Austin Board of Realtors settles with vendor over sale of home sales data
The Austin Board of Realtors sent a letter to its members last week, saying it had reached a settlement with its vendor for selling market and home sales data to the Travis Central Appraisal District.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin Board of Realtors sent a letter to its members last week, saying it had reached a settlement with its vendor for selling market and home sales data to the Travis Central Appraisal District.
CoreLogic, LLC runs the Board of Realtors’ multiple listing service for buying and selling homes.
ABOR has said CoreLogic selling that data is a contract violation, and filed a cease and desist earlier this year.
The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Homeowners have expressed concerns about rising home values in Austin, and how much data TCAD has obtained ahead of accessing properties.
The data obtained by the Appraisal District is usually reserved for realtors and companies like Zillow.
The state of Texas doesn’t require disclosure of real estate prices.
“Market values are typically higher than what the appraised values are,” said Chris Beer of Green City Realty. “And because Texas is a non-disclosure state, the data shouldn’t just be out there.”
KXAN investigators previously told you TCAD spent nearly $100,000 on home sales and market data since the beginning of 2018.
In a statement, Chief Appraiser Marya Crigler maintained that everything TCAD did was by the book:
“The Travis Central Appraisal District entered into this agreement in good faith. CoreLogic previously assured us that they had the right to provide us with sales data. The citizens of Travis County want their appraisals to be fair and consistent. It is our job to explore the best resources to provide accurate appraisals of more than 400,000 properties in Travis County.
It would be inappropriate for us to comment on an agreement that we are not a party to. TCAD will continue to seek sales data that it can use to fairly and accurately appraise properties for the taxpayers of Travis County.”
Marya Crigler, Chief Appraiser, Travis County