Belt Auction

Can I block the purchase price of a personal (home) real estate transaction from public record?

Is there a way to prohibit the purchase price of a home we are buying from showing up on the internet (i.e. Zillow, City/Town Assessor's website, Registry of Deeds website, etc.)?

Public Comments

1. why? public release of such information helps establish comparables and helps your community when it receives tax funds from the feds - you can usually take steps to avoid showing your name there, but not the valuation
2. NOPE Public record It's recorded
3. in the US, tax rolls are a public record. And, therefore, so are sales prices.
4. No you cannot. Public information is public information.
5. Only if you pay cash and don't record the deed. But then you'll lose the property if someone else records the deed and challenges your claim to the property.
6. real Estate transactions are public records. Public means exactly that, anyone can look at it.
7. The purchase price of a home or any real estate is determined by what amount was paid in the form of transfer tax fees/stamps that are affixed/recorded on the front of the deed when it is recorded. There is a form, at least here in California, called 'not for public record' form that has the county clerk put the transfer tax fees/stamps on the back of the deed. This has to be done at the time of the recording, it can not be done retroactively This keeps the sales price from showing up in standard title records you can get almost anywhere, like the examples you gave. Now this doesn't prevent someone from requesting a copy of the deed and looking on the back to figure the sale price but it makes it harder to find out. It also doesn't block what the tax assessor is charging you for the year and a person can figure out an approx. sale price based on what you pay in property taxes; depending on how long ago you bought the property and or if you had it re assessed.