Our mortgage payment went up 500$ from a raise in property taxes and insurance

[AbuHossam]

The Question
Is there anything I can do about this or what are some ways you have dealt with the fluctuations?

Thank you

ANSWER 1
Ours went up $700 late last year. I’ve called the mortgage company and told them we couldn’t afford it. They said our escrow account was under because of an increase in taxes. But then, they split the difference over the next few months so that we could pay less.

A few months go by, they do a quarterly review of our escrow account and actually find out we had a surplus in our escrow. And because we’ve overpaid, they’d give us money back AND lowered our payments.


ANSWER 2
I had my insurance shoot up last year 10,000 (for the year) for no reason. Shopped around and got a better rate through a new home insurance provider with the same coverage. I’d recommend shopping your insurance if it didn’t go up because of a claim


ANSWER 3
Mine was only going up about $50 because of insurance/taxes, but my mortgage company gave me the option to make a lump sum payment and keep my lower mortgage payment or to have it go up the $50. I work in insurance and home insurance rates have been going up because property values/cost of materials and labor has gone up so I definitely suggest getting an independent agent to shop around multiple companies to see if they can get you a lower rate



ANSWER 4
Increase insurance rates and property taxes can definitely eat up escrow and cause a shortage. Check to see if you have a shortage. If so, can you pay the shortage amount? This will immediately prevent your mortgage payment from increasing and can even lower it from what you are paying now. This helps for the remainder of this year. To help with next year, (depending on your escrow analysis date) also see if you can change insurance companies to get a lower rate…and call your property tax office to see if you have qualifying factors for the Homestead Exemption Program. This will help to reduce your tax liability, which also helps to reduce your mortgage payment.

Good luck!

Here: Frank Vasquez member page