Thursday, April 3, 2014

Home Ownership: An American Dream? Or Owner's Nightmare?

I purchased my first home somewhere around 2011. The funny thing is, I really don't remember the exact date and I'd literally have to pull my deed to see what it said. 

I guess it's because once I got into the home; all hell started to break loose. So needless to say, most of the enthusiasm I felt when I first moved in quickly dissipated. 

First and foremost, I had long given up on the idea of ever having a house. I had tried with one other lender and they wanted me to jump through way too many hoops so I decided to just go back to an apartment; a nice one this time!

Nevertheless, unexpectedly the opportunity for home ownership reared its lovely head again and so I said "OK I'll give it another shot." Before I moved back home, I had clothes/furniture all over the place. Pieces of me was scattered all over the state. So the thought of finally having all my belongings in one centralized location was a dream come true.

Long story short, I had the house built and moved in. Well 6 months into the home; I got a letter in the mail. It was a statement of my property taxes. It said the value of my home had been reassessed. The value was now listed as $170K. 

OK so what does that mean to me? I've never purchased a home before. I know nothing about real estate so um...k. In addition to that the statement also said. This is not a bill. 

Great! No worries for me right? 

Huh..um wrong! Another 6 months later. I got a statement from my bank. My mortgage had increased about $80. My eyes grew big as saucers! What the heck? Hey I don't have one of those balloon rate mortgages so what gives?

As I kept reading the letter it said I had a escrow shortage. Once again. I'm totally clueless to all this mortgage lingo. True I used to work in mortgage many moons ago when I was in my early twenties but dang, now I'm 41. OK so I called my lender. 

The rep was rude and said I needed to contact my insurance company because the shortage was probably their fault. OK so I called the insurance company because if they had caused the discrepancy by raising my rates, I was leaving them pronto.

The next day my agent at the insurance company contacted my lender. She didn't understand the letter either. Finally the lender told her, it was my taxes!

Yes folks, the dreaded "T" word! Ugh I was so upset. So what did I do? I did what most people do when they get this kind of letter. Pay the money and keep it moving! 

There wasn't any point in contacting anybody at the tax office. I mean what was I going to say? How could I fight those people? 

So whats my point? If you live in an apartment don't let the folks who own homes make you believe you are missing out on something. Everything that glitters aint gold. Owning a house is a huge responsibility! The grass always looks greener on the other side.

Talk to you guys later! Have a great night!

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