Bankruptcy

Is Your Mortgage Company Making the Correct Property Tax Calculations?

By Jonathan

If you are financing your home purchase with a large mortgage company, there is a good chance that your lender has set up an escrow account to collect and pay your county real estate taxes.  Mortgage companies escrow taxes and insurance to protect their interests - a lapse of insurance coupled with a fire or flood could destroy the loan collateral (your home) and a lapse of tax payments could lead to a tax sale.

Escrowing taxes and insurance can also help if you do not have the discipline or cash flow to save up several thousand dollars every year to pay these costs.  The mortgage payment alone should not be seen as the sole cost of owning property - I think it is wise for any prospective homeowner to prepare a detailed budget with projections for all home ownership costs - taxes, insurance, maintenance, increased utility costs, repairs, etc.

My Bankruptcy Law Network colleague, Texas attorney Pam Stewart recently published a valuable post entitled "Is your Mortgage Company Collecting the Right Amount of Taxes?"   Her post relates to Texas law, but the principle applies in Georgia as well.  Georgia offers homeowners age 65 and older a  series of property tax breaks. Some of these breaks apply when you hit age 62.  There are other breaks that apply to disabled veterans.  You should not assume that your mortgage company knows that you are age 62 or 65 or that they have the correct information about exemptions to which you may be entitled.

Full post as published by The BK Blawg on January 03, 2009 (boomark / email).