A Texas board is concerned appraisals could inflate following a potential breach in home price data to a county’s appraisal district. The Austin Board of REALTORS® is accusing the vendor of its MLS—CoreLogic—of selling home-sold data to a local appraisal organization and enabling “unauthorized exploitation” of MLS home price data in 2018.
CoreLogic runs ABoR’s multiple listing service. ABoR claims that CoreLogic “inappropriately sold MLS data” to the Travis Central Appraisal District, which would be a contractual violation. ABoR alerted its members in a May 2 message to the “newly discovered” information.
The board is concerned that as a result, appraisals could rise significantly since Travis Central Appraisal District had access to the fresh sales data from the MLS. That typically doesn’t happen in Texas, which doesn’t require disclosure of real estate prices.
ABoR says it has told CoreLogic to stop sending data to the Travis Central Appraisal District immediately. On May 2, CoreLogic reportedly complied with that order and also instructed TCAD to destroy any previously shared information, according to ABoR.
“We are very concerned and share your frustrations,” ABoR said in a message to its 13,000 REALTOR® members. “We are committed to fixing this situation and protecting the trust you and your clients place in the MLS. Our talks with CoreLogic are continuing, and we will report to you the outcome of all actions taken with regard to holding the vendor accountable.”
Source: “Travis County Appraisal District go ‘Unauthorized Access’ to Home Price Data, ABoR Says,” NBC KXAN (May 3, 2019) and “ABoR: Tax Appraiser Given ‘Unauthorized Access’ to MLS Data,” Austin Business Journal (May 3, 2019)
