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After Closing: What to Keep Forever and Who to Notify

Updated 2026-10-24, 7 minute read

Keep the whole closing package, forever, in two places. That is the short answer. The longer answer is that a dozen documents in that folder will be asked for at specific moments: your tax return this spring, an insurance claim after a leak, a refinance, a dispute with the seller or the HOA, and the day you sell, when the Closing Disclosure and a shoebox of improvement receipts can be worth tens of thousands of dollars in capital gains tax. Here is what to keep, why, how to file it, and who to notify this month.

What to keep forever

Document	Why it matters later
Closing Disclosure (final, signed)	Points and prepaid interest for this year's taxes; purchase price plus transfer tax, title, escrow and recording costs for your cost basis at sale
Recorded grant deed	Proof of ownership and vesting; needed for refinancing, estate planning and any title question
Owner's title policy	Your claim document if a lien, boundary or chain-of-title problem surfaces; may earn a discounted rate on a future refinance policy
Promissory note and deed of trust	The terms you agreed to; needed when the loan is paid off and a reconveyance should be recorded
Inspection reports and the seller's disclosures, including the 3R report and the NHD	Evidence of condition at purchase for insurance claims, later defects, and disputes with the seller
HOA documents: CC&Rs, bylaws, rules, budget, reserve study, minutes	Your rights and obligations in the building; evidence of what was disclosed about assessments
Appraisal	A dated record of condition and square footage
Home warranty, if any, and appliance manuals	Claims and service
Insurance declarations pages, every year	Claims and renewals
Walkthrough and day-one photos	Baseline condition

Add to the file every year: the Form 1098 from your servicer, property tax bills including the supplemental bill, HOA special assessment notices, and receipts and permits for improvements.

Why: taxes, basis, insurance, refinancing, disputes

This year's taxes. The Closing Disclosure shows any points you paid, the prepaid interest from funding to month-end, and the property tax proration, all of which feed your itemized deductions, and the servicer's Form 1098 in January reports the rest of the year's interest. Tax benefits of owning in SF explains the mortgage-interest and SALT limits that decide whether itemizing beats the standard deduction.

Cost basis at sale. Your basis starts at the purchase price plus certain settlement costs, including transfer tax, title insurance, escrow and recording fees, and grows with capital improvements: a kitchen, a roof, foundation work, a new sewer lateral, an added bathroom, a seismic retrofit. Repairs do not count. The federal exclusion covers up to $250,000 of gain, or $500,000 on a joint return, if you owned and lived in the home for two of the five years before the sale, and San Francisco appreciation can clear that, so the improvements log below is tax planning. Renting and selling after you buy covers the sale itself, and the comps tool shows what homes around yours have been selling for when you want a sense of the gain you are tracking.

Insurance and defects. The inspection reports and disclosures show what was known and when. An adjuster asking whether a leak was pre-existing, or an attorney asking whether the seller disclosed the foundation crack, wants those documents.

Refinancing. The deed, note, title policy, HOA documents and appraisal shorten the next lender's file, and a prior owner's policy can reduce the cost of the new lender's policy with some title companies.

When the deed and title policy arrive, and how to get copies

After recording, the SF Assessor-Recorder returns the original grant deed by mail to the address written on the document, generally several weeks later, and the title company mails your owner's policy separately, sometimes a month or two after close. If either has not arrived within about two months, ask your escrow officer. You do not need the paper to prove ownership; the recorded instrument is the public record, and the Recorder sells plain and certified copies for a per-page fee. Which brings up the mail you will get.

Mortgage servicing transfers, deed scam mail and fake servicer letters

Within weeks of recording you will receive official-looking letters offering a copy of your deed, a "property profile" or a "homestead" filing for a fee many times what the Recorder charges. Recycle them. A copy of your deed from the Recorder costs roughly $10 for the first page and well under a dollar for each additional page through its staff, or about $2 per document from its online self-service database, as of 2026-10-25 (check the current fee schedule), and the homeowner exemption below is free.

Mortgage servicing transfers are real and common; your loan may be sold within the first months. Federal rules require your current servicer to send notice at least 15 days before the transfer takes effect and the new servicer to confirm, and for 60 days after the transfer a payment sent on time to the old servicer cannot be treated as late. Scammers imitate these letters to redirect your payment. Verify any transfer by calling the servicer at the number on your statement before changing autopay. The CFPB's guidance on closing and servicing scams is worth bookmarking.

The homeowner exemption: file it now

California's homeowners' exemption removes $7,000 from the assessed value of your principal residence, a saving of roughly $80 a year at SF's current combined rate of about 1.18%, every year for as long as you live there. The SF Assessor typically mails a claim form to new owners after the deed records (as of 2026-10-25, check current practice); if it does not arrive within a couple of months, download it from the Assessor's site. File by February 15 for the full exemption in the coming tax year; a claim filed after that and by December 10 earns a partial exemption for that year, and the exemption stays in place without refiling until you move. It is a small number and a five-minute form, and it also establishes the home as your principal residence in the Assessor's records, which matters for Prop 13 and Prop 19 base-year transfers later.

Change of address: the full list

USPS. File the official change of address online, with mail forwarding, before moving day.
DMV. California requires notice within 10 days of moving; the online change covers your license and every vehicle registered to you.
Voter registration. Re-register at the new address through the Secretary of State.
IRS and FTB. File Form 8822 with the IRS, or use the new address on your next return; update the Franchise Tax Board through your online account or your next California return.
Employer and payroll. Address, state withholding if it changes, and commuter benefits.
Banks, brokerages, credit cards, retirement accounts. Especially the account your mortgage payment draws from.
Insurers. Auto insurance reprices on garaging address; health, life and umbrella policies need the new address, and your new homeowners policy should already have it.
Servicer. Confirm the servicer has your mailing address and that statements are not going to the old apartment.
Subscriptions, deliveries, pharmacy, schools, pets' microchip registry, and the SFMTA residential parking permit for your new block, if it has one.

A home file and a running improvements log

Keep one physical binder and one cloud folder with the same structure: Closing, Title and Deed, Loan, Insurance, HOA, Inspections and Disclosures, Taxes by year, Improvements, Utilities and Accounts. Scan the signing package the week you receive it. Start an improvements log as a single spreadsheet: date, contractor, description, permit number, cost, and a link to the receipt. Add every project over a few hundred dollars. At sale, that spreadsheet is your basis schedule and the first thing a buyer's agent asks about when you list.

Your first-year calendar

When	What
First of the second month after funding	First mortgage payment; verify the servicer and the autopay draw
Within 10 days of moving	DMV change of address
Within about 2 months	Recorded deed and owner's title policy should have arrived; chase if not
Roughly 6 months after recording, sometimes longer	Supplemental assessment notice from the Assessor, then the Treasurer's supplemental bill, not paid from your impound account
November 1 and February 1	Secured property tax installments due; delinquent after December 10 and April 10
February 15	Homeowners' exemption deadline for the full exemption
Policy anniversary	Homeowners and earthquake insurance renewal; review limits against rebuild cost
HOA budget season, usually autumn	Annual budget, reserve summary and any assessment vote
January	Form 1098 and tax prep with the Closing Disclosure

Frequently asked questions

How long should I keep closing documents after buying a house?

For as long as you own the home plus at least three years after you file the tax return for the year you sell it, which is the IRS's general window for examining that return. The Closing Disclosure, deed, title policy and improvement receipts establish your cost basis at sale, and the inspection reports and disclosures matter for insurance claims and disputes for years. There is no reason to ever discard the deed or the owner's title policy.

When will I receive my deed after closing in California?

The county recorder returns the original recorded grant deed by mail to the address written on the document, generally several weeks after recording; the SF Assessor-Recorder's turnaround varies, so ask escrow what to expect. Your owner's title policy arrives separately from the title company. You do not need the paper deed to prove ownership; the recorded document is the public record, and the Recorder sells certified copies.

What documents do I need for taxes after buying a house?

The Closing Disclosure, which shows any points you paid, prepaid interest and the property tax proration; the Form 1098 your servicer sends in January with the year's mortgage interest; your property tax bills, including the supplemental bill; and, for the year you sell, the records that build your cost basis. Transfer tax and most closing costs are not deductible but add to basis, so the Closing Disclosure does double duty. Keep the HOA documents too; dues are not deductible on a primary home, but special assessments for improvements can affect basis.

How do I change my address with the DMV in California?

Online through the DMV's change-of-address service, or by mail on the DMV's form, and California law requires you to notify the DMV within 10 days of moving. The update covers your driver license or ID and your vehicle registrations in one request. You will not get a new card unless you order a replacement; keep the confirmation with your license.

What should I do if I get a letter saying my mortgage was sold?

Verify it before you send money anywhere new. Federal rules require your current servicer to notify you at least 15 days before the transfer takes effect and the new servicer to confirm it, and for 60 days after the transfer a payment sent on time to the old servicer cannot be treated as late. Call your original servicer at the number on your statement, not the number in the letter, confirm the new servicer's name and payment address, and only then update autopay. Fake servicer letters are a known scam aimed at new owners.

What records help reduce capital gains when I sell?

Anything that raises your cost basis: the Closing Disclosure from your purchase showing the price plus transfer tax, title, escrow and recording costs; receipts and permits for improvements such as a kitchen, roof, foundation work, a new sewer lateral or an added bathroom, as opposed to repairs; and the selling costs when the time comes. Federal law lets you exclude up to $250,000 of gain, or $500,000 on a joint return, if you owned and lived in the home for two of the five years before the sale. In San Francisco, where gains can exceed that, every documented improvement is tax saved.