Montana Revenue Department Dares Legislature to Disclose Property Sales Prices for Taxpayers' Sake

Montana Department of Revenue Director Mike Kadas urged legislators to make property sales prices public moving forward.

“It’s very common to get that kind of information,” Kadas told the Legislature’s Revenue and Transportation Interim Committee in reference to the prevalence of real estate information and sales prices on multiple listings sites (MLS), according to a report on Independent Record.

“The trend has been to allow transparency. It would be a huge service to the taxpayer,” he added.

Kadas explained that the sales price disclosure would allow property owners to “challenge their property valuations during the Department’s reappraisal periods.” He also said that the disclosure could prevent realtor associations from monopolizing market data.

“I think it will help the department do a better job,” Kadas noted. “We would actually welcome this. I think over the long time it would reduce the amount of time we spend on appeals.”

Realtors in Montana consolidate and manage property transaction prices in an MLS database. Only they have access to the database.

In addition, the database does not include sales prices of real estate assets sold by owners without the help of agents and brokers. 

Montana law maintains that real estate buyers, the county clerk, and the Revenue Department should keep transaction details contained in a realty transfer certificate confidential. 

Property sales prices are available to real estate consumers in 39 states and in the District of Columbia.

The Montana Association of Realtors has motioned for the rejection of the bill for the privacy of home buyers and sellers.

As realtors and government agencies in Montana await the passage of the bill, one technology that real estate agent can largely benefit from in the interim is RealBiz Media Group, Inc.’s RBIZ consumer site, Nestbuilder.com.

Nestbuilder.com is a web site that hosts 1.6 million video listings—a feat only achieved by RealBiz Media.

Nestbuilder.com’s success is based on its video marketing platform Nestbuilder Agent. Nestbuilder Agent is a disruptive video marketing technology that agents can use to create virtual tours and information-rich videos which potential home buyers can watch to help them in their home search endeavors.

The platform also allows agents to create agent-facing branded pages that allow them to build their reputation and authority in the niche sans listings.  

According to RealBiz Media, over 15,350 active agents are using Nestbuilder Agent to market their listings, along with its Microvideo App.