Of Pigs, Troughs, Mutual Funds, and the Logic of C

[johnblake]

Take a look at this:

http://www.efficientfrontier.com/ef/704/Pigs.htm

I think that one of the reasons why real estate transaction costs are so high is that consumers haven't fought back.

The real estate businesses are relatively small and easy organized, the consumer interests are not.

For example, although transactions are a matter of the public record, it's not easy to find the information. It's not updated frequently, sometimes isn't updated at all, and not always available online in a suitable form. Just the way the real estate industry wants it.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Re: Of Pigs, Troughs, Mutual Funds, and the Logic

I've been able to find transactions pretty easily at www.domania.com

I think you have to register an email with them to get a username...I used some bogus hotmail I created, no problems now for 3 years with that.

They let you search on a specific address, all sales on a street, in a neighborhood, etc. Data goes back to 1987.

Skimpy sometimes on # of bedrooms and baths, and no data on the size of the land parcels.

I keep a login to "my domania" with a saved search for my neighborhood. Every month I get to see what new homes are selling for in my area.

 

[johnblake]

Re: Of Pigs, Troughs, Mutual Funds, and the Logic

I've tried using similiar sites, but they aren't accurate or up to date. For example, domania.com doesn't have a entry for the house I used to live in which sold 18 months ago. Or for the house I currently live in which sold 3 months ago.

Our county supposedly lists transactions on their web site. We went over there (to the tax office) asking why the place where we were living wasn't listed. They said it takes a very long time, and that there's a backlog. But for some reason, more recent closings are listed.

These sites also don't include land sales.