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Like the title says, does anyone know where Trulia gets their sold prices from in a state where home sale prices are undisclosed publicly? Are they actual prices or guesswork?
Texas is a nondisclosure state. If the buyer tells the tax appraiser what they paid (which they're not required to do, and are adviced not to do unless the tax appraiser has the tax appraisal too high), it'll be on the tax records. The loan might be on the tax records, and in that case, Trulia, Zillow, and such can "guess" based on that. I've actually seen list price used as the value by Zillow.
Basically, there's a reason that these sites are so far off in nondisclosure states.
Thanks for the reply. I am in TX. In FL, you could get anything you ever wanted to know about a home in about 5 seconds online, so not being able to find out anything here was annoying at first Naturally, I was a bit surprised when I came across Trulia and it had sold prices listed, but wasn't sure where they were getting them since no one else lists them.
I understand Zillow is working on this. At least they're paying for the information just like the real estate professionals have to do.
The trick is what use they make of it - in a nondisclosure state, there are restrictions on what information that WE can disclose to the general public via publishing, including the sales price.
I don't trust Trulia's sold prices at all. I looked at houses sold in my neighborhood this morning. A house I know sold in the $500-600K range was listed as sold for under $200K. I have no idea where this number came from.
Is the house you're talking about in CT like your status says? If so, you should be able to look up the exact price at the county website since CT isn't non-disclosure. I'm not really trusting it for TX.
I'm trying to figure out exactly who the non-disclosure laws are supposed to benefit. Only a fraction of the states have them and some have gotten rid of it recently/are thinking about getting rid of it. As far as I can tell, they do nothing other than guarantee you have to pay someone to find out any recent values
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.
I realize it's not a big burden and that realtors do CMAs as a matter of course for clients, but we don't plan to involve a realtor until we are 100% ready to actively look and place offers. We're certainly not going to contract with an agent since we just want a ballpark idea right now.
Anyone can still find names, addresses, etc. Personally identifiable info seems a lot more sensitive to me than a price, but if showing everything else and hiding the sales price is Texas' idea of "privacy", that's laughable.
You answered my original question and I appreciate that. I've managed to side-track about the law itself and I'll probably never be convinced there is any legitimate public good for sales price non-disclosure, so I'll just leave it at that and thank you for your responses
In non-disclosure states the MLS sells that information to the state. When you sign a listing agreement or a buyers' agency agreeemt, you are tricked into waiving the right to keep your sales and purchase data private even though it is a right granted by the state legislature. The MLS doesn't want you to realize what is going on and the agents are too stupid or uncaring to realize what is going on. The MLS is then free to sell this information to the state or the county where the records are kept. Most states make it a disclosure requirement to inform buyers and sellers when and where collateral income is being made off of the sales transaction. But the MLS has tricked the public and most agents are not smart enough to know the difference. The local and state realty boards are all in it together as they all have cross agreement protecting their turfs and imposing their will on the agents themselves.
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Naturally, I was a bit surprised when I came across Trulia and it had sold prices listed, but wasn't sure where they were getting them since no one else lists them.
