By Jeff Adolph Residential Real Estate In America, 45 states out of 50 have to disclose selling prices for real estate. In fact, all states with this ruling have to register home sales with the local courthouse so that they are officially recorded. However, this is not the case for Kansas, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. And this, says real estate professionals and economists, makes tracking the real estate market difficult. "It started pretty much in the high end [of the market], and it's spreading out and getting worse," Towers said. "It's misleading, and most people are unaware of this happening." Evidently agents in these states list sales information with the Multiple Listing Service, or MLS, but this service is voluntary and unregulated, so it is hard to gage its accuracy. Buyers and sellers who do not wish to disclose prices often have a 'Z' marking on property's, which then prevents others from knowing what a home actually sold for. The 'Z' price refers to the original listing price and offers no other information. As Towers adds, "They [agents] say that the sellers and buyers don't want this information public, but they shouldn't be manipulating the market." Article Source: Brown, Steve (2009) More Dallas Home Sales Prices Kept Secret; available online at www.dallasnews.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- *RealQuestions RealAnswers* Click on Comments below and share your thoughts and opinions, ask a real estate question or offer story suggestions... ----------------------------------------------------------------- © 2006+ Jeff Adolph GayRealEstate USA Proudly Sponsored By:
Real estate agents and appraisers, along with home buyers and sellers, often rely on the selling prices of homes to assess the worth of property, but not all states in America have to disclose selling prices, and this is making it hard to track the real estate market's progress because only a partial picture is being seen.
Dallas appraiser, Jack Towers believes that this may be misleading.



















































































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