Property Sales History

Am I mistaken or is it possible to find the sales history for a given property in the public records? For instance, if I wanted to know how much the current owner of a house paid for that house 3 years ago, where would I look?

Howdy Deacon96:

Back in the day you could look up deeds at the courthouse and count the stamps that were attached to it and that would tell you how much tax was paid on the sales price. Today at the courthouse about the only information you can get is the amount of the deed of trust and note recorded against the property.

Appraisers use the MLS for most of their comps when doing appraisals. Realtors too have access to this info but I am not sure how far back it goes. I do not believe 3 years would be available.

what state are you in?
http://www.reiclub.com/tax-appraisal-district.php

If you are in MD, that information for the current owner and the previous three owners is online at the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation website.

hi…my name is lisa…i’m fairly new but i think if your were looking for someone’s price of a house 3 years ago… then you would have to find out what percentage of the house goes up every year…look around your neighborhood for house like the one your lookin at…and see how much it went up in a year… say 5% then say the house was worth 229,000 then divide by .105 and you’d get 204955 so thats for one year…do the math 2 year? 3 year… hope that was some help to you…
oh and i’m 18 too…i wanna get started in real estate too…

You may also access your counties website info for the assessor’s file at http://www.naco.org and look under the county information section. What you want to look for is the assessor’s section to access the information you want about the sale’s history of that particular property. This info may or may not available to you online. It really depends on what file your county is offering. Working with your realtor is your next best option since they should have the knowledge of the prevailing market trend especially if they are veteran realtor in the area.
Good luck!

Contact your local Title Company and have them run a “Chain of Title” for you.

Best Regards,
Jeff Adam