Sold my house; how long do I need to keep old documents? (loans, refinance)

[hackwriter]

I just sold my house and have moved into a new one that I paid for with the proceeds.

I refinanced my former home three times, then paid off the last mortgage with an equity line, which was paid off and closed with the closing on the house. So I have paperwork from four loans on the house I sold. Do need to keep any of these?

I did not exceed the $250,000 limit on the proceeds, but came close (not including about $100,000 in improvements I did over 19 years) and put most of the proceeds into the new house. Is this a one-time exclusion? Should I keep receipts from work I had done on that house? Will they offset if I sell my current house down the line?

I was thinking I should probably keep the old deed and the HUD settlement statements from my purchase of the old house, the sale of the old house, and the purchase of the new one.

Does anyone have some good guidelines for this? I have a ton of paper on all this and would like to know what I really need to keep.

[SmartMoney]

Originally Posted by hackwriter

I just sold my house and have moved into a new one that I paid for with the proceeds.

I refinanced my former home three times, then paid off the last mortgage with an equity line, which was paid off and closed with the closing on the house. So I have paperwork from four loans on the house I sold. Do need to keep any of these?

I did not exceed the $250,000 limit on the proceeds, but came close (not including about $100,000 in improvements I did over 19 years) and put most of the proceeds into the new house. Is this a one-time exclusion? Should I keep receipts from work I had done on that house? Will they offset if I sell my current house down the line?

I was thinking I should probably keep the old deed and the HUD settlement statements from my purchase of the old house, the sale of the old house, and the purchase of the new one.

Does anyone have some good guidelines for this? I have a ton of paper on all this and would like to know what I really need to keep.

IRS says keep everything for 7 years.

I recommend you scan it all to an external hard drive or thumb drive, and trash the hard copies. These days, electronic copies are universally accepted as originals. Do verify this with legal counsel, but this is what I've gravitated to doing. Thumb drive for this, and one for that.