This is such a good point about taxes—I had a similar thing happen when I refinanced last spring. Thought I'd factored everything perfectly, but totally overlooked how escrow adjustments would play out. Ended up taking almost six months longer to hit my break-even than expected. Now whenever someone asks me about refinancing, I always walk them through checking their tax schedule first. It's a small step that makes a big difference...wish I'd known sooner, honestly.
"Thought I'd factored everything perfectly, but totally overlooked how escrow adjustments would play out."
Same here—I see this happen a lot with clients. When I refinanced my own place a couple years back, I thought I had it all dialed in too, but escrow threw me off by several months. Now I always remind folks to double-check their escrow timing and property tax schedule before pulling the trigger. It's one of those sneaky details that's easy to miss but makes a huge difference down the road...lesson learned the hard way!
"Now I always remind folks to double-check their escrow timing and property tax schedule before pulling the trigger."
Good call on that. Curious though, have you noticed if certain lenders handle escrow adjustments differently during refinancing? I've seen some pretty big variations in how they estimate and reconcile escrow accounts—sometimes it feels like they're just winging it. Makes me wonder if there's a better way to anticipate those surprises ahead of time...
I've definitely noticed lenders can be all over the map with escrow adjustments—sometimes it's like they're just throwing darts blindfolded, haha. One thing that's helped me is asking upfront for their escrow analysis method. Some lenders use historical data, others estimate based on projected taxes. If you can get their calculation process early, you can run your own rough numbers and brace yourself (or celebrate) ahead of time. Saved me from a couple nasty surprises...
"Some lenders use historical data, others estimate based on projected taxes."
Yeah, I've run into this exact thing. A couple years back, I refinanced a rental property and thought I had everything dialed in. The lender assured me their escrow estimates were "pretty accurate," but turns out they were basing it off outdated tax info. Fast forward six months, and I got hit with a hefty escrow shortage notice—talk about a gut punch.
Since then, I've learned to always double-check their numbers myself. I usually call the county assessor directly to get the latest tax projections and plug those into my own spreadsheet. It's a bit of extra legwork upfront, but honestly worth it to avoid those nasty surprises down the road. Lenders aren't necessarily trying to mislead you; they're just juggling tons of loans and sometimes miss the finer details...
