Paperwork from Home Sale and Purchase

[Meg O'C]

I am in the process of cleaning out all sorts of junk around the house. I have a mountain of paperwork from our first house. We bought it in 2001, refinanced around a year later I think. Essentially refinanced again when we took out a chunk of equity for a planned addition (that never wound up happening) in 2005, then finally sold the place and moved to our current home in mid-2006. What do I need to maintain in terms of paperwork on the first house? Thank you in advance for any guidance!

[lindrusso]

I've been wondering this too. I would think maybe you'd keep things as long as you would keep anything if you were to be audited on your taxes?

We have so much of this paperwork with 2 sales, 3 purchases and one refinancing in the last 10 years. I need to see what I can get rid of...........DH would keep everything for all eternity...... ;)

[Meg O'C]

I've been wondering this too. I would think maybe you'd keep things as long as you would keep anything if you were to be audited on your taxes?

We have so much of this paperwork with 2 sales and one refinancing in the last 10 years. I need to see what I can get rid of...........DH would keep everything for all eternity...... ;)


Alysha, my DH too. I have thick folders from every house transaction (purchase, re-fi, re-fi, sale, new purchase). I will gladly keep the whole folder from the current puchase but I have to believe I can probably shred at least 85% of the other stuff in each of the other folders.

[TieKitty]

I would keep a copy of your Settlement Statement for sure. Your Warranty Deed, Mortgage and Release of Mortgage are recorded at your courthouse and are part of the public records so you don't necessarily have to keep those, although being the OC person that I am I would keep the Deed and the Release. All the "junk" forms I would throw out. Anything with your SS# on it I would shred.

[avariell]

I would keep a copy of your Settlement Statement for sure. Your Warranty Deed, Mortgage and Release of Mortgage are recorded at your courthouse and are part of the public records so you don't necessarily have to keep those, although being the OC person that I am I would keep the Deed and the Release. All the "junk" forms I would throw out. Anything with your SS# on it I would shred.

I work in this industry, and trust me, way too often those documents are unfortunately not recorded correctly :( However, if you are "twice removed" from the property, I am not sure that it matters. Hmm... now I am curious and I am going to dig a little deeper at work tomorrow. I will post more if I learn more :)

[Wendi]

My accountant say 7 years! Hope this helps.

Wendi

[Wendi]

Plus, I would keep anything for a house you still own, no matter how long ago the purchase took place.

Wendi

[Meg O'C]

Thanks for the replies.

Yes, I absolutely plan to keep everything for the current house we own, but for the one we have sold I just want to keep what is absolutely necessary for tax purposes and right now I am sure I have more than what I need. I think I may commandeer the dining room table tomorrow night and start on this project. Once I do that I will have a better sense of the types of docs actually in the folders and it may make it easier to post questions about specific types of docs.

Josie, since you are in the biz I will be glad to know whatever you find out.