to the title company.
it's really hard to figure out how it could have been caught if the county was reporting the incorrect tax rate to the title company.
As a homeowner, you should have some sense of what your county property tax [rate] is - it's part of the responsibility of owning a home. Thus if your rate seems abnormally low, that's a red flag you should probably investigate. I don't know why the others didn't raise an eyebrow, but that doesn't mean there's no way the home owner can't take notice.
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Know the feeling
