How often have you owned something and after a while, some issue comes up that finds you scrambling to find receipts, brochures, warranties, or whatever you can find on it? Keeping a file on your new home may be one of the most important record-keeping endeavors of your life, since buying a home is one of the biggest investments you may ever make.

Let's start at the very beginning, however, just before you decided to sign on the dotted line. What was one of the first things you ever received from the new home sales person? The brochure? This marketing and informational piece can be among the most valuable items with which to start a file. Why? Because the renderings and the detailed amenities contained there may someday mean the difference between permitting a Realtor to market your home effectively when you are ready to sell, or give only sketchy, generic details about the house based on its appearance and your improvements to it. Floor plan options are usually illustrated there as well, so that potential buyers can understand where non-load-bearing walls may be removed, or doors can be added if they wished to alter the plan themselves. You also will have the opportunity to look up original features to your home, so that you can describe what replacements and improvements you have made over the years.

Any piece of paper given to you by the builder, with or without your signature on it, should be kept in your new home file. In addition to the contract or purchase agreement itself, important addenda, pamphlets, Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions, public reports, or title reports sent to you by the builder's title company may someday come into question. Did the builder itself or another document disclose those abandoned railroad tracks at the base of the hill that may now be used for light rail? Was it told to you somewhere in writing that you couldn't park a car in your driveway on a regular basis? If you are to defend your stance or to understand theirs, you will need to reference the materials you saved when you purchased the home. Some of this paperwork must also be handed over to any subsequent buyer of your home, such as the C.C & R's.

When your home is complete and ready to be presented to you, the builder will undoubtedly give you reams of papers having to do with your walk-through, your new home builder warranty, the care and maintenance of your new home, and individual warranties and subcontractor phone numbers in case you need them. Some warranty cards and informational items may be stuffed into drawers in the kitchen or attached to appliances as well. Keep all of these together for future reference. Appliances are usually warranted for the first year; heating and air conditioning systems for two; check the terms of each warranty and, if you have, time, make an expiration list for yourself in calendar form. When the builder offers warranty calls within the first year or two that you own the home, you will be able to reference this list and know what you still have coverage for.

Keep a running list in a logical location for items covered by the builder's warranty that need attention. If you discover shoddy workmanship or defective parts, itemize these as you go. The most important list you will submit to the builder may be the last list - usually at the end of the first year. This is the last opportunity many builders will give you to report problems, short of any structural problem that may be covered within a much longer time frame. Once the work has been performed, save the signed-off copies given to you by the customer service representative or field personnel. This paperwork may come in handy someday if a dispute arises, or a new owner needs the information as to when some items were repaired or replaced.

Many homebuyers naturally keep records without prompting from anyone else, so this advice may appear as needless rhetoric to some. Despite your urge to purge during spring cleaning this year, however, don't throw away paperwork relating to your new home even if it seems past its prime. You just never know when you may become that frantic person turning the house upside down in an effort to find one of these documents.

Published: March 9, 2000

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A veteran of the real estate and homebuilding industries since 1986, Dena Kouremetis first joined Realty Times as a new homes writer in 1998. Since then, she has authored four books, written consumer columns on new homes issues for websites and newspapers all across the country, contributed to builder trade magazines, appeared as a guest expert on several radio shows and even created a ten-chapter podcast for LendingTree.com’s homebuilder website, iNest.com, now available on iTunes, entitled Uncharted Waters; Navigating the Purchase of a New Production Home. Kouremetis recently joined her local Folsom, CA Coldwell Banker office as a broker associate while continuing to write for the real estate industry. For the past three years, she has been training real estate agents for both the resale and new homes industries, putting her experience, research expertise and gift of expression to work to help others entering the business.