Dave is dead on with all of these. I would escrow your taxes, it is a bunch easier. On my third house now and have escrowed all three. Not like they are stealing money from you. If you can't handle the extra money for the escrow each month, get a cheaper house. That money has to come from somewhere.

If I were you, I would have about a 10k buffer as a checking account. No less than that after down payment, first years insurance premium, and startup deposits for all utilities.