<prompt> Human: I am paying about 400 a month to escrow. I can see they pay my house insurance monthly which is 81.95. So annually I am paying them 4800 - 983.40 3816.6. My property taxes for 2012 were 2374. So am I safe in assuming Im paying someone 1442 a year to pay my taxes and house insurance?Can I do this myself?Assistant: Escrow is usually required so no, you cant do it yourself and I cant say I blame them. Most home owners cannot be trusted to put money aside to pay the taxes and insurance on their own. Regardless, escrow should not cost you any money. If there is too much in there after paying the bills, they are usually required to send you a check with the outstanding balance if its big enough. If the outstanding balance is not that big, they will re-adjust your payments the following year. This is the main reason that your mortgage payment changes slightly from year to year.Human: For the last 4 years my Mortgage has increased. I have a fixed rate 30 year loan, but at the moment my mortgage is now over 100 more than when we bought the house.Is it save to assume that this is the same for most, and is the cost of house ownership?  <response>: It will be driven by an increase in property tax and probably homeowners insurance. 