Wake County RE Sale Data (sales, real estate, loan)

[BoSox 15]

I'm reviewing some comps my real estate agent sent me, which were used as the basis for my offer to purchase a house.

One house in particular, same model as mine, same Sq ft., etc., on the comp it shows sold for one amount but on Wake County's real estate records it shows about $30k less.

How do we know which one is correct? Does the county get it wrong sometimes, or what else would cause a variance like that?

Thanks.

[BC1960]

The county tax office sends a questionnaire to the buyer of of each property (or at least they do in my county) and ask questions about the sale in order to verify the price. It asks about things like whether personal property was included in the sale ...for example, in your example the house may have been sold furnished and the buyer told the county that the value of the furniture was $30,000, so the county deducted that from the sale price.

[MikeJaquish]

The tax stamps on the recorded deed tell the tale.
$2.00/$1000 or any portion of $1000.

A $400,000 sale will show 800 tax stamps.

[BoSox 15]

Thanks, this is new build so there is no personal property included.

I did the math on the tax stamps and it is correct for the Wake County listing.

So I guess wherever my RE Agent is pulling comps from has bad info. It sucks because (I assume) other consumers are making offers based on this.

[TarHeelNick]

Originally Posted by BoSox 15

Thanks, this is new build so there is no personal property included.

I did the math on the tax stamps and it is correct for the Wake County listing.

So I guess wherever my RE Agent is pulling comps from has bad info. It sucks because (I assume) other consumers are making offers based on this.

You agent SHOULD be pulling comps from MLS. I can't imagine where else they'd be pulling them from that would be 30k off except maybe Zillow.

If your agent was using Zillow for comps....yikes.

Tax Records for new construction can be off as well. They often don't show the "Sales price" for the property for a while after it has closed and obviously the tax value is going to be way off...usually just the land.

[BoSox 15]

Yes, my agent pulled the MLS comps from Paragon (seems to be in the web address).

This one caught my eye because it is the same model as the house I bought so that was why I was looking it up. I didn't validate all of the other comps.

[BoBromhal]

Originally Posted by BoSox 15

Thanks, this is new build so there is no personal property included.

I did the math on the tax stamps and it is correct for the Wake County listing.

So I guess wherever my RE Agent is pulling comps from has bad info. It sucks because (I assume) other consumers are making offers based on this.

you went to the Register of Deeds site and fund where the deed was recorded and stamps paid?

If the builder/their rep misrepresented the sales price by $30K too much, then you should ask your agent to check back on that Paragon info with the Builder and possibly the Buyer's agent of that other home. It IS possible something "off deed" happened I suppose (maybe they had a bunch of other improvements done that they excluded from loan application & R/E Offer to Purchase)

[BoSox 15]

I did the math on the Wake County property tax site, where the tax stamps are indicated.

I went to the register of deeds site and found the "Deed of Trust". Under subsection (F), there is listed the promissory note which is identical to the "Sale" amount on the property tax site. So either the new owners financed 100% of the house (unlikely) or the Wake County site is incorrect.

I will circle back to my agent - It doesn't affect my closing, it's a curiosity more than anything.

Since you're in the business, though, where does Paragon (or whatever comp software you use) get its data from? If the county data is incorrect, it must come from somewhere else.

[MikeJaquish]

Originally Posted by BoSox 15

I did the math on the Wake County property tax site, where the tax stamps are indicated.

I went to the register of deeds site and found the "Deed of Trust". Under subsection (F), there is listed the promissory note which is identical to the "Sale" amount on the property tax site. So either the new owners financed 100% of the house (unlikely) or the Wake County site is incorrect.

I will circle back to my agent - It doesn't affect my closing, it's a curiosity more than anything.

Since you're in the business, though, where does Paragon (or whatever comp software you use) get its data from? If the county data is incorrect, it must come from somewhere else.

Paragon is software that the Triangle MLS runs on.
Listing agents enter sales prices into their listings after closing.
It is possible to make an error.

[BoBromhal]

Originally Posted by BoSox 15

I did the math on the Wake County property tax site, where the tax stamps are indicated.

I went to the register of deeds site and found the "Deed of Trust". Under subsection (F), there is listed the promissory note which is identical to the "Sale" amount on the property tax site. So either the new owners financed 100% of the house (unlikely) or the Wake County site is incorrect.

I will circle back to my agent - It doesn't affect my closing, it's a curiosity more than anything.

Since you're in the business, though, where does Paragon (or whatever comp software you use) get its data from? If the county data is incorrect, it must come from somewhere else.

if you go to the ROD site, you should find the Deed from the builder to the current owner. That deed should state the excise stamps, which you can then do the math.

The tax office makes typos. Realtors make typos. Your agent should be able to figure out if it was a typo or not.

We only get taxes paid, tax value, property ID info from the Revenue page. The listing agent is responsible for accuracy of the info. The listing agent enters the sale price.

Why, just this week someone late at night changed something to closed, and by adding an extra zero significantly increased the sale price. It was corrected the next day.