The documents to keep from closing day (and what each one is for)

You leave closing with a folder, and most of it is the lender's paperwork about the loan. The documents that matter to you as the owner of the house are a shorter list: the deed, the Closing Disclosure and settlement statement, the survey, the inspection report, the insurance policy, the warranties, and, for a new build, the builder's handoff. Each one answers a specific question you will be asked later, and each has a place in the record.

This post goes through the list, says what each document is for, and says how to file it so it can be found in year eight. If you want the argument for keeping a record at all, why every home needs one makes it; this is the practical half.

The deed

The deed is the document that transfers ownership to you. It is recorded with the county, which means the official copy is public and retrievable, but the recorded copy that comes back to you weeks after closing is the one to keep. You will need it for a refinance, for some permits, for an estate, and at sale.

File it as type Deed. It does not expire, so no expiry date. If you have a title insurance policy (an owner's policy, separate from the lender's), file it with the deed; it is the document that protects you if a claim against the title appears later.

The Closing Disclosure and settlement statement

The Closing Disclosure and the settlement statement (which may be the same document or a separate one from the title company) record what you paid, to whom, and for what. They matter twice. At tax time in the year of purchase, some of the line items may be deductible or may affect your basis. At sale, the purchase price and the closing costs you paid are the start of the home's adjusted basis, and IRS Publication 523 says to keep records of the purchase and of improvements for figuring that basis.

File it as type Closing, and file every improvement receipt from then on as Receipt with a note that says "improvement". The two together are the basis file.

The survey

The survey is the drawing of the lot with the house, the boundaries, the easements, and any encroachments. You will need it for a fence, a shed, a pool, a driveway extension, a dispute with a neighbor, and often for a permit. Many owners do not get a new survey at closing and receive the previous owner's; that one is still worth keeping, dated.

File it as type Other with a clear title ("Survey, 2026"). Keep the plat (the recorded subdivision map) with it if you have one.

The inspection report

For a resale home, the inspection report is the baseline: the condition of every system on the day you bought it, with photos. It tells you what the inspector flagged and did not, which is the starting list for the first year's maintenance, and it is evidence if a problem turns out to have been there all along. For a new build, the equivalent is the pre-closing walkthrough punch list, signed by the builder; the warranty timeline explains why that list matters.

File it as type Inspection. Then act on it: every "recommend further evaluation" and "monitor" in the report is a task.

The insurance policy

The homeowner's policy and its declarations page (the summary of coverage, limits, deductibles, and premium) is the document you will reach for after a storm, a leak, or a theft. Keep the current policy and the declarations page, and replace them at each renewal. The renewal date is the expiry to track.

File it as type Insurance with the Expiry Date set to the renewal. Notes: the agent's name and the claims phone number, because those are what you need at eleven at night with water on the floor.

The warranties

Three kinds arrive at or around closing:

• The builder's warranty on a new home: the document with the windows and the exclusions. This is the single most important paper in a new-build folder, and the one most often missing later.
• Manufacturer warranties on equipment and appliances: the furnace, the air conditioner, the water heater, the range, the dishwasher, the roof shingles, the windows. Each has its own start date (usually install or purchase) and term. Some require registration within a period after purchase; do that now.
• A home warranty (a service contract), if one was included in the sale. It has a term, a fee per service call, and a list of what is covered.

File each as type Warranty with the Expiry Date set to the end of coverage. In Property Station, a Warranty document with an expiry date appears on the Warranty Dashboard automatically, alongside the dates you enter on each system; tracking warranties covers both entries. For the equipment, also enter the model and serial on the system's page; the warranty is useless without them.

The builder's handoff (new construction)

A builder handoff at its best includes the warranty document, the manuals for every piece of equipment, the finish schedule (paint colors and codes, flooring product, tile, countertops, fixtures by model), the subcontractor list by trade, the plans, and the locations of the shutoffs. At its worst it is a bag of manuals. Ask for each item by name at the walkthrough, and ask again after closing.

File the manuals as type Other with the equipment name in the title, the finish schedule as type Other ("Finish schedule"), and the subcontractor list under vendors, not documents, so the names are where you will look for them when something needs a repair. If the builder uses Property Station, all of this arrives with the claim link already filed; check that each document has the right type and add the expiry dates the builder did not.

What to do with the rest of the folder

The loan documents (the note, the mortgage or deed of trust, the lender's disclosures) are the lender's contract with you. Keep them, as type Contract, until the loan is paid off and you have the release. They are rarely needed but impossible to replace on your own.

The rest (the pile of acknowledgments, the disclosures you initialed, the wire instructions) can be scanned as one Closing document and forgotten.

Filing it all in an hour

1. Scan or photograph each document. A phone scan is fine for everything but the recorded deed, which you should also keep in paper.
2. Give each one a type and a title that says what it is and the year.
3. Add an expiry date to every policy and warranty.
4. Enter the model, serial, and warranty dates for each piece of equipment on its system page, from the manuals you just filed.
5. Set the first maintenance tasks from the inspection report or the builder's manuals: the filter interval, the first HVAC service, the water heater flush. The filter and the tune-up are the two most equipment-warranty-relevant tasks and the first to schedule.

The Document Vault has a type for every document on this list and an expiry field for the ones that end.

Common questions

How long should I keep closing documents?

For as long as you own the home, and the tax-related ones for several years after you sell. The IRS says to keep records of the purchase and of improvements for figuring the home's adjusted basis at sale, which means the closing statement and every improvement receipt stay until the return for the sale year is beyond question. When in doubt, keep it.

What if I did not get a copy of something?

Ask now. The title company or closing attorney has the closing package, the lender has the loan documents, the county recorder has the deed, and the builder has the warranty. Every one of those is easier to get in the first month than in the fifth year.

What to do next

Do the hour of filing before the folder goes in a drawer. Then set the warranty end dates as reminders; the first one to expire is usually an appliance, and it is the one you will otherwise miss.