BlockShopper

What BlockShopper knows about you

BlockShopper publishes home sales as news. Type an address, get the buyer's name, the seller's name, the sale price, the sale date, and a short article written about the transaction. The article format is what separates BlockShopper from every other property broker.

The site covers 23 states — concentrated in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and Southwest. Where they cover, they cover thoroughly. Articles are written algorithmically from county deed data and dressed up in a news template.

Why it matters if you're on the job

Most property brokers hide the listing behind a search box. BlockShopper publishes it as an article. A sworn officer's home purchase becomes a Google result that reads "John Smith buys home in [neighborhood] for $X" — name, neighborhood, and price in the title tag.

That format ranks. Search the officer's name and BlockShopper articles climb the results page. The address isn't in the headline, but the link to the full record is one click away.

For a firefighter or paramedic who took the suburb job to keep work life away from home life, this is the worst kind of exposure. It reads like the local paper covered your closing.

How to opt out

BlockShopper is the most restrictive of the property brokers. The FAQ states it plainly: they do not remove records for general privacy requests. The justification is "data integrity."

One exception covers most of our audience. BlockShopper will remove records for sworn officers, public-safety workers, individuals under court protection orders, and individuals with documented stalkers or threats. Email scarlett@blockshopper.com from your department address. State your role, the property, and the safety concern in one short paragraph. Attach a protection order if you have one. They respond inside 24 to 48 hours.

Fax to 314-786-0519 or mail the Chicago address if email isn't workable. If the exception doesn't apply, BlockShopper will not remove the record — the only path left is statutory redaction at the county level.

Steps are in the optOutSteps field above.

How long until you're back

Twelve months is the working assumption when removal is granted under the exception. Once they've flagged the record as protected, it tends to hold — but a refinance or deed change can re-trigger the article workflow.

The county-level statutory redaction track matters more here than with most brokers. BlockShopper's whole pipeline starts at the recorder's office. New Jersey's Daniel's Law covers officers, judges, and prosecutors. Texas Government Code 25.025 lets eligible Texas officers redact home address from county property records. Florida 119.071 carves out the same for Florida sworn personnel. Cut off the source and the article never gets written.

What we do that's faster

We draft the BlockShopper exception email, send it from your department email with the right framing, and follow up when they sit on it. We re-check every two weeks. We also flag whether your state has a statutory redaction track and walk you through the county filing. Same drill across 200+ broker sites in parallel.