I do not see it being relevant to a sale--Personally I do not think it is any of his business.

It might be relevant if he is trying to low-ball them to see how low he can go, but to me that would mean knowing what their mortgage amount is and not how much they purchased it for.

The only way I see it being relevant is that it lets him know if the seller has any room to negotiate. It, however irks me beyond belief when some buyers try to play "profit police" and think they have a right to undercut the sales price because the seller shouldn't be making that much profit.

What the seller paid for his home back in 1999 has no bearing on what it's worth today. More important are the current comps on the home, that's a better indicator of fair market value.

The reason I suspect most people do this is to think to themselves, "well, they only paid xx dollars for it, so I am going to give a low price because they are making a ton" This reasoning is faulty for so many reasons, first of which is the fact that you never know how much they have put into it, or what the circumstances of the sale might have been.
Jo

Zillow is pretty good with sales in NJ except my dad's old house; it's still showing a $1 sale to the trust but not the actual sale after it was put in a trust.

I found it useful for 1 house I looked at that was a possible if I couldn't find anything else. The seller was already $20,000 under what he paid for it so he couldn't afford to be low balled and needed his price.

To me, most houses look like flips because they all have the same home depot kitchen.

The information your friend is seeking might be available from the assessor's office. It is here and in many other places.

It's available at the assessors office here, and is even published in the paper when the deed is registered. Like everyone else said, it doesn't have a lot of relevance except determining if a home has a history of being lived in and renovated, or flipped for a quick profit. I fully expect a potential buyer to approach me when the time comes with the information they got concerning what I paid. I find it very handy information however to determine pricing trends, especially on new builds, or whole sections of town, to see if they're appreciating or stagnating. I don't think it's especially useful in determining what any particular house is worth, however.

Prior sales information is a matter of public record, and can be found at the local registry of deeds or sometimes through the municipal assessor's office. Mortgage info can also be found at the registry of deeds (at least around here).

All information about a house that one is seeking to purchase (or sell) is relevant. What someone does with that info is up to the user, whether we think such use is spurious or not. Ultimately, it is the buyer and the seller that need to make the agreement.

In a negotiation of any type it is to your advantage to know everything you can about the other party and what they are selling. What the house cost, what their mortgage is, whether they have or have ever had a tax lien - all relevent and all public information. Why they are selling can also be valuable information. If you forget for a minute that it is a house, just think of it as an investment you are purchasing. You want to pay as little as possible. And they want you to pay as much as possible.

Where I am the assessor's database and the registry of deeds are all online. If you look up me (by name) or my property (by address or book and page) you will learn what I paid for the land (we built the house) and what the person I purchased it from paid when he purchased it from the developer, what the original mortgage amount was for (and that it has not been retired) and when, if there are any home equity loans, what the assessor's value is, a rough floor plan with dimensions, a photo of the front, the square footage (which is wrong), the amount of land, a plot plan, the property taxes, the fact there are no liens or easements with the exception of normal utility easement, and more. Zillow doesn't work in my state, this is all from public documents that are available for free online. For all I know my neighbors know all this.

Sometimes you won't learn anything that will help you. But sometimes you will.

In the two states I live in - Maryland and Florida - that information is readily available online just by doing a property or name search on the county assessor's website (or whoever is responsbile for collecting property taxes in the city/county in question.) It is also available in Ohio because I did a nosy search wondering what some friends paid for a house a year or so ago.....

OK, this is helping me a lot. Thanks all.

In some states (i.e. Texas) that information is only available through a REALTOR, if it was sold that way, due to the privacy laws in that state, and the property records are not available to the public.
Most of the time, the only way to find out the exact mortgage balance on a property is to request the pay-off from the lender.
With so many seconds and re-fies, the public records on-line don't show the true picture.
A trip to the assessors office is a waste of time, because updates and changes to the property will not be found there and assessed value is the least accurate in determining the value. Researching building permits might be an indication, but again no guaranty of added value.
Using the appraisal method or a CMA will most likely give a buyer the best indication of value and a place to start in making an offer.

I can think of one scenario in which it is at least somewhat relevant. Say there is a house with a current market value of $200,000 and all parties are in agreement that is a fair price - comps support $200K. If the general area has been going up at, say, 10% over the last 4 years, we could expect that the house was worth $180,000 four years ago. But if he were to learn that this house changed hands for $195,000 four years ago, that would be a red flag - why is this house appreciating more slowly than others in that area? And will that slow rate of appreciation continue in the future? If it does, is this house really a wise purchase?

He would have to have a lot of information to put the $195K figure in context - perhaps it included furniture or who knows what - if he receives only partial information (by which I mean the date and price) and doesn't learn the exact circumstances, the information may actually do more harm than good in making an informed decision.

Still, I'm of the philosophy that informed decisions are better than uninformed ones, and information is power. Nothing wrong with the guy trying to dig a bit on the house history. The real question is whether he can dig enough to get ALL the information needed to understand what has really happened.

WHY is Texas so secretive? How can you appeal your taxes if you can't get comps on which to base an appeal?

In both towns I've lived in this info is publicly available through the tax assessor's web page.

I don't think it's necessarily relevant to how much the house is worth today, but some people like to know this figure, especially if the owners haven't lived there very long, in order to determine how low a price the owners might accept. (in other words, trying to guestimate their remaining mortgage knowing that the seller probably needs to get at least that much out of the house).

Chisue, it is not just Texas. It is also, Alaska, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas (sort of), Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. These are non-disclosure state. The sales are considered private and confidential. A Realtor will have selling information if the house sold using a real estate agent. If the house sold FSBO without using an agent, the information is basically unavailable unless the seller discloses the information.

Here is a list of non-disclosure states.

Here is a link that might be useful: What are non-disclosure states?

"WHY is Texas so secretive?"

Actually, Texas is kind of schizophrenic about it. Selling prices are kept confidential, but the tax assessor's valuation is public information. At this link, for instance, you can see the assessed value of every home in my county:

Here is a link that might be useful: Denton County Central Appraisal

I don't think the recorded sales price is always relevant or accurate. On our primary residence the "sale" value recorded is the amount we paid for the land only years ago. Thus the recorded sales price is 7% of the current market value of the land and house today. Since we built without a mortgage or loan and did not have a closing, I assume this is the reason the sales price is not accurate.

C

mfbenson -- Thanks! I couldn't imagine how assessments could be "private". So...one could figure out the ratio of assessed value to market price and...come up with a ballpark price.

Caroline, good piece of information! It wasn't something I'd thought about but should know after my dad bought his. His info is not accurate because he also paid cash.