Thursday, November 15, 2007

Escrow Account

Buying or selling of FSBO property has become so common these days. With its popularity, home for sale by owner has transformed from a usual method to a new method to give better satisfaction for both buyers and sellers. So, whether you are selling or buying a home, you may need to go through an escrow period. Let us know about the escrow account:

Definition of Escrow Account:
Normally, the concept of Escrow account is not only used in real estate but in any other situation where transfer of something is carried out. The purpose of Escrow account is to create a centralized, impartial company or agent that keeps a tab on the particulars related with any real estate transaction documents.

It is a kind of a bank account where each documents related any home loan on a property gets submitted. This account is generally created in interest of lenders who has agreed to provide the home loan attached with the property.

Creating Escrow account helps in recognizing if certain bills have been paid or not. Important documents include homeowners insurance, private mortgage insurance, and real estate taxes such as property taxes. The lender will specify the definitive costs to be covered in loan documents.

In Escrow account, each month the borrower needs to be deposited a particular sum to the escrow account. The lender takes said money and pays the relevant debts and liabilities related to the real estate. A minimum balance needs to be maintained in the account also known as the cushion amount. The cushion is required to make sure there is money to cover the bills if the borrower fails to make the monthly payment.