Do I have to report my client's sales price to the MLS? I heard that Texas is a non-disclosure state.
MLS rules state that sales of listed property, including sales prices, shall be reported promptly to the MLS by listing brokers. As such, the Residential Real Estate Listing Agreement, Exclusive Right to Sell (TXR 1101) includes a notice in Paragraph 6(A) that goes over this requirement so that clients are aware of their broker’s obligations. Local MLS rules also control how, if, or when sales prices can be disclosed by brokers or used in advertising.
It is a misconception that the status of Texas as a non-disclosure state means that a listing broker does not have to disclose sales data to the MLS. That is not true. Rather, it means that governmental entities—including local appraisal districts—cannot force anyone to provide the sales price to those entities.
What about Zillow, Lands of Texas and other websites? Is it legal to report to these websites without written consent from seller?
No. Not in Texas.
I don’t know if it is legal, but it is against NAR and TAR rules to report sold prices to a non-client. An exception is made for disclosure states.
Texas is a non disclosure state. Write them a letter saying you are not disclosing the sales price. They will leave you alone. I’ve done it 20+ times.
I am buying a Texas MLS listing. Texas is a non-disclosure state. I do not want my cash sale price put on the MLS. Who do I write to ? Houston Assoc of Realtors? HAR, MLS, NAR, TAR?
Texas’s sale price non-disclosure law hurts homeowners. Here is how — When a sale happens, the broker has to report it to MLS. So all real estate agents have the data. And MLS’s have the sale prices.
When the annual appraisal time arrives, county appraisal districts have to purchase recent sales data. And whose money is it? Taxypayers!
So, when a homeowner protests, the appraisal district has recent sales data to counter the protest. But the homeowner doesn’t!
They don’t have to purchase it, they are members!
The buyers are not members and they are the ones that this info hurts. As agents and brokers, you work for the buyers and sellers, not the MLS boards.
I agree. Either the information should be available to everyone or to only the buyer and seller and with their consent to broker and MLS.
Who do you write to?
Hello James,
Would you have a sample letter?
where can I find this in writing? Not challenging your opinion; just need to back up my own, and I’m not finding it.
I’m interested in knowing how commercial brokers are impacted by this rule. I am never confident of commercial sales being reported to the MLS. It appears they play by different rules than those of us in residential sales. Many don’t even belong to the MLS.
Great question! Many people in Texas feel that residential real estate property taxes are so high because commercial property sales values are so under valued. It’s a dirty little secret. SABOR requires actual sold prices for residential properties to be posted putting the Agent in a position of not protecting their clients best interest and at the expense of their fiduciary duty to the client. An ethical issue. BCAD hires contractors who have real estate licenses to provide actual sales prices to them when posted on SABOR. I am a witness to this because a contractor of BCAD showed up… Read more »
Posting sales price of a residential property that is listed on MLS is not going against the duty to your client, if you don’t want people knowing what it sold for, then simply don’t list it on MLS, read the rules of your MLS before listing it on MLS. The reason several CAD’s have data from MLS, is because home owners get appraisers and Realtors to pull comps for them to contest their taxed value, buy bringing these sales into a CAD, even though Texas is a non disclosure state, they are allowed to make copies of these sales, which… Read more »
Sorry Jacob. THE REASON is twofold…I’m in agreement with Stacie, Jacob, because it’s a fact. I’ve known the REALTORS that were also Employed by the CAD’s. They hop right on the MLS and pull the information themselves. They don’t need your copies, honey.
When I went to the BCAD to appeal my tax values, the first thing the BCAD person gave me was a list of sold properties & descriptions from the MLS system for properties in my subdivision. They have all the information they want on sold properties. I always wondered how they had access to the MLS system. Commercial properties are always under valued on the tax roles. SABOR fought for the non disclosure rule, which never made sense to me. Our organization should have wanted all property sales prices to be disclosed to make tax payers equal in the taxation… Read more »
Agreed. Disclosing sales price works in favor of homeowners when they protest.
Jacob good comments we are also bound by the terms of our listing agreement. It specifically cover what our obligation is so the seller is aware. Texas is non disclose state but our MLS rules apply and our Listjng agreement is a contract which is binding in the state of Texas .
So much to know thank you
Susan Horton
The listing agent posts the sold price in MLS. The buyer might not like that, but the listing agent’s duty is to the seller, and it would be rare for a seller to have concerns about the price being posted there. In the San Antonio and surrounding areas, the majority of commercial properties are not listed in MLS, so we know that what is there is not the big picture.
Most commercial brokers do not belong to an MLS, and the sales price disclosure rule is one of the main reasons they don’t. It’s not like they ignore the rules that apply to residential brokers; it’s just that those rules don’t apply to anyone who doesn’t belong to the MLS. Commercial properties have many factors affecting their sales prices that residential properties do not. If you buy a strip center with good tenants, and long leases it has one value. That same property with bad tenants, or short terms left on the leases has a different value. If I sell… Read more »
Well said. If one has the information then you have the knowledge to understand the how agencies works. You can’t compare commercial sales vs properties sales.
Not necessarily so!! My son and I bought several foreclosed properties that were NOT in good condition and paid far below the market value in the neighborhood. BCAD had the sale prices, BUT didn’t care what we paid for them, they compared them to the other homes and that was the value they placed on our properties. Oh sure, we could go to court, but the cost of going to court was more than the amount of the tax we had to pay. BCAD knows this, so that is why they valued the properties from $10,000 to $30,000 more than… Read more »
There is no sizable MLS for commercial sales. No reliable system exists for distribution of that information.
If your client does not want their transaction details disclosed, what do you do. I too have first hand knowledge of Appraisal Districts paying for sold data from a MLS. Why should dues paying members of a MLS provide data so that someone else can sell it to a CAD?
As a realtor, I have access to the sold prices for all MLS residential listings. What restrictions are placed on me for keeping the actual sales price confidential? I would like to post the actual sales prices for a specific neighborhood in a newsletter I send to the neighborhood. Is that allowed or not?
Correct me if I’m wring, but the non-disclosure rule only applies to the state and county as far as requiring the local MLS to reports, not for realtor too advertise too non state agencies.?
As I understand the non-disclosure rule, it only means that the sold price is not required to be divulged to government agencies. That’s why this rule appears to be so vague as to what realtors can do with this data.
I am told that I can reveal sold prices to people I have a business relationship with such as a CMA. But not in a newspaper or broadcast or neighborhood newsletter or such.
Who told you that you could not reveal sold prices to a newspaper or broadcast or neighborhood newsletter?
I do not remember but it was in a class at my local board several years back
I do this for my neighborhood newsletter on a quarterly basis. I simply report number of homes sold, average sold price, average DOM. etc. If a neighbor were to contact me individually for a CMA, I would go down to specifics
Average sold price and average DOM is not nearly as valuable as the actual sold price and actual DOM. Why don’t you provide the actuals?
Tommy Thomas- In my market center (SABOR)- When we chose to use MLS data, we CANNOT list addresses or sales prices, only aggregated data. Selling price information belongs to our Seller and we must get our Seller’s permission to advertise their sales price. Without it, we can actually get fined more than SABOR fines. Also, agents are only permitted to advertise (with permission) those homes that we LISTED or HELPED SELL. This rule changed many years ago. Not worth the fine in my eyes-but I see it all of the time!
Can the Appraisal districts use information that they get from the mls to appraise properties for tax purposes? Denton county has an employee that works for the appraisal district that is also a real estate agent and they get information from the mls to appraise the properties.
Check with your MLS to see who all can be members. Members in my area include not only real estate agents, brokers and offices but also offices of licensed appraisers and tax appraisal districts.
Why shouldn’t sale price be report isn’t it public information, what are some ideas against it. I don’t get it- what does come to mind is IRS Rulings. But there are loopholes ask a corporate legal accountant may have to change your LLC to take advantage of these rules. But what do I know!
In many states where this is legally public information- the state government has begun to use it to tax the transactions. Texas decided to not make it legally public so that could never be done.
CADs should never be allowed in our mls. When is that going to be corrected? That needs to be in place to protect buyers and sellers. Someone here is not protecting buyers and sellers no disclosure interest and it is not the Realtor. BUT CADs are members of mls and yes they pull the sold price all day long. Whoever writes like it doesn’t happen is not in touch with realty. Also, when my client directs me to not disclose and all parties agree, I will not enter in mls. I have had that come forth in a contract. AND… Read more »
Texas is a non disclosure state meaning the sales price does not have to be disclosed to anyone. However, if you list a property on MLS, you must abide by the rules of the MLS ad must disclose. Disclosure has noting to do with government agencies only. As someone else has said already in this forum, if the sales price needs to be confidential do not list with an organization hat requires price disclosure.
Our MLS has given the appraisal districts complete access to the sales data, and they in turn Are using this information to value properties for tax purposes. This seems like a complete violation of the spirit of nondisclosure to the state. As agents, we are required to report sales price, which then allies complete to the taxing entities. So, if your house is listed with an agent through the MLS, the sales price will be disclosed to the appraisal districts. The only thing that upsets me more is that it was denied until I showed proof that every, albeit poorly,… Read more »
Homesnap. com got my sold data from Austin MLS. I inquired back in 2015 and received reply from Kay Pennington: ” Per the Department of Justice, we have to allow VOWs to operate under the DOJ-approved NAR VOW policies. Otherwise, it would be considered restraint of trade.” I believe that I recall this ruling occurring about 20 years ago. My recollection is that it had to do with presenting active listings in a relatively new thing call the Internet. I don’t recall the DOJ mandating the release of sold data but I could be wrong.
I understand both sides of the fence, pro & con. One concern, owners don’t want to pay high taxes (since we are a high property tax state, disclosure works against the owner). Once concern, owners want more than buyers want to give (disclosed data can work against an owner who wants more …?). … many more concerns. I do see an issue with the current disclosures. Let’s pretend a property closes and funds for $200,000 (within the sale price is an lender allowable seller contribution, for our example let’s say $6,000 for seller subsidy & $500 for residential service contract… Read more »
What if my client doesn’t want the sales price disclosed to their appraisal district? As I understand, MLS lets the DCAD be a member of MLS
We all know Appraisal District’s have access to MLS data to work around non-disclosure laws. I think the quickest way for Texas to become a disclosure state is for Appraisal District’s to lose confidence in MLS data. A big part of the value proposition for a Texas Realtor is providing client’s with sales data. I think we might lose that advantage in a disclosure state. Our current system is not fully transparent by any means. I still don’t think we need to change it.
Yes on HAR has a relationship with the county appraisal district where they do give the information violating state laws of non disclosure.
“the state government, including local appraisal districts, cannot force anyone to provide the sales price to it”
under what statue is this?
Did I not hear of news that the TEXAS legislature just recently passed law allowing CAD’s to use current market sale prices in their appraisals?? So they would have access in that case, If this is true, then this lines up with MLS working with CAD’s and providing them with SOLD prices if they want it. So, CAD employees who are also Realtors can freely feed data to the CAD’s. The issue of assessments lagging behind fresh Sales Prices is out the window, it appears to me.
On a residential property not in MLS what needs to be said to have a non-disclosure of the sales price
“Sold” Prices should be Public knowledge in all platforms. redact names maybe but not sold prices.
if prices are not disclosed when property is sold after having been on mls, it creates an environment of ignorance, oppression and exposes home owners to manipulation by the city, county and real estate agencies. It is short sighted, to say is nicely, to claim your purchase price is or should be private. you are contributing to your own restrictions and loss of ability to think for yourself.
LOL, fortunately it isn’t up to you what people “should” and “shouldn’t” do. Just because folks are “exposed” to malicious dealings, does not mean they should give up any privacy. The only thing short-sighted here, is thinking that nothing bad can happen letting the world know your business.
True that. ” redact names maybe but not sold prices.” The non disclosure law works against taxpayers.
Why is no one from Texas Realtors responding to the questions below, like the one from Donna? Are we, as Realtors, supposed to get our broker’s opinion? It would be nice to have some responses posted here.
Please call the Texas REALTORS® Legal Hotline at 800-873-9155 for answers to specific questions. Thank you.
Thanks!
Please let me know what they told you
But MLS can allow County appraisers to be members and access that data, publicly display listing information in public property protests and use that data to value your property,,,