Statistics show that on average, you can spend 50-100% more on property maintenance than what you would have initially spent if you ignored maintenance for a long time. Neglecting maintenance can also lead to a decrease in property value and deterioration of the house. However, using a house record form to track all your assets and property condition, helps you to easily identify maintenance needs and fix them before they get to the point of property deterioration.

A house record form is an official document that logs all information regarding your property. It keeps you up to date on the condition of the property and makes necessary changes. Let’s look at how to create one with a free template to get you started.

Why Do I Need a House Record Form?

A house or property record form is a register that helps you keep track of all the assets and personal belongings within your property. Whether you’re planning to lease or sell your house, having a house record form ensures you can accurately value the property and take note of damages.

If you’re selling your house, the buyer will want to know about the previous maintenance and repairs to see if they’ll need to spend a lot on upkeep later. The same thing applies if you’re getting a mortgage or loan, the lender will check all the property’s information to assess its value to ensure they can take it as a lien before approving your application.

Importance of House Records in Real Estate

Here are the major reasons why you should have a house record form:

• Keeping track of maintenance and repairs – your house record form covers all the information you need about the upkeep of the property and the equipment and systems in it. For example, you can cross-reference the condition of the house before a tenant moves in and after to determine whether the tenant’s security deposit should be returned in full or used to cover damages.
• Managing household expenses – having a house record form also ensures you can account for every appliance and asset in the facility. So, if something is malfunctioning e.g. heating, plumbing, etc., you can easily note it down for maintenance or replacement.
• Tracking property improvements and upgrades – You can also use house record forms to note down the upgrades you have made. For example, if you updated the kitchen, the bathroom, etc., you can use the form to note down the new improvements.

 Benefits of a Property Record Form

• Improved Organization – Having a house record form means there’s a central location for all information regarding the property. This makes it easy to transfer ownership, get loan approvals, and create contracts such as leases.  It also makes it easy to carry out routine tasks like maintenance scheduling, insurance claims, and property tax filings.
• Easier Access to Important Information – Having a uniform record helps you find specific information about your house, such as the property deed containing the purchase date and terms of agreement for the house. It also includes renovations, appliance warranties, upgrades, and other property fees.
• Enhanced Property Value Tracking – A detailed house record form helps you track the value of your property over time. So, when selling or leasing the house, your property doesn’t get undervalued and you get below the average market rate.

Key Components of a House Record Document

• Personal and Property Information– this includes the owner’s name and contact details e.g. email address, residential address, phone number,  and next of kin.  It would also include the property information such as location, number of rooms, and assets on the property e.g. patio, garden, swimming pool, fence, etc.
• Maintenance and Repairs Log – this documents any maintenance or repairs carried out on the property. This includes dates of maintenance, the cause of repair, and the cost of the work done. It could also include the technician or operator who carried out the maintenance for future referrals.
• Financial Records: This is the list of all payments you make related to the property, such as utility bills, taxes, and mortgage information. If you have also secured additional loans using the property as collateral, note it down in this section.
• Improvements and Upgrades: List all property improvements and enhancements, including costs and names of contractors.
• Inventory List: This is an inventory list documenting major home systems and appliances such as HVAC, kitchen, and laundry machines. This also includes their purchase and warranty information.

How to Create a House Record Form

Creating your house record form means you are collecting all the important information about your property including home systems, improvements, deeds, building codes, etc. Here’s a breakdown of how to create a house record form:

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating the Form

• Gather and Organize house documents: Collect all necessary documents and records concerning your house e.g. deed that covers the purchase date and price, mortgage information (lender, interest rate, terms), property taxes and insurance details, Building codes, permits, and home inspection reports.
• Choose a Format: determine how you want to collect you want to collect and store your house information. Do you want to keep it securely in the cloud, or do you want a print a physical copy and store it as paper?
•  Design the Form: Create a layout for your form including headings or sections and the appropriate questions under each segment. You can also add open-ended questions for further notes and comments.
• Personalize the Form: Add colors or change your form theme to customize the look and feel of the form.
• Categorize and Group Information: Create a filing system for the house record form that helps you easily access the specific information you need from the record. A good way to do this is to categorize based on specific questions. This way you can easily just look through the responses to the specific questions to see changes over time.
• Update Regularly: Regularly review and modify your form to reflect any change in the property from financial information to improvements, legal documents, etc.

 Free House Record Form Template

The Formplus house record form has all the important questions for getting all the details about your property. This saves you time; you don’t have to create questions from scratch. All you need to do is edit or add new questions, and your house record form is ready.

How to Use the Template

• Go to the house record form template
• Click Use template
• Sign in or create your account
• Edit the form to fit your property record requirements.
• Customize the form by changing the color palette, and font.
• Preview the form to be sure it is responsive across different devices.

Publishing the Form

Depending on whether you are using the form yourself as a homeowner or property manager or if you’re an insurance company or real estate company that needs to value the property:

For property managers/homeowners:

After, creating and saving your form, you can update it by going to the form and filling it out to update the information from time to time. Here’s how:

• Go to your dashboard by clicking on the Formplus logo

• Click Forms and select the house record form

• Fill out the form and submit it. You can add images to document changes where necessary to make it easy to understand the specific modifications made.
• Track updates to the house by going through the responses over time.  You should also look through the form to see if there are any requests.

Transferring Ownership

If you’re selling your house or transferring it to a property manager, you can use the Formplus Form transfer feature to pass on the record administration to the new owner. Here’s how to do it:

• Go to settings and select form transfer
• Enter the email of the user you want to transfer the house record to and send the notification
• The person becomes the owner once they accept ownership

Insurance company or Real estate company

• Share the form with property owners via email or QR Code. You can also copy the form code and embed it on your website.
• Monitor and update the form submissions.

Conclusion

A house record form is a register of everything that has happened in and on your property from the purchase date till date. It enables you to easily update public records to ensure your property is rightly valued and stays compliant with relevant policies. 

Also, the easiest way to create your house record form is to use a pre-built template with the all key components you need, and a great example is the Formplus house record template. We hope this guide makes creating your house record form seamless. You can also check out other property form templates to make collecting and retrieving information about your property much easier.