How much are you paying for property taxes? If you live in an area where a lot of homes have lost significant value, you could be overpaying. There are some steps you can take to try and get your home re-assessed, but be prepared to put in some time doing so.

Many homeowners complain about high property taxes, but not that many actually try to do something about their tax bill. In some cases, homes are actually over-assessed, but you’ll have to be able to prove that’s the case with your home. Here are some of the steps you can take to do this:

1. Make sure you understand how property in your area is assessed. It may be based on sales of similar homes, the cost to rebuild or a percentage of your home’s value.
2. Check the details of your property assessment. You can do this by going to your local tax office and looking at the property card. It will show how many rooms you have, square footage, number of acres, etc. You should be able to view the paperwork used when your home was being evaluated by the appraiser.
3. File your appeal quickly. Usually you have a couple months after receiving your annual tax assessment to dispute it. Get valuations for nearby homes that are similar to your own. You’ll want to be able to take this information to your tax assessor. If there are a lot of homes that have sold for prices significantly below your home’s value, you may have a chance of getting your taxes lowered.
4. Take your written appeal to your local tax office. It may take a while, but you’ll be scheduled for a hearing to present your case. Make sure you have all your documents together before going to this hearing.

The best way to make your case is to be prepared to answer any questions about why your property should be reassessed. Doing thorough research on other properties in your neighborhood, taking photos of your property and correcting errors on the property card could help you get a lower tax bill.

In the latest release of the Mortgage Banking Association national delinquency survey, 13.16% of all homeowners are either in foreclosure or at least one payment past due on a non-seasonally adjusted basis.

This number is the highest ever recorded in the MBA delinquency survey.

The number of loans that are either 90 days past due or in foreclosure also both set new record highs, both breaking the record set last quarter.

What different about the data on foreclosures in the survey is that the number of “Prime” mortgages that are in default are rising. According the survey and Jay Brinkmann, MBA’s Chief Economist:

“While the rate of new foreclosures started was essentially unchanged from last quarter’s record high, there was a major drop in foreclosures on subprime ARM loans.  The drop, however, was offset by increases in the foreclosure rates on the other types of loans, with prime fixed-rate loans having the biggest increase. As a sign that mortgage performance is once again being driven by unemployment, prime fixed-rate loans now account for one in three foreclosure starts.  A year ago they accounted for one in five.  While 41 states had increases in the foreclosure start rate for prime fixed-rate loans, 43 states had decreases in that rate for subprime adjustable-rate loans.”

“The states of California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada continue to have a disproportionately high share of foreclosure starts, although the share has fallen slightly from last quarter.  Those four states had 44 percent of all of the nation’s new foreclosures during the second quarter of this year, down from 46 percent in the first quarter.

Also somewhat concerning was the number of delinquencies in FHA loans. With the recent popularity of FHA insured loans over the last few years, we expect these numbers to rise – but how high they will go, no one is quite sure.

“We also saw a major jump in FHA foreclosures.  The percentage of loans with foreclosures started, the percentage of loans in foreclosure and the percentage of loans 90 days or more past due are all records for FHA.  While the foreclosure starts rate for FHA loans at 1.15 percent is lower than all other loan types with the exception of prime fixed-rate loans, the FHA percentages have remained low due to a large increase in the number of loans outstanding, the so-called “denominator effect”.  If the number of FHA loans had stayed the same as a year ago and we saw the same number of foreclosures, the FHA foreclosure rate would be almost 1.5 percent.

Across the US even though the foreclosures are concentrated in 4 states (Florida, California, Nevada, Arizona) there is concern that as unemployment grows, foreclosure numbers will rise – no matter what state you live in… Which makes sense – without a job, it is difficult to pay your mortgage payment.

Justin McHood is a loan officer living in the Phoenix, Arizona area. You can find Justin on Facebook, Twitter, ActiveRain or LinkedIn and he is happy to answer any mortgage-related questions that you may have.

First-time homeowners are often confused about exactly what will happen at the closing. Basically, the closing is where the home is transferred from the seller to the buyer. You’ll sign a lot of paperwork and receive the keys to your new home. Here’s a rundown of what you can expect on the big day.

Who Will Be There?

There will be several individuals at the closing. Of course you will be there if you’re the buyer. You’ll also see the seller, both of your attorneys, your real estate agents, a representative of the lender, and the closing agent. In some situations some of these people may not attend the meeting, but usually these are the key players.

What Will Be Discussed?

During the closing, which typically lasts about an hour or so, you’ll review the settlement sheet with the closing agent. Although there are plenty of horror stories about home buyers getting hit with major surprises on the HUD-1 settlement sheet, you can avoid this by asking your attorney to provide a copy for you a day or so before the closing. After you sign the settlement sheet you’ll need to sign a stack of other mortgage loan documents, such as the Truth-in-Lending statement, the deed and the mortgage note.

The Big Payout

Then comes the part you’ve probably been anticipating and dreading: handing over a certified check for the closing costs. Your lender will also give a check for the amount of the mortgage to the closing agent. The lender will also set up the escrow account that will be used to pay your property taxes and insurance.

It usually takes several days after closing for a property to be legally transferred. That transfer occurs after the closing agent records the mortgage and deed with your local government.