All Forum Posts by: Nellie Bentz

God how I wish I didn't have to replace with carpet. It already seems like my tenants have the mindset of 'well, they'll need to be replaced every few years anyway'. Unfortunately, when I ripped up the carpets that were in when I bought the place, I discovered the subfloor was some dubious tile material - even in the upstairs bedrooms. Wasn't prepared for possible remediation, etc., and re-carpeting seemed like the best/most budget friendly option =(

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what do you all do for health insurance when you're finally able to quit your W2? My job is also driving me towards an early death - or a 25 to life for aggravated manslaughter because I'm so fed up at this point. but I may have pending health problems on the horizon, and not having health insurance is scary =(

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Originally posted by @Megan Frank:

ProHVAC for heating. They are out of Dover/Rollinsford. They are fabulous. Not allowed to post the number but if you google it you will find it.

Thanks! I will give them a buzz!

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thank you so much for the recommendations! I will definitely follow up in those leads...I'm not enjoying the whole home advisor/Angie's list experience at all:-(

do you have just the duplex or other properties as well?

nice to connect with a local!

good luck with your addition!

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Hi all! I have a duplex in Rochester NH (25 min from Portsmouth).

I'm having a lot of trouble finding good contractors for some projects I need to accomplish - any other NH investors on here care to give referrals?

I have forced hot water for heat and the high efficiency boiler in my basement (fairly new) has been failing and needs to be fixed before the coming heating season.

I also have concrete pillars that I need to repair or replace in front of my house before the ground freezes ( a car took them out, and I'd like that protection again since my house seems to have a bullseye on it....need some kind of fencing/barrier system ASAP.

THanks in advance for suggestions!

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Sorry all... I'm still figuring out how to use this forum. I guess I didn't reply correctly to all the comments and ended up repeating myself a bunch. 🤦‍♀️

Thank you for everyone who took the time to reply so far! I really need all the help I can get... Feeling like I'm making a lot of mistakes 😔

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Originally posted by @Marquez King:

@Nellie Bentz

Hi Nellie, if your looking to get information about escrow I can help with a simple way to break it down. I work in mortgage and specifically worked in escrow for years to help with giving break downs to help understand where your shortage comes from.

Simply put it’s the increases in taxes and insurance based on the upcoming payments. If you have a escrow account rolled into your mortgage the servicing company covers any difference of your payments that need to be made so your not late on those payments to avoid Liens and things. So if you have $1000 in your escrow but your payment comes out to $2000, your mortgage company will pay the $2000 and then that negative $1000 will be spread over your monthly payments.

There are ways to help with the increased payments of your mortgage with escrow overages and such. If you have anymore questions don’t hesitate to reach out!

Hope this helps some!

Yes, I should have phrased my post differently... I understand the concept of escrow... I only recently learned about this cushion that they require, and not understanding that was definitely hurting my ability to understand the basic calculations behind my escrow increases... But even now that I know that, it still seems like the small increases in insurance and taxes doesn't justify what seemed like large shortages to me. Again, This is my first and only mortgage, so I have nothing to compare it to.

I'm not sure who I can talk to and have them review my specific escrow funds to see if they're seeing a discrepancy...Would it be a lawyer? A CPA? I did try calling the escrow department at my mortgage lender and But the customer service department told me to send an email Because they really didn't answer phone calls. And then my email got an auto-generated reply resolving the request But not giving any answers. I haven't had time to call back yet.

or am I just being paranoid and wasting my time and energy... Should I just assume they are handling the escrow funds correctly?

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Originally posted by @Nicholas L.:

@Nellie Bentz if you've had your mortgage long enough (usually 1-2 years depending on the company), you can request to take your taxes and insurance out of escrow and pay them yourself. I do this on my primary, pay with a credit card, and get reward points for doing so.

Do you know if this is true with an FHA loan? Or and do I have to refinance out of the FHA loan into a conventional loan? I was under the impression it was the latter...

I just refinanced earlier this year to try to capitalize on the lower interest rates, and pretty sure I blew that process too. I feel like I am making every rookie mistake possible. maybe I should just sit on the sidelines for now and read some more books 😔

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Originally posted by @Sarah Brown:

It's a reserve account for insurance, taxes, and PMI. The amount of reserve is determined by each mortgage company. Generally it is six months, but I have seen some that require a years reserves. You need to look at what is happening with those expenses as to why there is a shortage. The account is always reactive. So if you property taxes went up last year, then you won't see the increase until this year. I'm not sure where you are at, but here we are seeing tax bills increase significantly due to appreciation in properties causes some escrow accounts to be hundreds short.

there have been small increases in the property taxes and the homeowners insurance. However I don't understand how the small increases have caused such massive shortages. I refinanced earlier this year, and in the process of the refinance they paid out my homeowners insurance early. So then when my actual homeowners insurance was charged and paid my insurance company refunded me over $900. figuring it was missing from my escrow account and would cause a shortage, I deposited the check back into my escrow account and requested a reanalysis. And even with that large cash infusion, I still was apparently short and they increased my monthly payment by $17.

that just seems like mismanagement to me, But maybe I'm just being paranoid? This is my first experience as a homeowner and with an escrow account, so I don't have anything to compare it to. But knowing that most people are incompetent and don't do their jobs right, it makes me very nervous when other people are controlling my money and it doesn't seem like they're doing a good job

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Originally posted by @Darius Ogloza:

Two months' cushion in NYS (based on what key Bank tells me).

You get back any overage when you sell. It's like you are giving your bank an interest free loan.

I have had only 1 escrow mortgage account in my career and I absolutely hate it.

Makes me feel like a child.

Totally agree. I would much rather have to coordinate myself to pay these bills, but I have an FHA loan which requires it

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All Forum Posts by: Nellie Bentz

Nellie Bentz has started 3 posts and replied 16 times.

Post: Tenants of 7yrs wants full deposit back.

Post: I need to hear “I quit my job!” stories, please!

Post: IN SEARCH OF PROFESSIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NH SEACOAST AREA

Post: IN SEARCH OF PROFESSIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NH SEACOAST AREA

Post: IN SEARCH OF PROFESSIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NH SEACOAST AREA

Post: Escrow: why don't I understand it?

Post: Escrow: why don't I understand it?

Post: Escrow: why don't I understand it?

Post: Escrow: why don't I understand it?

Post: Escrow: why don't I understand it?