That's not really true. I've had mortgages for most of my adult life and have never paid property tax escrow. Most lenders only require it if you put little down. Not to mention there are some popular tax strategies (e.g. pay taxes for two years in a single calendar year, then nothing for the next year) that make paying escrow a bad idea.

Not that I’ve seen. Maybe it’s regional. I’ve always paid my property taxes directly to the county. Once a year when I was in FL, two installments in CA. The lender just takes principal and interest in its payment.

Escrow for property tax is (usually) _optional_ on a mortgage. I don't have escrow on mine because I heard horror stories from coworkers about payments getting screwed up when the mortgage was resold.

From the lender point of view, property tax escrow is slightly less risky than leaving it up to the borrower.

If you work with a mortgage broker and get quotes, ask for the rates with and without escrow. It’s pretty common that there is a slight reduction in rate if you include escrow.