Ask HN: Why is home property information so public? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Why is home property information so public?

#91

Post by snapplebobapple » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 6:33 AM UTC

hgs3 wrote: post #87

snapplebobapple wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, that is exercising market power and it causes dead weight loss (basically the worst thing that can happen in economics). When you have a project that needs x amount of land the project is a go as long as the cost of everything is less than the present value of the expected profits. The spread between the cost and the expected payout should be whittled away to a small number in an efficient market. In an inefficie…

The buyer is the one giving the market power to the seller. If the buyer did not have interest in the land and did not buy the surrounding land, then the seller would not have power. It is not the sellers fault if the buyers project fails because they couldn't budget for the "inefficient market" they themselves created. Calling this "abuse" is sour grapes.

Wow, that is a very tortured re-imagining of reality. The buyer in this case needs a certain amount of land at a certain price to make their project make sense. If that amount of land is larger than the average size of land for sale, then they have to leg into the total land purchase by buying chunks of land over time until they have amalgamated their total land requirement. It is entirely the seller's fault because they are the ones demanding a very large markup on the previous fair market value of their land because they know the buyer has already spent millions to hundreds of millions and will potentially lose their shirt if the project fails. This is the textbook definition of market power abuse. The end result of which is an artificial limitation on projects that need more than the average amount of land for sale, less output from society and all of us being poorer for it. Also, you can't really budget for this kind of abuse because the seller is taking into account what they think you budgeted and trying to capture all of it. It's a death spiral for large projects playing that game and it's why some decent secrecy is needed in situations like these. There is no situation where a land owner getting a large payout for holding out is a good thing for society.

Re: Ask HN: Why is home property information so public?

#92

Post by kshahkshah » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 3:28 PM UTC

postingawayonhn wrote: post #67

kshahkshah wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s what title is for

I'm not totally familiar with the system/s in the US, but where I'm from (New Zealand) title records are publicly available to anyone for the payment of a USD $4 fee per property.

Our system is antiquated and only really exists because of lobbyists. Some stans will try to pretend there is some value add, there isn't.

Re: Ask HN: Why is home property information so public?

#93

Post by hgs3 » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 5:17 PM UTC

snapplebobapple wrote: post #91

hgs3 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The buyer is the one giving the market power to the seller. If the buyer did not have interest in the land and did not buy the surrounding land, then the seller would not have power. It is not the sellers fault if the buyers project fails because they couldn't budget for the "inefficient market" they themselves created. Calling this "abuse" is sour grapes.

Wow, that is a very tortured re-imagining of reality. The buyer in this case needs a certain amount of land at a certain price to make their project make sense. If that amount of land is larger than the average size of land for sale, then they have to leg into the total land purchase by buying chunks of land over time until they have amalgamated their total land requirement. It is entirely the seller's fault because…

The price of a good is not a constant. It doesn't matter whether it's land, gold, stocks, rent, or trading cards. Prices change. Buyers are never entitled to the "previous fair market value" of anything.

Re: Ask HN: Why is home property information so public?

#94

Post by dragonwriter » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 5:20 PM UTC

> why is this information publicly published by every county in the US

To make fraudulent sales and confusion about real property ownership less likely.

Re: Ask HN: Why is home property information so public?

#95

Post by dragonwriter » Tue, Sep 05, 2023, 5:34 PM UTC

figassis wrote: post #89

philipwhiuk wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"from the markets" How do you know the person you are buying it from actually owns it.

This is a solved problem. How to you buy a car from someone?

> This is a solved problem

Sure, but the solution that makes it a “solved problem” is—exactly—what is used now.

> How to you buy a car from someone?

Governments make publicly available title records by VIN for cars. If you are financing a car, the financer will probably insist on verifying it just as the person financing your home purchase will want similar verification.

If you aren't financing it (more likely with cars than real estate) maybe you won't do any verification first, accept a pink slip or deed at face value, and file the required paperwork with the government to record the transfer, accepting more risk.

EDIT: But even if you are doing it without financing, the risk profile is different: an expensive car is a cheap plot of land, which makes the opportunity for profit from fraudulently selling real estate to people who are willing not to independently verify title a lot greater per act than with cars. There's a reason that the saying is “If you believe that, I've got a bridge to sell you.” and not “... a car to sell you.”