Friday, July 3, 2009

How Much Did an Inverness Forest House Sell For?

I hinted in the last post that I would tell you how to find the purchase price of any house in our community. The State of Maryland Office of Assessment and Taxation maintains a state-wide database containing the names of all property owners and how much they paid for the property. The ownership and purchase price of every house in the State is public knowledge. Virginia and probably most other states make their home ownership and purchase price information public as well.
To access the database click on this link:

Montgomery County Property Database

In the window enter the street number and street name. For example, for my house enter "10743" and "Deborah" (without the quotes). The website tells you not to enter the suffix, the "Dr" or "Rd", just the name (Deborah or Inverness Ridge).

Clik on the search button and the information is presented. If you enter in my house address, you'll see that I am the owner and that I paid $135,000 on 8-5-1983. Often there is a whole history of sale prices and previous owners, but since I bought my house so long ago, that information is lacking.

So, don't tell your neighbor that you only paid $200,000 for your house five years ago if you really paid $400,000. They can easily find out the truth.

For your convenience, I've added a link to the Montgomery Property Database in the right-hand column under "Inverness Links".


Harvey

ifatreasurer@mac.com

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