That's likely what happened

Bought at 500 in 2020 and Zillow currently estimates it's 610. Looking through some old mail it looks like for taxes they used something like 400 as the figure last year, since this house has been in the 400s until 2020. I'm guessing taxes have been reassessed.

Same situation except the shortage is $4,000 so my payments will be higher for all of 2023

$3400 to $4000

Nope, house is 80 years old

The house was built 80 years ago

Nope

I know a lot about other types of lending but not mortgages. The payment on a fixed rate student loan never changes. I assumed mortgages worked the same, but learned that was incorrect when my monthly payment increased $30 in the second year.

A $600 increase seems really steep for me. Wouldn't you be surprised if your housing payment increased by $600?

The tax increases are not in the 30 year amortization schedule in my mortgage agreement, it's not obvious to a new homeowner. $600 a month increase feels extreme to me.

Do you think it makes sense to try to pay my own taxes and insurance, or just deal with the escrow account?

Nope

Probably what's happening here, $600 a month just seems excessive

I do live in one of those states

I cannot wait to call the servicer to sort this out

Zillow puts it at about $112,000 more than what we bought it for in 2020

I'm considering that.

Haha I really want to post it to get answers but sharing that much information would be unwise

No claims. This letter is saying they project $1500 for insurance but it's previously been $1100.

Yes because it says we can pay about $4,000 upfront and then our payment is only $250 higher a month, which still seems like a big increase.

The statement said $1500 for insurance and it was previously $1100