Supplemental Secured tax bill?

[Leshaface]

I'm a new homeowner, and we received in the mail a Supplemental secured tax bill which are split up in to two payments of $722.99 which must be payed Jan 31, and May 31..

From my understanding I thought that my escrow and impound accounts cover these charges, do they not?

I contacted my loan officer and he told me to contact the servicing department, which they told me to speak to someone that is only there Mon-Thur so she's not available today.

Is anyone familiar with this? Thanks!

 

[vicki_c]

We always get tax bills in the mail even though they are paid through our escrow. They usually include information on the back that states that you should contact your lender and send them the bill, or verify that they have it already, if your taxes are paid out of your escrow account. I think the first time with one of our mortgage companies I had to mail them the statement, but usually it's not necessary.

You might check your mortgage servicer company website as well - they usually have an FAQ which would tell you what to do with any tax bills received.

 

[Pakey]

A supplemental tax bill is something that occurs after the purchase of a home because the taxes collected at close of escrow were based on the prior year's tax roll/home valuation. Once a home sale records, the value is reset and usually means there will be a supplemental secured within the first year of new home ownership.

These are generally not covered through your home payments because that escrow amount was set based on the regular tax bills (on the tax roll in place at the close of escrow), not the supplementals (your taxes for next year's escrow will go up). You can call your lender to see if there is enough in your escrow to cover the supplemental but it generally will be a no.

I'm surprised your closing mortgage company didn't notify you that there was a possibility of supplemental taxes; you may have signed something acknowledging that there was a chance of them and don't remember since there are so many papers at closing.

The easy way to remember is that property taxes are charged in arrears. So what you are paying this year in property taxes is based on last year's value. Values are generally kept the same unless there's a significant change in property values in your area OR a property is sold (as was in your case). So the value is then adjusted which causes a supplemental bill to be generated. I've known so many first time homebuyers who are unaware of this process; however every home I have purchased I remember being told about supplementals (of course I understand them due to my profession so I am aware of being given instruction on them at escrow close).

 

[vicki_c]

Interesting - I've never had to pay any supplemental taxes on any of my 3 home purchases, in 3 different states.

 

[amamax2]

Vicki,

I don't know about other states, but this is something that happens in California because we have a law in effect that mandates the maximum amount property taxes can go up each year (called Prop 13), no matter how much the value of the property goes up. One of the only times the tax amount can change to reflect the current value of the home is when it is sold.

Sorry, OP, but the PP is absolutely correct. I used to service mortgage loans. I've never heard of the escrow account covering the supplemental, but definitely check with your lender just in case.

 

[Pakey]

Interesting - I've never had to pay any supplemental taxes on any of my 3 home purchases, in 3 different states.

OP is in California, same as me. I've had it on every house I've purchased. The biggest supplemental is on new home construction because the prior roll was just on bare land but the current value will now include the value of the house that was added to the land. Buying a resale home has lower supplementals usually unless the prior owners had owned the house for a long time.

 

[vicki_c]

Please don't think I wasn't believing anyone - I'm sure it's true. I have just had a different experience.

But I even built a new house in FL (plus I've lived multiple places where the annual increase was capped) and one year our taxes were basically non-existent since they were based on the unimproved land and then the next year we had to pay the normal much larger amount once our house was built, but I never saw a supplement bill. I guess it was just paid out of our escrow.

 

[amamax2]

=vicki_c;39250935]Please don't think I wasn't believing anyone - I'm sure it's true. I have just had a different experience.

I didn't take it that way - no worries