Make sure if you are going to escrow property taxes and insurance ALL the final paperwork indicates that. During my last refinance, one document said I was going to escrow but the controlling document that had my final monthly mortgage payment didn’t actually reflect it.

Primate is spot on with the inspection. You’d rather find too much than too little.

Happy to answer any more specific questions you may have along the way.

Escrowing property taxes and insurance means you pay a portion of them on a monthly basis as part of your overall mortgage payment and the mortgage company pays the insurance company and local tax collector on your behalf during the year when the full payment is due.

And yes, paying for the rest of the current property tax year during closing is pretty standard from what I’ve seen.

Ben @ 13/7/2018 6:55

The one thing that I have always carried as well and it's pretty cheap and may not be necessary until you start a family, but I have always carried Mortgage Insurance, just because if I die, I don't want my wife to not have to worry about the mortgage payment. I carry this aside from our normal life insurance policies.

Have you compared the cost of the mortgage insurance to simply upping your life insurance by the amount of your mortgage balance?