[1]The time has come to complete another file slot in our important documents filing system. Are you doing a happy dance? Come on . . . getting organized is exciting stuff.
I love to be organized. When I cannot find something, I get in panic mode, and I really don’t like it. I must find the searched-for item until it is found. Thankfully, I don’t lose too many items, but staying organized helps me to use my time wisely.
In this series on home ownership [2] (the third category of our filing system [3]), we have placed in this eighth file opening our deed(s) [2], insurance [4] (homeowner’s or renter’s), property tax documents [5], property survey(s) [6], and title insurance [7]. The next and final item is our appraisal.
Now getting a copy of our appraisal was more difficult than I thought it would be. For some reason, our mortgage lender did not want to supply us with a copy. At the closing, we stopped signing the paperwork until the appraisal was given to us.
I still do not understand why the lender did not want us to have a copy of our appraisal. The payment for the appraisal was included in our closing costs, so we were paying for an appraisal that the lender did not want us to see. Since we paid for it, we were not about to leave the room without getting a copy of that report.
Having prepared this filing system with a section for our home ownership documents prior to purchasing our home helped me know exactly what items to request and obtain at our closing.
Since this request was granted with some tension, I am assuming that the appraisal is not usually included with the closing documents. However, I left our closing with a copy of all the documents I requested.
If you don’t have a copy of your appraisal, you can either pay to have an appraisal done or just wait until you need one. Our appraisal (7 years ago) was $250 from our mortgage company’s in-house appraiser. Personally, I would not pay for an appraisal without needing it. Just know that when you get an appraisal, your copy goes in this file opening.
There you have it! These are all the documents housed in my eighth slot of my filing system under home ownership documents. Next week, I will continue with the home ownership documents housed in the ninth file slot. Keep up the great work, and happy organizing!
Question: I’m curious, did you receive a copy of your appraisal at closing?