The good thing about the MLS used to be that it kept peoples privacy between neighbors and the information was shared as pertinent to a transaction only. I can’t get over the feeling that if I provide you that information that I am giving away secrets that I shouldn’t. I see people come on here and give the whole life story or down payments, loans,sales, bank activity ect. on a specific property,while the person going through it might still live there or be a known entity. I know there are others sources of that information but I still feel it is incorrect to spell it out publically. I just wonder how we would feel to find that agents were doing that about us on piggington’s.

Waiting:
In your case I will say this. It looks like a regular MLS sale your 540k appears correct and the Builder sold it in Dec.2005 for 645k.

Other Realtors: I am not bashing you guys so feel free to tell me I am too old school or something like that. Just doesn’t feel right to me to be potentially exposing a person to their neigbors or co-workers or others using our advantage to find and analyze information?

Cheers to you Rustico!

The web has created a wealth of opportunity and opened up new channels all over the place. On the downside, it has created a lack of privacy that is astounding.

I personally have had people find me/my address, get my phone number, investigate how my home title was held, etc. and at times it feels like I have no privacy. Outside of using a different name for transactions/phone numbers, etc. I feel there is nothing I can do.

I’m sure others will respect your stance.

waiting, you can use redfin, they seem to have more historical info than zillow because I think they draw info from zillow and merge with other sources. If the property is not for sale right now you have to punch in the address rather than find it on a map like you can with listings. Redfin won’t tell you if it was a repo sale. Here’s the prop you looked for:

http://www.redfin.com/stingray/do/printable-property?external_id=6791339

As you can see there isn’t much in the way of historical info because it is a new property and redfin doesn’t have the tax info which is rare, usually they do even on new properties but if there was a sale during a given year it will goof up the taxes.

Rustico, all of the info anyone needs is public record, San Diego will probably digitize it’s public records soon if it hasn’t already. Riverside County has and you can run anyone’s name and see the public records from the comfort of your home, including nods, nots, refi’s, helocs, liens, etc. You can’t see the actual doccument or amount of the loan unless you pay a small fee per doccument($1-$3 usually) because the county contracted the digitizing out to a private company and that is how they pay for their work. At some point all of the counties will digitize it and you will no longer have to go to a county facility to look up the public records. But that is what they are, public records, they belong to the public and are available to the public. Zillow and others merely organize some basic info that they cull from public records, but more specific info is available. If you are worried about betraying someone’s privacy direct them to the public records, 1600 Pacific Coast Highway, the County Admistration building, where they can look at it all, as is their right as a taxpayer and their duty if they are a buyer.

I think that it depends on the terms of use of the service. If the MLS allows diclosure to potential clients, then all of us here are potential customers, aren’t we?

I don’t see anything wrong with disclosing information because all of it is public anyway. Technology now makes it easy. But otherwise, you can always go to the County Recorder’s office to dig around. In that respect, I think that technology is democratizing. In the past, only people “in the business” with subscription access to databases had access to the data — they had a competitive advantage.

The data is used for analysis and not to spy on neighbors. Like I say, if one really wanted the info, a trip to the County Recorder’s office will reveal it.

If people value their privacy, they should take steps to cover their transactions.

waitingtobuy, if you’re really serious to buy, you should subscribe to a service like realtytrac.com. The subscription fees are well worth it if you really want to buy. Or work with a Realtor (discount or full-fee) and he’ll give you all the info you want.

Personally, I think that it’s useful to have data independent from your sales agent because you’ll know it if he tries to lead you astray to a listing that he’s pushing.

waiting – the home was not a foreclosure. It was bought back in 12/29/05 for 645k from the developer and then sold again. It closed in 4/7/07 for 540k. The original buyer put down about 300k in cash.

Rustico, this information I just provided is public record so I do not feel there is any problem with providing it anyone who asks.

SD Realtor

How does an agent or broker on this blog know that these anonymous posters are potential clients or snoops? yes I agree that the information is available publically and that is nothing new. It is obviously a lot easier to get at and sift through than it has been. I agree that all should have access to it and go after it if they want to. I am questioning if it is appropriate for me, when I generally have advantages accessing and interpreting this sensitive information, spelling it our publically.Also, how would piggingtonians feel if it were them being exposed?
My experience is that people are touchy about this stuff so I try to respect that, It is not about hiding pertinent information.

Agents are supposed to disclose any interest in a property. Another way to be sure is ask the agent to diclose it in writing: Ask for:

Any Relationship with owner or participating agents.Ask if they have done work with the listing or selling agent and how often. Ask if the commission being offered is unusually high.

BTW more and more people are coming to me and saying “I want to see this, this and this house” So it kind of takes the possiblity of hidden agenda on my part out of it.(Yes commissions should be lower if sellers and buyers are connecting on their own or rebates should be higher if a buyer is identifying and driving by all properties they want to investigate.)It is great that everyone can find the physical details and photos and maps of all the houses they might be interested in on the Net. This is what should cause changes in the RE sales industry more than easy access to public records.
I think we have been sharing the information here to satisfy our curiousity about price declines. That seems O.K.
to me. It just takes price history to do that.

Anyway I wonder if the Realtors here think there is an ethical fine line? Or is this just my own standard? Of course non-Realtors like Temecula guy can do what ever they want to do.

“How does an agent or broker on this blog know that these anonymous posters are potential clients or snoops?”

I don’t know.

“Also, how would piggingtonians feel if it were them being exposed?”

Personally I am okay with anyone looking up properties I have owned and what I paid for them and what the mortgage recordings are.

“Anyway I wonder if the Realtors here think there is an ethical fine line? Or is this just my own standard?”

We all have our own standards. Personally I have no problem regurgitating what is on public record.

SD Realtor