Question about closing on new house/taxes/FL

[Hopeless/Clueless]

My wife and I closed on a newly built home in Aug '99. We were given a monthly payment estimate of $644, but at closing, they sprung on us that they'd erred in calculating the escrow for property taxes--they had used the appraisal for the formerly vacant lot! So what were we to do!? We had already closed on our old house (same day), and all our earthly belongings were in the U-Haul! Our payment is now $100 more than the original estimate given, and it's KILLING ME. Do I have any recourse?? We are thinking about either placing the house on the market, or taking legal action, since I feel we HAD TO AGREE/SIGN UNDER DURESS. Please please advise.

Mr/Mrs Perplexed in FL

 

[HomeGuru]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Hopeless/Clueless:
My wife and I closed on a newly built home in Aug '99. We were given a monthly payment estimate of $644, but at closing, they sprung on us that they'd erred in calculating the escrow for property taxes--they had used the appraisal for the formerly vacant lot! So what were we to do!? We had already closed on our old house (same day), and all our earthly belongings were in the U-Haul! Our payment is now $100 more than the original estimate given, and it's KILLING ME. Do I have any recourse?? We are thinking about either placing the house on the market, or taking legal action, since I feel we HAD TO AGREE/SIGN UNDER DURESS. Please please advise.

Mr/Mrs Perplexed in FL<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Escrow is not responsible to give this type of info to you. The info should have come directly from the lender. You should have been advised way before closing as to the amount of your monthly mortgage payment.

 

[David J. Miller]

You should find out when the tax figure became available. Since it's new construction, the actual amount of the taxes may not have been available when the estimate was provided. If this is the case, the mortgage company should have explained that the taxes were based on the lot value and may go up when the improved tax figure became available. In any case, the good faith estimate is a "Good Faith" effort by the mortgage company to estimate your costs. To determine when the tax figure became available in relation to when the estimate was prepared may help you determine whether it was indeed prepared in Good Faith or if the mortgage company was too lazy to call the taxing authority and verify the amount.