New Home Owner Checklist

ADVICE Josh Taylor. October 29, 2024

Store important documents on a secure cloud based website or software such as Google Drive or Dropbox.

Make sure your mailing address is current and correct with the assessor's office.
https://arcc.sandiegocounty.gov/content/arcc/home/divisions/assessor/address-change-request.html

Confirm any impound/escrow accounts with your lender. If you have an impound/escrow account with your lender you will receive a blue property tax bill. You will always receive these bills in the mail to keep for your records.

Impound / Escrow accounts are funds held by the lender or mortgage company to pay for taxes and insurance. These funds are collected from the property owners as part of the monthly mortgage payments. The lender or mortgage company generally pays the property taxes to the Tax Collector by December 10th and April 10th.

Ultimately, the property owner is responsible for ensuring that the property taxes are paid in a timely manner.

Check for any supplemental tax bills, you will receive a green property tax bill. Supplemental tax bills are not sent to the lender or mortgage company, they are sent to the new current owner. Check with your lender to see if there are enough funds in the impound account to pay them.

Supplemental Tax Bill - Anytime a property is sold to a new owner or new construction is completed, state law says it must be reassessed by the County. That reassessment will most likely change the assessed value of your property. When your assessed value changes, the County must recalculate your property taxes, and when those change, we will send you a supplemental tax bill.

Make a note of the due dates and delinquent dates for all the tax bills and installments.
Check on your tax bills at https://www.sdttc.com/content/ttc/en.html