Thanks for the comprehensive reply! After the first 8 or so replies I was leaning heavily toward skipping escrow, but your advice certainly seems solid to me. I’ll just double-check with my mortgage bank to confirm the additional charge for skipping escrow, but I’m sure you know what you’re talking about. I was only going to do it to earn extra money and I had read your other posts about holding on to cash at all (or most) times. In fact, I altered my downpayment plan based on your posts. I originally thought a large downpayment was the safe route, but your posts convinced me otherwise. I slashed my downpayment and figure I’ll tap the extra money as needed to meet the higher monthly nut. Thanks again.