How Do I Find Out Purchase Price
Is there a way to find out how much someone paid for a property in the past ? I already checked the deed but its not on there.
Thanks in advance.
Sorry if this is the wrong forum.[ Edited by JohnMerchant on Date 12/10/2004 ]
You can always go to the County Court house and get those records from the County Recorders offices. Some counties have this information on-line.
A deed doesn't normally bear ANY mention of price paid, and a look at it won't reveal the cost that the grantee paid for it.
In some states there's a tax certificate that must be filed that might reveal the purchase price, as the amount of tax owed and paid is based on the consideration...and a call to the local tax assessor or most any title co. would give you the answer to whether your state has such a tax.
Purchase price information is generally public record. For example, the following website is a search engine to get records in southern Arizona:
http://www.asr.co.pima.az.us/apiq/index.cfm
Also try this for recent sales:
http://realestate.yahoo.com/realestate/homevalues
I find both sites helpful.
Whether the purchase price and related disclosure information is public record is state to state...for example, in Iowa, its public, but just south of us in Missouri, its private information...call your county assessor or tax office and ask them if the information is public. If it is, the assessor/tax appraiser should have the info and you can go from there.
On the county/city website, they have tax information. This shows the recent sales of the house and the purchase prices. This is how I do it. Of if you know someone that has access to the MLS, that would work to (usually realtors).
In PA, you CAN look at the deed and determine the sale price paid. If the transaction was subject to transfer tax, there will be tax stamps affixed to the deed or some notation on the deed as to the amount of the transfer tax. For instance, where the buyer is paying transfer tax of 1% of the purchase price of $500K, there would be a notation or tax stamps totalling $5,000.
Landm:
If the property had a Mortgage you can find the purchase price in the Mortgage Book at the County Clerks Office.
Frank
In my state the mortgage only has the loan amount and not the actual purchase price...
tbouman - does that yahoo site actually work? I tried a dozen addresses and they all came back with nothing, even ones that have sold recently
ray - it should pull up list of comps sold near the address you typed in - that's what it is designed for. I've never had a problem with it. I guess if it doesn't work, then that info isn't public where you are? If you do get the list of comps, then try typing in one of those comps and see if it pulls up the address you wanted in the first place.