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Paid Our Own Real Estate Taxes

March 5th, 2010 at 01:58 pm

About 5 months ago, I inquired with our mortgage company about deleting our escrow account. We were eligible!

I have been saving money on a monthly basis towards our real estate tax bill ever since. They are due this month, and I just made the payment without the mortgage middleman for the first time. It feels great!!

Since it was the first time I made the payment with the county I was given the option to be notified by email when taxes are due. I signed up. I had marked the dates on my electronic calendar, but it doesn't hurt to have another reminder. I don't want to lose the house because of an unpaid tax bill!

If your eligible, I would highly recommend paying your own taxes! You pay your other bills on time, right? Why can't you pay this one?

Posted in Taxes | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “Paid Our Own Real Estate Taxes”

  1. momcents Says:
    March 5th, 2010 at 02:07 pm 1267798020
    1267798020


    Yay! I have always been a non-escrowed mortgage, thus responsible for the taxes ourselves. I usually am scrambling about near due dates - this is the first year ever that we have the primary residence taxes ready to go ($6,250 payabled 1/2 in June and 1/2 in Sept), plus we have the rental property taxes of $4,200 (and I am on pace to be able to pay that half on time of $2,100 come June). It is a great feeling to be ahead of the eight-ball for once!

  2. all4money Says:
    March 5th, 2010 at 02:43 pm 1267800218
    1267800218

    I do have an escrow account with my mortgage and will continue to do so for one reason only -- the interest earned is OURS. The mortgage is with our credit union... they require the escrow account, BUT the funds held in escrow earn interest which is credited to our savings account each year. It's a no brainer in this situation for me to go ahead and escrow my funds with my mortgage payment each month, have the money sitting at our credit union earning interest for us, and then the bank pays our bills for us. It's a service the bank does for us and we love it. But, yes, if we didn't earn that interest, then it would be a different story and I would pay the bills myself each year rather than doing an escrow account.

  3. creditcardfree Says:
    March 5th, 2010 at 02:50 pm 1267800649
    1267800649

    all4money, if my mortgage company did that, I'd also stay. Smart move!

  4. Ima saver Says:
    March 5th, 2010 at 03:06 pm 1267801565
    1267801565

    I have always paid my own tax bill. I budget $175 a week to pay property tax, house insurance and car insurance on 6 vehicles. (plus tags)

  5. monkeymama Says:
    March 5th, 2010 at 04:11 pm 1267805516
    1267805516

    Smart to put it on the calendar, until you get used to it. For me, after 10 years, hard to forget. Definitely our biggest bill, anyway. ($2k+ at a pop).

    I am extremely anti-escrow, but not particularly for financial reasons. I have seen too many mortgage companies forget to pay an insurance/property tax bill, and screw over the mortgagee. I'll take responsibility for my own bills, thanks!

    After a pile of home purchases and refis, I Actually liked the last broker best, because I didn't have to ask TEN TIMES and cross out the escrow portion of the docs, at signing. The mortgage company will always sign you up for escrowed taxes/insurance, unless you protest, much.

  6. Homebody Says:
    March 6th, 2010 at 01:15 pm 1267881331
    1267881331

    April 10th, December 10th. The cool thing is every other year you can pay the entire bill in December with the 2nd half in April from the previous year and get a bigger deduction. Did that just make sense?

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