Data on Sales History of SLC Homes? (Salt Lake City, Price: for sale, real estate)

[sam h]

Hi,

We're moving to SLC in a few months and planning to buy a home (focused on areas near the University such as Avenues/9th and 9th/Sugar House/etc). I'm trying to get a better handle on the housing market and looking for a source of information regarding previous housing sales data for specific properties or addresses. I can easily find asking prices, estimates from Zillow or Trulia, and assessment values (all of which I know how to get). But what I really want is hard data on past sales history for a given property. A lot of towns and counties have web sites where you can look this information up but I can't find anything comparable for Salt Lake City or Salt Lake County. Does anybody have any suggestions about resources? Thanks in advance!

Sam

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Other than a good RE agent, no.

[CCSLC]

Utah is a nondisclose state when it comes to real estate; prices are private and are NOT public record (one of 13 states, I think, that are nondisclose), so you will not find past sales prices anywhere here---it's illegal to share.

[Rakin]

Sam - Like TX, they respect the right to privacy in Utah (thank goodness).

A RE agent can pull numbers and history for you from anything listed in their MLS system but we only do that for our "Clients" not Customers.

[sam h]

Thanks so much forthese replies! I was clearly missing a major piece of the puzzle with respect to the non-disclosure law. Coming from the East Coast, I hadn't even given this much thought but I can see why it will make the home-buying process significantly different. For one, I imagine that this will increase my reliance on my agent! This also helps explain why the price/value estimates provided by sites like Zillow are so terrible in SLC.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Also, no attorneys are involved to the extent they are on the East Coast. The contracts are standard form, there is something else in MA or some place that I had never heard of (Purchase agreement?),The title company handles the closing. Of course you can get an attorney to review the contract but I don't know of anyone who does. Having lived all my life in states that don't use attorney review, I only learned of this practice when I began reading C-D's Real Estate forum. Unlike the southern states I lived in, here you have to wait 3 business days before you get the keys. I always got keys at closing before moving here.

[Chango]

Originally Posted by sam h

Hi,

We're moving to SLC in a few months and planning to buy a home (focused on areas near the University such as Avenues/9th and 9th/Sugar House/etc). I'm trying to get a better handle on the housing market and looking for a source of information regarding previous housing sales data for specific properties or addresses. I can easily find asking prices, estimates from Zillow or Trulia, and assessment values (all of which I know how to get). But what I really want is hard data on past sales history for a given property. A lot of towns and counties have web sites where you can look this information up but I can't find anything comparable for Salt Lake City or Salt Lake County. Does anybody have any suggestions about resources? Thanks in advance!

Sam

This is about as much as you are gonna get...unless you are a realtor:

Assessor, Salt Lake County

[SLCPUNK]

Originally Posted by sam h

This also helps explain why the price/value estimates provided by sites like Zillow are so terrible in SLC.

I think Zillow is terrible in general to be honest. I would not look to that for accurate data. Good luck with your move though, we are placing our home for sale here in June to head back out.

[tivogirl]

The Salt Lake Tribune keeps a quarterly database of home prices by zip code. This may help you as far as trending up or down and price ranges by area go: The Salt Lake Tribune - Wasatch Front Home Prices

[RockRat]

I feel for you, sam h, since I also came from an area of the country where easy access to public records made it fairly simple for me to decide on how much I thought a home was worth and make an offer. Here in Utah, you will find yourself doing much more "legwork" than back East, unless you want to trust someone who works for the seller. My experiences, so far, have been frustrating and time consuming as I continue to look for a home, but the bright side of the picture is that I haven't bought a property only to see it's value go down. Good luck in your search!