We all expect a measure of privacy in our homes. But, in the information age, privacy is no longer a given. In fact, there is a lot of easily acquired information online, particularly after a real estate purchase.
This article explores various concerns and offers some resources that buyers can use to protect their privacy after they buy a home.
Maintaining privacy as a homeowner
Your deed, the document that establishes you as the owner of the property, is a public record. So is your mortgage. Once you close on a property in your name, that information becomes known to the world. Unfortunately, there are many businesses and nefarious types who are looking for opportunities to use it.
Data aggregators use this public information in a number of ways:
- Economists track sale activity, purchase prices, and the like
- Marketing agencies buy this information to sell you valuable products and services (hello, junk mail)
- Local government uses this data for tax assessments and billing.
- Title companies track market share (even the number of deeds lawyers – like me – prepare)
During the buying process:
- Acquire your home in a carefully prepared entity, such as a Revocable Trust, a Land Trust, or an LLC or corporate entity. However, this can make borrowing money more difficult, and you might incur additional costs. Arrange this with your lawyer early in the process.
- Put the title of the home in one co-owner's name instead of both or all.
- Ask your broker for confidentiality. Ask them:
- To keep your purchase out of the newspapers and magazines
- To not share details of your purchase or sale on their social media
- To avoid otherwise not use your personal info for promotional purposes (other than your own testimonial or social media reviews)
- Ask your attorney to add a confidentiality clause so the seller's side does not share info.
- This can be added to the attorney review letter
- Ask the seller or seller's broker to remove all photos, floorplans, and videos from the multiple listing service (MLS) within 24 hours of closing
After you close on the home:
Remove photos of your home from real estate sites. Most sites will not remove the property pages, but they will remove the photographs. Here are a few platforms and how to go about it:
- Zillow
- Sign into your Zillow profile
- Click on the profile icon, then select Your Home
- If you have not already claimed your home on Zillow, follow these steps
- Click on the tile for your home to load the property page
- Click on the Edit Facts icon from the Owner View of the property page
- Remove photos individually:
- Click on a photo and click Remove Photo
- Click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page
- Realtor.com
- Log into your Realtor.com profile at realtor.com
- On the site, type in your address and click Claim Your Home on your home's profile page
- Go to your owner dashboard under the My Home tab
- Click the Remove Photos button
- Redfin
- After creating an account and claiming your home, you can make changes from your Owner Dashboard:
- Log into redfin.com
- Go to your Owner Dashboard using the drop-down menu under your name in the top-right corner of the page
- Click on your home
- Click Manage Photos, then Hide listing photos
- Click Yes, Hide Photos when it pops up
- Blur your home on search web engines, like Google, Yahoo, and Bing
- Note, once you do this it is likely permanent:
- Start with these articles from The Off The Grid News and CNET.com
Maintaining your individual privacy:
Here are a few ways to limit the use of your personal information after your closing.
Mortgage lender opt-outs
Find your lender's privacy policy and opt out where possible. Lenders are required by federal law to secure and safeguard your personal, confidential, information. But many share your demographic information with outside/third parties who want to sell you things. Most share that information internally so that the lender, its affiliate, and subsidiary businesses can do so too.
Title company opt-outs
Title companies also have a lot of your private information. They too are duty-bound to keep it secure. They too issue privacy policies. A few do share information with outside agencies and affiliates. Here too, opting out is your best course of action.
Contact the utilities
ComEd and Peoples Gas indicate that they do not share consumer information with outside entities, but you could contact them to be sure.
Opt-out from 'junk mail'
Some people like getting offers to buy insurance or obtain credit. If you do not want to receive these solicitations, you can ask the credit reporting agencies NOT to share your information with those vendors. You can do so online at OptOutPrescreen.com. Or by dialing 888-5-OPT-OUT (888-567-8688).
Once you secure a mortgage loan, you may want to take steps to protect your credit status with a credit freeze or credit fraud alerts. A great how-to resource for these options is at IntelTechniques.com.
Use an ACP substitute address if necessary
The Illinois Address Confidentiality Program (ACP) provides a substitute address for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and stalking to use instead of their home, school, or work addresses when interacting with State and local government agencies.
ACP substitute addresses help victims keep their information off publicly available records. It does not remove or delete information from property records or other public records that already exist, including addresses. The ACP substitute address can be used by participants for creating or updating public records, such as for use on a driver's license or state-issued identification card. More information is available here.
"Disappear" from the internet
The most radical option to avoid marketers is to (try to) remove yourself from the web altogether. Sites like DeleteMe and OnerRep say they will, for a fee, wipe your information off a range of websites. Again, IntelTechniques.com is the most comprehensive site (that I am aware of) on how to maximize your privacy. Here's a useful article from Cnet.
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