Where can I find data for real estate transaction in Austin? (sale, 2014)

[balor123]

For Zestimate yes but I'd be looking at sales data

[centralaustinite]

I haven't looked extensively but every time I have checked sales data on Zillow, it has been incomplete.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

I haven't looked extensively but every time I have checked sales data on Zillow, it has been incomplete.

And inaccurate. Houses listed for sale that sold months ago, as one example.

List prices listed as sold prices when they are anything but. I've seen them $50,000 off both ways in a $300,000 neighborhood.

What's your goal, OP, in gathering this information on thousands of houses? If we know that, we might be able to be more helpful. But it's not going to get you the sold prices, because, again, that is PRIVATE information and Texas is a non-disclosure state. If we don't have to tell the tax man, why on earth should we tell a stranger on the internet what we paid for our house?

[PittsburghAustin]

Homesnap has all the info you want except the buyer's name. You must sign in, but no one has ever spammed me with anything. Redfin is good for getting listings as they occur during the day. Homesnap sends you an email every morning.

[balor123]

I'm trying to build big data tools around real estate, to ultimately market to buyers or Realtors. It'd also be useful to get city building permit data. Right now that's limited to a form on a search page as far as I can tell. There's no dump and it's not yet on open Austin. Any advice you can offer here?

[RoadWarrior12]

Originally Posted by balor123

I'm trying to build big data tools around real estate, to ultimately market to buyers or Realtors. It'd also be useful to get city building permit data. Right now that's limited to a form on a search page as far as I can tell. There's no dump and it's not yet on open Austin. Any advice you can offer here?

My advice?

Build your tool based on another market - one outside Texas. Once the realtor lobby is broken on the non-disclosure scam, it'll work here.

[balor123]

Good advice. Which markets do you think would be most suitable?

[RoadWarrior12]

Originally Posted by balor123

Good advice. Which markets do you think would be most suitable?

CA, AZ, NV, WA and OR.

Sell the idea to the rest of the scum.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by RoadWarrior12

My advice?

Build your tool based on another market - one outside Texas. Once the realtor lobby is broken on the non-disclosure scam, it'll work here.

For the record, I loved the non-disclosure policy long before I even considered becoming an agent. As I said, here in Texas most of us value our privacy, and we don't think that any Joe Blow has a God-given right to our private information just because they want it or even if they think it would benefit them in some way.

It's not a scam, though I can see how someone who has the opposite attitude, that they have a God-given right to any information they want, might want to characterize it that way.

Hey, why don't you just publish your bank statements and medical records on the internet? I think I want to see them, and that it's MY God-given right to see them because, well, I want to!

[balor123]

Let's remember this isn't a thread to debate whether the data should be available. That's a question for others to decide. The topic under discussion regards whether the data is available and if so where it can be accessed. Thanks!

So far it seems that a subset of the data is available through a Zillow API. Redfin also publishes similar information. Zillow is apparently not a broker and they use syndicated data, which might explain the discrepancy. Homesnap was a good suggestion. I just took a look and it doesn't appear to go back very far. That's ok but again no API, though it's a useful website to keep in mind. What else can we come up with? Just a thought but where does Zillow get their information?