Taxes

We bought a house in September,the woman we bought it from was in her 90's and was receiving all the exceptions which of course made her taxes very low. When we went into closing they continued to use that amount for our mortgage payment. I knew it was too good to be true so I've been putting away the extra money so when they come back and say you owe us $$$$ we have it saved. I have a question though, seeing that we only bought the house in sept we only need to pay from the day we close to the day they catch the error right? Because I know tax payments are collected in may and dec, and we bought it in between both. I just wanna make sure in saving enough

Taxes

The way that I understood it when we bought our house in Sept is that the taxes are done. The previous owners had STAR and since the taxes are done for the year that is being paid now. But when they do the taxes for the new year the STAR needs to be applied for in our name and If we don't file the exemption they will know. So what they used at the time of the mortgage is correct and will change when the new tax bill comes in. Someone please correct me if this is not right.

Taxes

Yea pretty much...lol... Its just been so fusterating because we dont actually know what our "real" mortgage payment will be, I've been estimating.

Taxes

Can you look at an old tax bill or call the assessors office. The taxes before the exemptions would be listed and then you can figure out what that would be monthly so you will know how to budget.

Re: Taxes

Re: Taxes

Also, if you are in Nassau, it's pretty easy to figure out what your tax liability would be with only basic STAR. You can go to the www.mynassauproperty.com site as Lori said and look up your taxes without any exemptions. And then you can just go to another house on your block and click on their exemptions to see if they are getting basic STAR and what the amount is.

FYI - The basic STAR amount is the same for all homes within the same school district, regardless of the taxes, the size of the home, etc. So any home in the school district can be looked up and it should be easy to find a house getting basic STAR (that's what most get).

The higher the taxes in a particular district, the higher the STAR. In Nassau, I've seen the basic STAR be as high as over $1600 (Levittown schools).

Of course, while you can get an idea of what taxes would have been without the extra exemptions for this year, you won't know exactly what the taxes will be and the STAR will be for next year (when they will likely go up unless they are being grieved). New school taxes in Nassau come out Oct (including the new STAR), and new general taxes come out Jan.

But I wouldn't worry about having to pay your full tax liability in arrears because you are getting exemptions only the previous owner qualified for. That happens a lot (happened to me when I bought my house), and I never heard of anyone having to pay back the $ from the extra exemptions. As others have said, just make sure you apply for basic STAR or whatever you qualify for, and the next tax year will only reflect the exemptions you qualify for as the new owner.

Taxes

My co-worker bought a house where the previous owner was elderly and a veteran so they qualified for a lot of exemptions. She said that no one told her that the taxes were actually supposed to be higher since her family only qualifies for basic star and now her mortgage payment went up by a significant amount of money to pay back what was underpaid since there wasn't enough in escrow to cover the actual amount of her taxes and also to increase the amount of money going into escrow to pay taxes in the future.

Re: Taxes

ok so this thread completley confuses me and makes me now wondered what happend at my closing.

2 days before i closed i found out my taxes were really $1k more than what was listed (i was pissed but thats a differnt story ) So i guess because of that and the time i closed i had to pay more money into my escrow.

the people i bought from were elderly and they def. got star exemptions we never did but i dont think my escrow was ever based on what they pay for taxes but what the actual taxes are.

Re: Taxes

This happened to me I bought my house from a woman in her 80s who had every exemption. I was actually quite a diffference from the true taxes. My lawyer caught it at closing so I knew I had to come up with the money. The town caught it a couple weeks later and I had to send them the difference directly of what should have been collected at closing. My mortgage company didn't catch it until they went to pay the taxes next. My mortgage payment went up almost $600 make up for the missing escrow money but I knew that was coming the original payment wasn't really what we were suppose to be paying anyway. Whatever your expecting your new payment to be I would overestimate because your mortgage company will want a cushion in your escrow account and if they pay your taxes and there's not enough in there you will have to pay them back for that.

Taxes

Maybe some of the confusion is coming in because there are two different issues being discussed: what the taxes are and what the mortgage company takes for escrow. Maybe I can help clarify..

Like Christine said, your tax amount is set for the year at the end of the prior year. STAR exemptions have a deadline of March of the prior year. So say you buy a home in March of 2013 from someone who has lived in the home many years. Sometime years ago, that owner applied for STAR and other exemption status. It does not need to be renewed each year and just carries over until ownership changes or there is some material change in circumstance, but for purposes of explanation let's say that it solidified (for lack of a better term) in March of 2012. However, that alone is not enough to determine taxes for 2013, only enough information to determine discounts. Next, the prior owner received a tax bill in late 2012 telling him what the tax would be for the 2013 calendar year. This amount will include any exemptions that homeowner is entitled to, including STAR and veterans and any others. So by the time you purchase in March 2013, the tax rate has been set through the end of the year. The counties reexamine taxation yearly, not for each transaction. That means that you, the new homeowner get the benefit of reduced taxes from March 2013 through December 2013. Assuming you applied for STAR in March, then your 2014 will be taxes minus STAR.

However, what is escrowed especially in the first year, has very little to do with what tax you are actually paying. Banks go by what they see on paper, and on paper they see the true tax (the tax without any exemptions). So your escrow amount will be 1/12 of the tax without STAR exemptions, at least for the first year. Yes, you will be paying more than is actually due, but they do refund the money to you once the calendar year closes. For the second year, the banks have your tax bill, in your name, with your exemptions. With that, some, but not all banks will then begin charging you 1/12 of the tax with the STAR discount.

Clear as mud? :)

Re: Taxes

You should contact your attorney. There are several different ways that he/she could have handled this issue at your closing. Basically, you can be billed for the restored or true taxes from the date that the exemption no longer applied. For example, if the seller was a veteran receiving a veteran's exemption and died 2 years ago, but his/her family sold to you today, the tax collector can look for the amount of the exemption for the last two years from you, the new owner.