More and more, as the local MLS becomes merely one option as a place to list your home for sale, it becomes important to check other sources when you’re trying to value a home for sale or find comps to write an offer.
Especially in the high end market, many of those sales happen from word of mouth, are not listed in the Tucson MLS, or may have been listed in other services where it can get more exposure to that high end buyer.
In the regular folk price range, there are always sales that aren’t entered into MLS by the agent, or were sold by owner.
If we want to get a full picture of the value of a property, I think it’s important to check all sources - not just the local Tucson MLS.
One of those important sources is the Pima County Recorder. Hopefully, anytime a property transfers ownership, that Buyer and Seller had the sale and the deed recorded. Luckily, I have pretty easy access to that through a system called CRS, which aggregates public data from sources including the recorders office. Now, it may take a little bit of time for CRS to get updates from the Recorder’s office, but usually, I can see recorded sales within a few weeks of them happening.
