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With home prices continuing to rise, for buyers seeking a bargain, research is imperative. You may be able to find a more affordable home by looking at repossessions and properties in need of rehabilitation. Before you close the sale, though, you need to read the fine print of every document — and there will be many. Keep all of your home purchase documents organized with these six tips from Real Estate Blog.
1. Organize by Date
One of the easiest ways to implement order in your document stash is to organize them by date. This should be relatively simple since most documents related to a home purchase will have a field for a date and a signature at the bottom. Compiling them chronologically can help you establish a timeline of when important events have happened in the purchasing process, too.
2. Organize by Topic
Organizing documents chronologically can be helpful, but it can also be confusing if you’re unsure of the specific date a document was filed. In this instance, organizing by topic may be the preferable method. To do so, you should establish categories such as home inspection, mortgage, and purchase terms. You can then collect all documents that relate to each of these categories and organize them accordingly.
3. Invest in Storage
Organization isn’t just about the order your documents are in. It’s also about storing them in a way that’s space efficient. Investing in a small filing cabinet can be an effective solution for physically storing documents. Label individual folders with dates if you intend to organize files chronologically or with topics if you’re organizing them by category.
4. Digitize Paper Copies
Digitizing your paper documents is a great way to save space and ensure that you have copies of your documents on file. Digital copies aren’t susceptible to fire, flood, or damage, and they’re also easier to send if you need to. To digitize your documents, you can buy a scanner that scans the paper and creates a PDF. Once you’ve created your PDF, you can use this free tool if you need to add pages.
5. Store PDFs on Your Smartphone
In addition to keeping PDFs on your computer, you can store them on your smartphone. Saving PDFs to your smartphone is easy, and it allows you to keep your most important documents readily available when you’re on the go. Best of all, when you download a PDF to your phone, you don’t even have to worry about maintaining a WiFi connection in order to access it.
6. Shred Superfluous Documents
Once you’ve digitized your documents and saved them to your phone, you should consider shredding the physical copies. This is especially true if they contain sensitive information that could be used for identity theft. Shredding them will ensure that your information stays safe, and it will free up space in your new home, too!
Get Your Document Situation Under Control
Buying a new home is a major accomplishment, but you may not feel celebratory if you’re drowning in documents. Luckily, there are several strategies you can employ to get your documents under control, organize them effectively, and ensure that they’re readily available when you need to reference them.
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