The more things change, the more things stay the same. This popular adage is definitely nottrue when it comes to the amount of paperwork involved in buying a home!
To understand how things have changed, we need to compare the past to the present. Luckily my father is very organized and has his entire file of documents from when he bought the family house almost 45 years ago in Virginia. More recently, when he made what he calls his “final” property purchase, he couldn’t believe the stack of paperwork involved in the purchase.
Here’s a comparison of the amount of paperwork involved with a home purchase “then” and “now,” along with brief descriptions of the voluminous stack of documents you’ll encounter the next time you buy real estate.
Purchase contract
Then (1 page): In 1969 the purchase contract was a full page long and covered all the material issues related to buying the property, with no other disclosures, reports or documents related to the transaction.
Now (200 pages): The 2012 purchase contract was 10 pages, plus approximately 200 more pages of contract addendums, disclosure reports from the seller and agent(s), third-party disclosure information, plus federal, state and local disclosures, disclaimers, questionnaires, certifications, escrow instructions, inspections, advisories, verifications, counteroffers, receipts for reports and notices.
Mortgage loan
Then (4 pages): Three-page deed of trust/mortgage note and one-page settlement sheet.
Now (100-125 pages): 13-page deed of trust, five-page promissory note, 50-70 pages of lender disclosures, 3-10 pages of federally required HUD-1 statement and good faith estimate, and other paperwork required as documentation for the loan.
Title insurance
Then (5 pages): Chicago Title cover page plus five total pages of the title abstract, survey, schedule of exclusions and general exclusions pages.
Now (15-20 pages): The title abstract, title insurance policy, exclusions, plat/survey and general information.
Property insurance
Then (unsure): Unfortunately his insurance policy document was not in the file, but his annual policy coverage premium — $25.06 — was noted on the settlement sheet. But this payment might have covered more or fewer perils than a policy covers today, so that annual amount probably is not comparable to a modern-day policy.
Now (30-40 pages): A standard homeowners policy covers the dwelling, liability and medical, and has pages and pages of items that are excluded from coverage.