What Did My Neighbor's House Sell For?
How Can I Find Out What My Neighbor’s House Sold For?
There are many possible reasons why you may be asking yourself the question: what did my neighbor’s house sell for? Maybe you have lived in your house for a long time and are wondering how much your own house is worth. It is also possible that you are considering moving soon and want to know how much you would be able to sell your own house for. You even could just be fascinated by what the local real estate market is doing. No matter what your motivation is, this information may be more readily available than you think.
Thanks to the Internet, you can use websites such as Zillow to see how much a house has sold for. Using this website, you can click on your state and see what the estimated sales price was of any property as well as what the property actually sold for. It does take a little time for prices to show up on this site however. Just because you see a sold sign on your neighbor’s lawn doesn’t mean that you can jump on Zillow and find your answer immediately. It may be a few weeks before that exact number is available to you.
You can also speak with a local real estate agent to find out the average price of home sales in your development or neighborhood. This will not provide the exact number that websites like Zillow will provide, but you can still get a very clear average sale price this way.
The third and most simple way to answer the question “what did my neighbor’s house sell for?” is to ask your neighbor directly. Some people are very private about their finances and may not want to share this information with you, but other people may be happy to tell you, especially if they know they that you are considering moving and are not just asking to snoop. Use your own judgment on doing this based on your personal relationship with your neighbor.
Other Ways to Find Out What Your Neighbor’s House Sold For
If you are uncomfortable using the Internet or asking your neighbor about the sale price of their home, there are a few more traditional ways that you can obtain this information. One way is to utilize your county’s recording office after the sale and look up the deed. When a deed is recorded, it is considered public information so there is no reason to worry that you are doing something wrong by looking at this information. Using the tax stamp on the deed of the property, you can figure out how much the house was sold for.
Small, local newspapers can be another good resource. Most small papers have a real estate section. Some papers will gives lists of actual homes sold on specific streets and what they sold for. Other papers may be less specific, but be able to give you the average home sale price in your area so you can see if prices are rising or falling.
Other Factors that Determine Home Sale Prices
If your neighbor just sold their home for significantly more or significantly money than you think you can get for your home, a few factors may have come into play. Your neighbor may have had to move quickly for a family emergency or job offer and were willing to take less money than what their house was worth resulting in a lower than average sale price. On an opposite note, the person who purchased your neighbor’s home may have needed to find a home quickly for their own reasons and were willing to pay more than market price to get the house in a short time period. You also have to take into consideration that you have probably not been inside the homes of all of your neighbors. Even if you live in a development where all the homes were originally constructed in the same manner, your neighbor could have made significant kitchen or bathroom upgrades over the years that added to the house value. The overall real estate market will also effect home sale prices. In a really booming marketing, buyers may get into a bidding war over a particular house and that home may sell for $20,000 more than a similar home in the neighborhood. In a bad economy, a house may sit on the market for six months to a year and the seller will be tempted to eventually lower the sales price to move their home.
Resources
Sources
- Zillow: Recent Home Sales
- Twin Cities Real Estate Radio: Home Values
- Mortgage Daily News: Questions and Answers
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