Suzanne Plewes, RE/MAX Alliance in Loveland
LOVELAND – Most home buyers receive a stack of paperwork at closing. This pile often ends up in the shredder or lost among your endless boxes of paperwork. Although you will likely never look at most of those documents again, there are a few that are important to put aside. Here are five documents concerning your home purchase that you should definitely keep:
Purchase and sales agreement
Your Purchase and Sales agreement is a contract between you and the seller. Most of the terms are relevant up to the closing, but there are also some terms that may survive the closing. Without a copy of the contract, you may not know exactly what those are. It’s always best to keep a copy of the fully executed Purchase and Sales agreement.
Seller disclosure statements
Anything disclosed by the seller to you in writing is important. By law, sellers are required to disclose all known material facts about a property. If you encounter a problem with your home in the future and wish to file a lawsuit against the seller, you would need a copy of the disclosures to prove that it lacked certain information. Additionally, you would need to prove that a seller had knowledge of the problem. Unfortunately, some things can go unnoticed through multiple owners.
Home inspection report
There are several reasons to keep inspection reports. First, if you believe your inspector misrepresented a problem or failed to detect something that he should have, the report would be evidence in a lawsuit. Secondly, inspection reports can be used to develop a list of repairs and home improvements. Lastly, most reports include a wealth of information on home maintenance and system operations. This can be extremely useful, especially if you are a first-time buyer.
Closing disclosure
At closing, you receive a closing disclosure statement. This outlines your closing costs, prepaid expenses and other figures related to your home purchase. Some expenses may be tax deductible, so keep this on file for tax time. Additionally, when you go to sell your home in the future, you may need some information from this form to calculate your net profits and any resulting tax liabilities.
Title insurance policy
Owner’s title insurance is optional, but most homebuyers purchase it for peace of mind. If you encounter a title issue in the future, you will need the policy to know who to contact for assistance. Additionally, your policy documents include information on what is covered or specifically excluded.
Summary
These are just a few critical documents from your home purchase and closing. There may be others that are important, depending on your situation. Ask your real estate agent and closing attorney to provide electronic copies of documents so that you won’t need to worry about shredding something that you might need in the future. You can keep them all!
By Suzanne Plewes. Suzanne is a broker associate at RE/MAX Alliance. Write to 750 W. Eisenhower Blvd., Loveland, CO 80537, call 970.290.0373 or e-mail [email protected].
