to not want my family to know how much I paid for my house?

[lightlyseasoned12938712]

Thanks to some good luck when I was younger, I have quite a lot of money saved up. But I've never made this obvious to people I know, partly because some of my family can be quite problematic when it comes to money. I really just don't want any of the attention that I know comes from wealth, so although I've never lied, I've also never done anything that would make my financial situation clear (car, clothes, travel, etc)

I don't think this is going to be possible any more - I've just bought my first house, and although it's not large, it was quite expensive due to the area. I'm happy for people to know I own a house (would prefer they didn't though), but I'd really really like people to think it was cheaper than was the case

Does anyone have any clever suggestions to hide or downplay this purchase? I'm dreading the questions and changes in attitude when I tell people otherwise!!

They can look it up online.

Anyone can look up the sold price. It will be shown once the sale is fully registered

The information will be available to anyone who feels inclined to search though - don’t worry about it

If someone wants to find out, they can just look on rightmove sold prices which are public.

I don't think you can- its all going to be online.
Maybe say you got an amazing deal on your mortgage

It’s public record info in Scotland, dating back to the Registration Act of 1617.

Own it, OP! Don't let them spoil this for you.

Agree with others, house prices are public domain. You don't need to go into any details about how big or small your mortgage is, if you have one, just brush questions off.

You can see what a house is sold for once the land registry has been updated (few months usually). I'm sure theres a way to hide this from being public, friends of friends who adopted high profile kids did this as it was harder for the birth family /press to follow them but I don't know how they did it!
Can you say you've put a smaller deposit down/ larger mortgage/ shared ownership/ bought with a partner/friend.

A quick google will show the price of houses in an area. And the specific price paid for a house can be googled a certain time after purchase. So if your family are interested there is nothing you can do to hide this information.

I’d suggest you just address this matter with confidence. If people do say anything don’t be apologetic. Just say you’re pleased that your hard work since you were young has paid off.

If you want to, you could mention that the mortgage payments are quite high leaving less disposable income (to see off requests for loans). But to be honest you’d probably be best not to mention your financial position as sharing some info may just suggest to family members that the topic is up for discussion.

Sorry @lightlyseasoned12938712 they'll be looking it up on online

As everyone else has said, it's easy enough to find out online how much a house sold for. What you could do to play things down is exaggerate the amount of your mortgage and that it means you have to be very careful what you spend.

You can sometimes ask land registry to keep information confidential but it has to meet certain criteria I think - they have a guide about it

It takes around 3 months after the sale before it appears on the land registry and is then added to Rightmove and Zoopla sold prices. Sorry OP. I only know because I'm a nosy bastard and love to know if houses were sold for what they were on the market for.

Why is everyone telling the OP it's public info, everyone knows that, that's not what the thread is about

Without knowing the amount of onmey you're talking about it's hard to make a suggestion

Is it £25k or £250k

Are you in England ? The sold price will appear online on free sites like nethouseprices

Wow, loads of replies already, thanks!

Yes, I know it's public record, that's what's got me so anxious. I was hoping for a way to spin it, or downplay it, if that's even possible

@YellowGreenBlue "Don't let them spoil this for you" I love this attitude... but they will 😂

@Newyeardietstartstomorrow "You don't need to go into any details about how big or small your mortgage is" That's a good suggestion

@nurseynursery Never thought of that - is it hiding the price, or hiding where they live?

The Sold price will be on Net House Prices in a couple of months,for anyone to see.

Not only is it available if they think to look for it, Zoopla have just started showing a new series of TV adverts encouraging nosey people to look up what their friends' houses are worth (estimated) or the price they paid (actual), instead of making a faux pas by asking the house owners/buyers themselves.

However, there's nothing to show how much of the price paid was from your own funds and how much of it (if any) you borrowed.

I don't think OP was looking for statements of the obvious ('yes of course they can tell it's online') - they know this; restating it isn't helpful to the OP whatsoever.

I think the 'great mortgage' idea is all you can say to be honest.

@lightlyseasoned12938712 in this case it was quite public the day their house sold and they'd bought their new house on the same day so hid the info to make it all less traceable.

Impossible to hide!

I was tipped off by a friend to check the land registry site to see how much the house I lived in as a tenant was sold for by the landlord, after we gave notice and moved out and a couple of other friends have told me they check it out every time a neighbour or anyone they know has sold!

It's only human nature to be nosey about it!

Just say you have a huge mortgage and are paying interest only on the mortgage - say you are viewing it as renting almost as you know you'll have to sell and downsize at some stage as you can't pay interest only forever as it isn't a wise financial move in the long run

Say you rent it?