Anonymous wrote:No, I look up the value of people's houses on the tax assessment website of their county. Much more accurate.

Lol. No it isn't.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I’m aghast by how much info is online, including property and mortgage info (at least in MD) on state websites.
My tenant decided not to pay rent “because there was no mortgage on the rental”. Talk about privacy!

All of these documents are public because you (or those you do business with like a mortgage company) are choosing to enjoy the security and protection of the State by recording them.

Deeds, liens, etc, can be recorded -- with all of the protection of the state there and the security that comes with it -- without making that info available to anyone and everyone online. Title searches could still be done by interested parties without this. And were, for hundreds of years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I look it up to see what they paid (incl. mortgage info which as folks have said is sometimes wrong but also often right) to get a relative sense of their housing cost.

Most of the time, it just validates I am not being crazy and they clearly have family money. It's not always that it's fully paid off, its just a huge down payment combined still with a huge monthly payment that implies they either have financial security from somewhere else (like an inheritance) or that they are living paycheck to paycheck to sustain their lifestyle.

I just looked up my 2 houses and the mortgage info is wrong on both. Our primary home has been paid off for some time, yet it shows we still have a small mortgage. Our second home has a pretty inflated value, by maybe $750k over market, and shows that we have a $650k mortgage when the actual remaining mortgage is $150k.

But yes, I do look up zillow estimates for other people. Never look at the mortgage info since I assume that isn't accurate.

It only records when you take out the mortgage and then it amortizes it over 30 years or whatever the term is. if you bought with 20% down and then paid monthly on schedule it would be right. If you paid extra or paid if off early, it would not be right.

homes.com has the current balance down to the dollar for our house.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's one of the first things I do after finding out where someone lives. Sometimes I do things just to get the address. "Tell Sarah's mom we can bring her home from practice!"

Wow that’s… something. What do you use this information for? Do you try to build friendships with wealthier families?

Kind of the inverse. I try to avoid friendships with people without means. 1.1-1.2 million is a fine floor IMHO. Below that, things can get dicey and weird.

That’s funny. My house is worth less than that but I have means.

I always thought my inexpensive home was a good filtering system for people, and it turns out I’m right.

Same here. We know who our real friends are. We're millionaires many times over, but live in a tiny house and drive ancient Japanese cars. We've supported our friends through difficult times, cancer included, and they've supported us through our difficult times. I don't have room in my life for shallow people like OP.

This flex is getting so incredibly boring.

It’s not a flex. It’s broke wannabes spamming 80s era old money tropes. Nobody rich lives like this.

Ok ... it's an attempt at a flex.

Anonymous wrote:No, I look up the value of people's houses on the tax assessment website of their county. Much more accurate.

It's actually not. A lot of states/counties have caps on how much assessed value can change in a year, aren't updated as people change the house, etc. Nobody who works in real estate puts any stock in assessed value as a proxy for market value. You use the tax data to understand what price was paid for the property. Not saying Zillow/Redfin/etc are accurate, because they often aren't, of course. They have the same data issues. But they are generally more likely to be close to the market because they are seeding their algorithm with recent sales as the biggest part of their formula.

No, I look up the value of people's houses on the tax assessment website of their county. Much more accurate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's one of the first things I do after finding out where someone lives. Sometimes I do things just to get the address. "Tell Sarah's mom we can bring her home from practice!"

Wow that’s… something. What do you use this information for? Do you try to build friendships with wealthier families?

Kind of the inverse. I try to avoid friendships with people without means. 1.1-1.2 million is a fine floor IMHO. Below that, things can get dicey and weird.

This works out really well for me, who could easily afford a 1.1-1.2 million home but live in a much cheaper home so my kids don't accidentally befriend snobs like you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's one of the first things I do after finding out where someone lives. Sometimes I do things just to get the address. "Tell Sarah's mom we can bring her home from practice!"

Wow that’s… something. What do you use this information for? Do you try to build friendships with wealthier families?

Kind of the inverse. I try to avoid friendships with people without means. 1.1-1.2 million is a fine floor IMHO. Below that, things can get dicey and weird.

You do know that sometimes people just don't want a more expensive home even if they can afford it, right? But, I guess if you're trying to avoid your children having non-materialistic friends, then you win.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I look it up to see what they paid (incl. mortgage info which as folks have said is sometimes wrong but also often right) to get a relative sense of their housing cost.

Most of the time, it just validates I am not being crazy and they clearly have family money. It's not always that it's fully paid off, its just a huge down payment combined still with a huge monthly payment that implies they either have financial security from somewhere else (like an inheritance) or that they are living paycheck to paycheck to sustain their lifestyle.

I just looked up my 2 houses and the mortgage info is wrong on both. Our primary home has been paid off for some time, yet it shows we still have a small mortgage. Our second home has a pretty inflated value, by maybe $750k over market, and shows that we have a $650k mortgage when the actual remaining mortgage is $150k.

But yes, I do look up zillow estimates for other people. Never look at the mortgage info since I assume that isn't accurate.

It only records when you take out the mortgage and then it amortizes it over 30 years or whatever the term is. if you bought with 20% down and then paid monthly on schedule it would be right. If you paid extra or paid if off early, it would not be right.

Of course. I have a pulse after all.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I’m aghast by how much info is online, including property and mortgage info (at least in MD) on state websites.
My tenant decided not to pay rent “because there was no mortgage on the rental”. Talk about privacy!

All of these documents are public because you (or those you do business with like a mortgage company) are choosing to enjoy the security and protection of the State by recording them.

All the time. I LOVE looking at houses. Sometimes I'll see a random person on tv (interviewed for whatever reason off the street, journalist, person on reality show) and I look up where they live. I love Google Maps too.

Honestly, I’m aghast by how much info is online, including property and mortgage info (at least in MD) on state websites.
My tenant decided not to pay rent “because there was no mortgage on the rental”. Talk about privacy!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's one of the first things I do after finding out where someone lives. Sometimes I do things just to get the address. "Tell Sarah's mom we can bring her home from practice!"

Wow that’s… something. What do you use this information for? Do you try to build friendships with wealthier families?

Kind of the inverse. I try to avoid friendships with people without means. 1.1-1.2 million is a fine floor IMHO. Below that, things can get dicey and weird.

That’s funny. My house is worth less than that but I have means.

I always thought my inexpensive home was a good filtering system for people, and it turns out I’m right.

Same here. We know who our real friends are. We're millionaires many times over, but live in a tiny house and drive ancient Japanese cars. We've supported our friends through difficult times, cancer included, and they've supported us through our difficult times. I don't have room in my life for shallow people like OP.

This flex is getting so incredibly boring.

It’s not a flex. It’s broke wannabes spamming 80s era old money tropes. Nobody rich lives like this.

Anonymous wrote:Zillow will tell you how much they owe on the mortgage too. Only time I’ve been impressed was when I looked up an acquaintance and they bought the house for cash. I never would’ve known. Very under the radar.

You are a dunce. Paid cash does not mean no mortgage.