Guys,
I’m guessing that it works differently in every state. Sometimes I look up the tax records of properties and there is no last-sold purchase price listed.
Is there a way to avoid recording the purchase price of a property?
I’m asking because I’m about to buy a property that last sold for about $400k, I’m buying it for about $225k and I plan to resell in a few years. I don’t want the $225k price tag showing up in the records if I can avoid it.
Any solutions?
I don’t know NJ, but I don’t see why it matters. I have had people ask me to accept less on sale because there was quite a bit of equity. Market value is what it is regardless of what I paid. If the buyers don’t like my price, they can look elsewhere. The ones asking for a discount aren’t going to pay more because prices dropped and I have less equity.
Depends on NJ law and you can quickly find what NJ requires when a deed is recorded.
Some states do require simo filing of a tax statement that would reflect the actual purchase price and I’d guess that in most states it is public knowledge.
This is how local MLS and Zillow, etc. get their knowledge of sales and as I recall, with possible one or two state exceptions, it’s universally true that sales price does appear at recording.
I’ve seen numerous recent deeds in NJ that state a purchase price of “$10 plus other good consideration”. However, I believe these deals were private investor deals where settlement did not use a title company or mortgage.
jmd_forest
You can get the answer in NJ or anywhere else with a quick phone call to the recorder to see what’s required in NJ, etc. to be stated when recording as per cost, sales price, etc.
I was going to move on and not answer to this thread… But then I decided to share my thoughts… for all its worth… :O)
We all want accurate information when we are buying real estate. But at the same time we don’t want to provide the information when it is not in our benefit. Seems like a double standard. I am glad we have the Internet. I am glad we can go online and find information about properties and how much they were sold for few years or days ago. We can find the owners names. etc… etc… Why should I have access to all this information if when it is time for my transactions to be recorded, I try to find ways to avoid it?
NJbird_dog - I hope you don’t feel I am picking on you. This is only something that came to my mind when I read the thread… Have a great evening!
As a matter of interest, years ago, as in the '50’s (& maybe early '60’s) there was a Federal Transfer Stamp that was required to be pasted on all deeds…and it got to be a general practice by escrow attorneys to buy the stamp(s) to put on the deeds, but then to first record the deed WITHOUT the stamps so as to conceal the purchase price.
Then, when the deed had been recorded with “$10 and other good and valid consideration”, then affix the tax stamps onto the deed so as to be in compliance with Fed law.
When I buy Sub2 and “get the deed,” the sale price doesn’t show–just a no/low consideration transfer–but it doesn’t sound like that applies. A savvy future buyer could use it to bargain with you, but he/she would just lose out to someone who’s willing to pay market price. In these times, all kinds of crazy buys are going on. Tell anyone who questions you “it needed a lot of work/updates, look at how nice I made it,” or some other excuse. I’ve had assessors call me about short sales and ask why I bought so low, I just said “distress sale.” On the bright side, if you short other houses in the area, you could use it as a comp to show how low values are going.