I just read yet another announcement online about a home sale. It involved people I know, both on the selling and buying end. I know how much the house cost when it was last purchased and I know what the new buyers paid. The people involved are professional musicians, and the article stated what they play (flute, cello, bass), where they work (both performing groups and schools where they teach), and the exact address of the home the buyers purchased. It also includes a google satellite photo of the home in case you need that information to go have a look-see and visit.
All I can say is YIKES!
It just seems to me this is not the sort of information we’d like out there for the world to see. Do sellers and buyers of homes have any choice about this? Can’t we say “leave any personal information off of announcements please!”?
No, you can’t. And the reason for that is people like you, Patty, and like me, keep publishing stuff on the internet and it’s all searchable, and that especially includes real estate transactions which have lots of legislated transparency rules which the internet age is exploiting ruthlessly. The only way out is to be richer than you and me and your musician friends so that all these kind of transactions happen through DBAs and management companies and so on.
I suppose I should just shut down this blog, eh? Sigh. I wonder ….
A realtor DID fill me in on some things. They aren’t supposed to publish personal info like that (the information I read wasn’t by the realtor, but by something else), and if we buy a house again we should do it using the trust name rather than our actual names. So I’ve learned a bit of info from her.
I do occasionally have to remove myself from various white pages and the like. I just prefer that information not be quite so easy to find!