While closing on your dream home as a first time home buyer in Texas, you might have signed many documents.
What were those documents? The title company gave you a copy of documents on your way out of closing, and possibly you placed those documents somewhere never to see them again.
Let us know what documents to keep for the first-time home buyer and where can you get those documents if you have accidentally misplaced them.
Let us know the documents which are super important that you would want to keep as a first-time home buyer. When you started the process of buying the home, your realtor might have provided you with some documents.
The best way to secure them is to maintain a binder or a folder physically, or you can back up the digital copies of the documents as and when you receive them on your computer or cloud storage.
The first document you would want to secure as a first-time home buyer is the “Buyer Representation Agreement”.
This is the agreement that was signed in the early stages of your home buying experience with your trusted real estate advisor who is working as your buying agent. This would include all the agreements that you and your agent had.
The next document to consider is “Purchase Contract and Agreement”. When you signed the purchase contract, it could include any counteroffers you had made or any contingencies between you and the seller.
It is essential to keep this document because it shows your exact contingencies with dates and what was agreed on by the seller.
The next one to retain would be “ All Seller’s Disclosures”. These are also known as seller’s property disclosure along with any other disclosure that might be part of your home buying experience.
They might be in the form of written or verbal notes. If it is an oral disclosure, your real estate agent might have documented it in the form of an addendum or an email that can be attached to the file.
It is suggested you retain any and all seller’s disclosures for your future reference.
The next thing you want to retain would be your “Home Inspection Report”. You must document any repair request you have suggested during the process from the seller.
You may want to keep any repair receipts received from the seller in response to your request and add them to your documents list.
Once you retain that next thing you might want to consider as a first-time home buyer is “Property Appraisal Report”.
This is a document provided to you by your loan officer/lender after your home appraisal was completed. You will need this document if there are any questions on the assessed value of the property at any given time.
The next document to retain is your “Owner’s Title Insurance Policy”. This is one of the most important documents to be retained. It ensures that nobody has a claim to the property you are buying.
In any event, if there are any disputes, this document provides insurance giving proof of your ownership. It also provides coverage for past problems in the chain of titles for the property’s history like missing mortgage discharges, forged signatures, etc.
The next one to retain is “Home Owner’s Insurance Policy”. The reason you might want to retain this document is so that you can know what coverages and exemptions are included in your policy.
You also might want to review this document with your insurance agent every year, making sure the insurance is updated annually.
“Closing Disclosure” is the next document to be retained as a first time home buyer in Texas. This is provided to you by your loan officer/lender 3 to 4 days in advance of your closing date. It gives details about your loan and your closing costs.
You can go back to your closing disclosure any time when you have any questions about your loan terms, disclosures, and contact information. You can have this handy while filing your taxes to see what kind of write-offs you are eligible to get.
The final document you would want to retain is your “Property Deed”. Your property deed would have been recorded with your county assessor’s office. This document is set up by your title company, and you would receive a copy of it as well.
Even if you have misplaced your documents you can still get these documents from your real estate agent, your loan officer, title company, and your county assessor’s office.
If you are a first time home buyer in Texas, getting in touch with them would help you restore the missing documents.
Buying your own house is one of the most important decisions you can make to start acquiring assets and build equity.
However, a lot of people get intimidated when they hear stories about losing money if they purchase a new house.
Also, we need to ask ourselves a few questions – am I financially committed? Am I ready to take responsibility?
There is a part of the American dream that is built on owning a house because how much the homes have appreciated has made the cost of renting more affordable.
Of course, buying or renting depends on the area as the cost differs from area to area. Let us compare the pros and cons of Renting vs Buying a home.
There is also a misconception saying that buying a home is always better than renting, which is not still true. Many people think that renting is a waste of money, and buying a home is always beneficial.
When you are considering the cost of renting vs buying a home in Texas, people don’t fathom the cost of ownership.
Let us remember one thing that no matter what, there is always going to be a cost for putting a roof over your head either you are paying that in the form of rent, or you are paying property taxes or adding value to the house by structural changes you might have to do in case of homeownership.
Renting vs buying a home is an age-old comparison. You may have to consider many things before you decide which is the best option for you.
So let us compare the pros and cons of Renting vs Buying a home.
Based on the above comparison for Renting vs. Buying a home in Texas, an individual may decide which one is good according to their lifestyle.
If you have good credit and income, we would always suggest buying a home instead of renting.
It would yield you an asset that you can use as an investment and make more money either by renting the property or by selling and getting value for the money you have invested.
If you are planting your roots, meaning, if you are going to live in a community, raise children in this community, the children would be going to the local school we suggest buying.
On the other spectrum, renting allows you much more mobility and could end up saving you a lot of money as well.
A lot of people today may move from one job to another every few years, and renting could help them save a lot of money.
These are the things that you may want to consider when it comes to renting vs buying a home in Texas.
To understand the process of purchasing a new home, you can read one of our previous blogs Five-Step Guide For New Property Purchase.