u/ASleepyLawStudent

We bought a house in Texas in August 2025 and we are currently dealing with a massive financial nightmare because our builder and lender misrepresented our 2025 property taxes. Weeks before closing, the lender (MTH Mortgage) explicitly told us in writing that our home was being assessed as "just land" for the 2025 tax year. They even promised our monthly payments were structured specifically to "make sure the payment doesn’t shoot up" the following year.

The problem is that under Texas law, tax status is based on whatever was physically on the lot on January 1st. Since the builder, Meritage had a nearly completed home sitting there on New Year's Day, the county billed us for a fully improved property not "just land". Meritage gave us a tiny tax credit of only ~$350 at closing based on a $22k land value, but the actual bill came in based on a ~$430k house value. 

Because they used the wrong numbers, our mortgage payment just shot up by $500 bucks a month. Even worse, our lender had to pay the real tax bill out of our account, leaving us with a SIGNIFICANT negative escrow balance. We are out a total of $11k because the builder used "land-only" math to lower the credit they owed us, while the lender ignored the physical reality of the house to tell us it was "affordable."

Now, Meritage is offering a partial refund of $6,300 and trying to say they have nothing to do with the "estimate," EVEN THOUGH THE MORTGAGE COMPANY IS THERE INTERNAL/ AFFILIATED COMPANY while the mortgage manager is trying to dodge responsibility by saying he has "no insight" once the loan is sold. It feels like a total bait-and-switch.

WHAT DO WE DO HERE?

The mortgage company is refusing to explain their calculations and is telling us to take the 6.3k from lender. We think they need to give us the full amount of taxes owed, the 11k.

EDIT: THIS IS FOR THE 2025 PROPERTY TAXES. The value is assessed as of Jan 1,2025. WE BOUGHT THE HOME AUGUST 2025.