Mortgage Question

• Con_Alma

  Getting a lower assessment doesn't lower your mortgage payment. It may lower what you are paying in RE taxes but your mortgage requirement would remain the same..
  
  The question was about his mortgage payment not the amount he transfers to them that may or may not go into escrow to cover taxes.
  
  You could have just as easily told the poster to get better rates on his homeowners insurance. It would have improved his cash flow but it didn't answer his question about lowering his mortgage.
• WebFire

  Steel Valley Football;866057 wrote:It's every three years.
  
  Your statement that it may be different elsewhere is dead on. I know of dozens of developments with 80-200 properties in central Ohio where the assessments were high when they were built due to builder financing. It's just a matter for on how to appraise them all with two kids under two and a half lol.
  
  One thing is cetain tho: the county will never lower your assesment. In some counties, its just about sending a licensed appraisal w your paperwork and it's processed cuz they are so busy. I saved a friend in Upper Arlington $600 and change every half by lowering his assessment. Three years from now they'll keep it the same because of no sales activity on it, three years from then the same, and so on. If theres a sale it will change. But that's a lotta money I saved him for a $300 appraisal fee. How could you not look into in when it's free to crunch the numbers on county website, ya know?

  
  Thanks for the info. I do wonder why you say that the assessment will never go up without a sale. This is not true. Otherwise, I'd still being paying on the assessment from when I bought my house, which was only in the $40k area.
  
  Regardless, I never once said he shouldn't try it. In fact, I said the opposite.
• WebFire

  Con_Alma;866113 wrote:Getting a lower assessment doesn't lower your mortgage payment. It may lower what you are paying in RE taxes but your mortgage requirement would remain the same..
  
  The question was about his mortgage payment not the amount he transfers to them that may or may not go into escrow to cover taxes.
  
  You could have just as easily told the poster to get better rates on his homeowners insurance. It would have improved his cash flow but it didn't answer his question about lowering his mortgage.

  
  You are technically correct. But if his bank requires him to escrow his property tax and insurance, then getting lower rates on either would lower the payment he makes to the bank.
• Steel Valley Football

  WebFire;866161 wrote:Thanks for the info. I do wonder why you say that the assessment will never go up without a sale. This is not true. Otherwise, I'd still being paying on the assessment from when I bought my house, which was only in the $40k area.
  
  Regardless, I never once said he shouldn't try it. In fact, I said the opposite.

  
  By and large, the auditor will adjust property taxes to reflect the most recent arms-length transaction and, with the current market downturn, generally leave them alone. It sounds as if your county is raising assessments across the board without justification. Unless, of course, they providing special services that the other 87 Ohio counties are not.
• Steel Valley Football

  Con_Alma;866113 wrote:Getting a lower assessment doesn't lower your mortgage payment. It may lower what you are paying in RE taxes but your mortgage requirement would remain the same..
  
  The question was about his mortgage payment not the amount he transfers to them that may or may not go into escrow to cover taxes.
  
  You could have just as easily told the poster to get better rates on his homeowners insurance. It would have improved his cash flow but it didn't answer his question about lowering his mortgage.

  
  I never attempted to answer his question. The reason is that I don't agree with him reneging on his original obligation. Instead I gave him a viable, legal and moral, means of lowering his mortgage payment; which is, in effect, the information he was seeking.
• WebFire

  Steel Valley Football;866287 wrote:By and large, the auditor will adjust property taxes to reflect the most recent arms-length transaction and, with the current market downturn, generally leave them alone. It sounds as if your county is raising assessments across the board without justification. Unless, of course, they providing special services that the other 87 Ohio counties are not.

  
  You know what? I did refi in April. Herp durp. I forgot about that.
  
  But like I said, others were complaining as well. Hmmmmmm....
• Steel Valley Football

  Actually, your refi had nothing to do w your assessed value going up. The county isn't privy to private appraisals. If they raised yours then they raised everyone's in your section as defined by their borders. Counties do mass appraisals for assessment purposes. But that still doesn't explain why they raised them in the area. My guess is research in your county would show stagnant or declining values currently. They should have put a freeze on them.
• LJ

  

  WebFire;866161 wrote:Thanks for the info. I do wonder why you say that the assessment will never go up without a sale. This is not true. Otherwise, I'd still being paying on the assessment from when I bought my house, which was only in the $40k area.
  
  Regardless, I never once said he shouldn't try it. In fact, I said the opposite.

  
  They are probably pulling some bullshit under pressure from the schools.
• Con_Alma

  Steel Valley Football;866290 wrote:I never attempted to answer his question. The reason is that I don't agree with him reneging on his original obligation. Instead I gave him a viable, legal and moral, means of lowering his mortgage payment; which is, in effect, the information he was seeking.

  My comment wasn't directed to you but rather the original idea posted about RE taxes being used as a response to the original question about his mortgage.
  
  My post just happened to be right beneath yours.
• Steel Valley Football

  Con_Alma;866561 wrote:My comment wasn't directed to you but rather the original idea posted about RE taxes being used as a response to the original question about his mortgage.
  
  My post just happened to be right beneath yours.

  
  
  Why didn't you address the other advice given that didn't specifically answer his question?
• Con_Alma

  WebFire;866163 wrote:You are technically correct. But if his bank requires him to escrow his property tax and insurance, then getting lower rates on either would lower the payment he makes to the bank.

  ...which is why I said the "mortgage" payment would be lowered. His question was about his mortgage.
  
  Is there any advantage to escrowing taxes and insurance costs? When people do this are they not usually at least a month in advance?
• Con_Alma

  Steel Valley Football;866565 wrote:Why didn't you address the other advice given that didn't specifically answer his question?

  I don't know to be honest. As I started reading the thread the first offtrack offer was about re taxes and I immediately posted when I got to that point.
• Steel Valley Football

  Con_Alma;866571 wrote:I don't know to be honest. As I started reading the thread the first offtrack offer was about re taxes and I immediately posted when I got to that point.

  
  I don't know either. Do you stop reading all the other following responses once you post?
• Con_Alma

  No, I read the rest of it after I posted but my point would have been the same.
• June18

  Man I never knew a post about mortgages would get ppl so fired up.
  
  So I called today and they have a pkt that I have to fill out and send back in to determine if they can modify the mortgage. I'm going to do that for step one. If that doesn't work then I'll move on to other options, ie: property taxes, insurance, etc.
  
  Thanks for the input.
• WebFire

  Steel Valley Football;866544 wrote:Actually, your refi had nothing to do w your assessed value going up. The county isn't privy to private appraisals. If they raised yours then they raised everyone's in your section as defined by their borders. Counties do mass appraisals for assessment purposes. But that still doesn't explain why they raised them in the area. My guess is research in your county would show stagnant or declining values currently. They should have put a freeze on them.

  
  Hmmm...ok. I'll have to check. I'll dig up my letter I got from them and see what it said. I can't speak for everyone in my area. I just now I saw a letter to the paper, or maybe someone posted about it on Facebook, at about the same time I got my letter.
• WebFire

  Con_Alma;866567 wrote:...which is why I said the "mortgage" payment would be lowered. His question was about his mortgage.
  
  Is there any advantage to escrowing taxes and insurance costs? When people do this are they not usually at least a month in advance?

  
  I don't really know if there is an advantage, other than budgeting, which you could do yourself. But some loans/banks require it.
• LJ

  

  Con_Alma;866567 wrote:...which is why I said the "mortgage" payment would be lowered. His question was about his mortgage.
  
  Is there any advantage to escrowing taxes and insurance costs? When people do this are they not usually at least a month in advance?

  
  No advantage. It's actually a disadvantage because it requires cash upfront when you start an escrow.
• imex99

  

  Steel Valley Football;863733 wrote:He is correct. I've done lots of reassessment appraisals. I can tell you how to start if you want.

  
  Please tell
  
  Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
• Steel Valley Football

  imex99;867439 wrote:Please tell
  
  Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk

  
  Franklin County is so much more efficient than Licking but it's the same process.
  
  Start by going here http://www.lcounty.com/auditor/ and click Board of Revisions under the drop own menu called Auditor Links. All the info you need is there. Licking pretty much spells it out for you you need to submit an appraisal with your forms.
• imex99

  

  Just received our updated 2011 appraisal... Freaking ridiculous! Worth 182,000 in 2010 but only worth 159,000 now.
  
  No way it dropped that much in licking county.
  
  Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
• Steel Valley Football

  imex99;901412 wrote:Just received our updated 2011 appraisal... Freaking ridiculous! Worth 182,000 in 2010 but only worth 159,000 now.
  
  No way it dropped that much in licking county.
  
  Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk

  
  It most certainly could be correct. The original 182,000 likely reflects an old assessment from, say 2005, that was never lowered. Now, they are readjusting to reflect what's happened over the last several years. They aren't necessarily saying it dropped 20+K in one year.
• imex99

  

  We refinanced just two years ago and the house 3 houses down didn't change at all...
  
  Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
• LJ

  

  imex99;902450 wrote:We refinanced just two years ago and the house 3 houses down didn't change at all...
  
  Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk

  So? Just take the lower value and run with it. Your assessment value is hardly ever your appraised value.
• sonofsam

  

  I had sex with my mortgage rep once... She was ugly, but it worked.