Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I mean if I am a home buyer, or I am greiving my property taxes I need to see sales records.
The point? None, really. The reason - a strong real estate lobby dominated by developers, speculators, and others in the business for profit, who do not want the public to know what they paid. This applies mostly to commercial development; many commercial transactions especially in major markets do not go into the MLS system.
This weakens the appraisal process and negatively impacts commercial appraisers like me. Imagine only having access to maybe 10-15% of all sales transactions to use for comps when doing an appraisal. This was one of the main reasons for the real estate and lending industry collapse of the late 1980's through the mid 1990's. But lawmakers never learn by their mistakes.
Well, in Texas, as stated above, even the tax appraiser does not have access to that information unless you, the buyer, tell them. It's a privacy issue - and in that case, it can impact your pocketbook. (Yeah, we still believe in things like that here, go figure. We don't think that everyone and their dog needs to, or has the RIGHT to, know everything just because they'd like to.)
If you're working with an agent as a buyer or a seller, of course, you can find out what properties comparable to yours or to the property you're considering purchasing sold for - and that without paying for the information unless a deal actually consummates. So it's not like it's a huge burden.
Might want to try and let Wilco know about this pile of horse pucky. They use Redfin now.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.