# Real Estate - Why are some homes listed as sold at a fraction of the market rate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2007, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-why-are-some-homes-listed-as-sold-at-a-fraction-of-the-market-rate/396824 "2007-03-21T04:54:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bobalude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bobalude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobalude)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-estate-why-are-some-homes-listed-as-sold-at-a-fraction-of-the-market-rate/396824/1 "2007-03-21T04:54:20Z")
I’m browsing on [zillow.com](http://zillow.com) for homes, and I came across something really interesting. A handful of homes were recently sold for almost nothing compared to the market rate. When viewing the sale history, it shows a purchase a few years earlier for roughly the market rate, but in the last year, all sold for 1/10 to 1/4 of what the market rate should be for these homes. What is going on here? Are the owners pulling through some loophole in the system? Some tax thing? Is there a tactic to sell a property cheap to say a family member? Is zillow just inaccurate about something? This is southern california, so there is no way these could be open market sales. Pasted details from 5 examples: 1. Sale History 11/07/2006: $20,100 06/25/2003: $353,500 09/25/2001: $273,000 08/16/1995: $147,500 07/06/1994: $156,000 ## 2006 Property Tax $5,107 Total assessed value: = $374,646 Assessed value bldgs: $114,256 Assessed value land: + $260,390 1. ## Sale History 05/25/2006: $90,909 06/24/2004: $417,000 12/29/2000: $190,000 10/28/1998: $147,000 06/11/1993: $138,000 2006 Property Tax $4,568 Total assessed value: = $433,846 Assessed value bldgs: $71,319 Assessed value land: + $362,527 1. ## Sale History 08/17/2006: $17,000 03/23/2005: $835,000 12/07/2001: $480,000 12/06/1999: $402,000 06/24/1993: $300,000 2006 Property Tax $8,889 Total assessed value: = $851,700 Assessed value bldgs: $243,971 Assessed value land: + $607,729 1. ## Sale History 12/14/2006: $78,509 06/10/2005: $657,000 05/29/2003: $440,000 2006 Property Tax $7,968 Total assessed value: = $670,140 Assessed value bldgs: $264,873 Assessed value land: + $405,267 1. Sale History 09/08/2006: $73,500 09/02/2004: $480,000 2006 Property Tax $5,520 Total assessed value: = $488,580 Assessed value bldgs: $107,589 Assessed value land: + $380,991