Recently,
There has been state legislation introduced to make real estate home sales prices public. This is a hotly debated topic among real estate professionals, tax payers and home owners.
There are pros and cons to both sides and it does not matter which side of the debate you are on. But I believe the more information you have on the subject the better you will be able to come to a conclusion.
Real Estate Sales Price Details
There are less than 10 states that still keep real estate sales prices private, Texas is one of them. Texas also has some of the highest property tax rates in the country. This is for a wide variety of reasons, the biggest of which is because Texas, as I’m sure you know does not have a state income tax.
Pro’s
As of now, tax districts place a “assessed property value” on homes, this is the value they are taxed on. The assessed value of any property is public and can be found on your county’s appraisal district website (links at the bottom).
Some argue that the assessed value is often an inaccurate representation of the homes actual value due to the fact the tax districts don’t have access to the real estate sales price. If the information was made public, proponents argue that it would create a more uniform instrument for sales assessors to use on their property valuations.
Now assessors essentially make a “educated guess” on what they believe the value is. Would more transparency make them more accurate? Or would it increase the likely hood that your taxes go up when your neighbor sells their home? If their home is fully updated (more so than other homes in the neighborhood) and it sells for higher than the average sales price for the neighborhood. Your taxes would likely go up, even if your home wasn’t updated.
The fact that 40 other states already have real estate sales prices public makes me wonder if maybe those states are on to something and Texas needs to get on board.
Con’s
Every coin has two sides.
It seems to me that real estate professionals are the ones putting up the biggest fight against making real estate sales prices available to the public.
At this time, real estate professionals and title companies are the only ones with access to that information. Having a monopoly on data provides a strategic advantage to being outside of the loop. Look at data giants like google and facebook they are able to charge advertisers large fees based on the sheer volume and accuracy of the data they have on all of us.
Real estate agents argue that tax assessors would still be in accurate. Due to the following example.
If someone buys a home for $150,000, but the home needs $50,000 of work before they can move in? Will they be taxed on $150,000 or $200,000. What if they were fixing it to flip and it sells for $220,000? All the while, you live next door and get a higher tax bill for it?
Real estate agents feel targeted
Lately real estate professionals have felt targeted. Websites like Trulia and Zillow now provide tons of information to the public that used to be private, unless you were a realtor. Ask any realtor especially one who works for a big firm and they will tell you Trulia and Zillow are the devil. They are scared if more information gets released to the public it will make then less valuable.
Which is probably true, most realtors aren’t very valuable anyways. And big companies have a hard time pivoting when things change and things always change eventually. They are scared they will be behind the bell curve.
My opinion on Real estate sales prices being public…
Personally I have no issue with Zillow or Trulia. Nor do I have any issue with real estate sales prices being public. As the owner of a real estate brokerage my mission is to provide clients with top level service and a pleasant experience from start to finish. I have no issue with the transparency, I think it could help assessors make more accurate evaluations.
At the end of the day
Im not in the business of hoarding sales price data and I’m not on the Texas State Legislator. I am a real estate professional. One who provides real value and ensures your real estate goals are accomplished!
Which ever way the bill goes you can rest assured that I will go the extra mile to help anyway I can…
For instance…
Curious about what a home sold for in your neighborhood? Give me a call! Ill be more than happy to share any and all information I have with you! – Kenny Hunt (281) 352-9972
