We often hear myths from homeowners on their property tax bill and we hope to clarify some of them for you.
MYTH: I have to pay by the stated due dates on my property tax bill.
TRUTH: On your property tax bill, there are two due dates – February 1 and November 1. However, you are not considered delinquent if you pay by April 10 and December 10. Therefore you can keep the money longer in your bank by paying by the later dates instead of the due dates.
MYTH: The property tax I am paying for my home is the value of the home multiplied by the local tax rates.
TRUTH: Besides the portion of the property tax derived from the value of the home and local tax rates, there are also special assessments added to your tax bill (See example). These special assessments can be derived by a wide range of issues. Some relate to local services and others relate to specific measures approved by voters. (Your votes do matter!) You can call the number provided on the bill or search on the internet to gain a better understanding of each of the special assessments.
MYTH: My mortgage Principal, Interest, Taxes, Insurance (PITI) account will pay for all of my property tax so I do not need to do anything.
TRUTH: You might have set up a PITI account with your mortgage which will cover your property tax from your monthly payments. However, a lot of loan servicers will not pay the supplemental tax because it’s a one time tax bill after the purchase of a home. The truth is, your monthly payment’s reserve already accounted for it and you can specifically instruct them to pay the bill. Therefore, you should contact your loan servicer to confirm. You can also look on the portal of your loan servicer to see the amount they have paid for you to the county.
P.S. DID YOU KNOW – You can set up automatic payments from your bank to avoid late fees. A lot of banks now have bill pay features which allow you to set up payments at a certain date and a check will be automatically sent to the county at the set time. That way you can set up the payments when you receive the bill and forget about it.
Feel free to reach out to me (Team@theCalAgents.com) should you have any questions on your property tax bill. Even though I am not a tax expert, I have seen and read a lot of them and might be able to point you to the right direction for answers.
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