pb4uski
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I haven't had escrow for a long, long time. I seem to recall way back when the escrow not paying a tax or insurance bill or some sort of screw up.
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I mention how I just find it easier to pay myself and avoid the middleman. Then she says "Oh, we didn't put enough down to qualify to pay our own taxes". They are very close in age to us. We could pay off our mortgage w/o blinking, they refinance with less than 20% down?
It's all a snowball effect of bad choices.
-ERD50
When I lived in NJ and put $100K down on a $350K house the bank wanted another 25 basis points if I didn't escrow. That was back when interest rates were higher and I think they wanted the float. I've been able to avoid escrowing since 2003.
I'm a little surprised at all the comments about needing to pay to avoid escrow. Maybe my memory is just poor (it is), but I don't recall having to pay to do this w/o escrow. All I recall is you had to have 20% down (also the threshold for PMI?).
But this was a long time ago, and many papers to sign at closing. And it also varies by state. While IL is really messed up in so many ways, they do get a few things right (how did that happen?)
-ERD50
When I lived in NJ and put $100K down on a $350K house the bank wanted another 25 basis points if I didn't escrow. That was back when interest rates were higher and I think they wanted the float.
Maybe they had an unusually low interest rate (one does have to look at the whole package) but my first inclination would be to use that New York expression regarding pounding small particles of rock and minerals.
With rental property #1, no escrow, simply because it allows me to have better control regarding payments of taxes and insurance. I trust myself to pay those on time, much more than I trust the bank. Perhaps more importantly, it allows me to pay them with a credit card, which is great for accumulating points/miles/rewards.
Rental property #2 was purchased using a VA loan, which mandates that escrow be used. I don't like it, but that is the VA's rule.
Rewards on the credit card are 4 or 5 percent, depending on the card. What is the loss?
Easy! Use visa gift cards. You can buy them at grocery stores or drug stores for a fee of $4.95 and the card can have a value of up to $500. My Sallie Mae MasterCard gives 5% back at grocery stores, so that's how I pay for them.
Easy! Use visa gift cards. You can buy them at grocery stores or drug stores for a fee of $4.95 and the card can have a value of up to $500. My Sallie Mae MasterCard gives 5% back at grocery stores, so that's how I pay for them.