The current state of real estate requires every buyer to be careful before investing a lot of money in the purchase of a home. While some people buy a house for actual use, some people actually buy new houses and transform them as an investment, either reselling or renting.
Whatever the reason, it is important that you, as a consumer, have your property appraised informally before you purchase. It’s like before you hire any new employee, you do a background check. It’s like before you buy the latest device, you read reviews. This should be a similar attitude when buying a new home: check the public records of home sales before any purchase.
There are many ways to do this. One is to check with local government tax records on the property you are considering. Otherwise, the real estate agent offering you the property or any friendly real estate agent (better if this serves as an honest third party opinion) should have access to an MLS. This Multiple Listing Service is the most famous source of public records on home sales. MLS lists all property value information, buyers information, sellers information, and other related details relevant to the property. However, be careful about the accuracy of some details because some are promoted to facilitate sales. It is still better to check the county records as it is less biased and should be more accurate. However, an MLS can be accurate and you will know this if you have more or less basic knowledge of real estate. For example, you may know that property prices in California change with the temperature and are unlikely to return to their original price. Or maybe you know that the market value of properties in downtown Chicago, Illinois is much higher than rates for properties in Minooka, Illinois. If you have basic knowledge and common sense about these properties, you can assess the accuracy of the details presented in MLS.
There are even Internet sites like Zillow that serve as your trusted public records on home sales. In a city map search graph, you can click on the neighboring houses of the property you are about to buy. By clicking, you can get an idea of the property value of the neighborhood.
