BlockShopper

What BlockShopper knows about you

BlockShopper publishes home sales as news articles. Enter an address and you get the buyer's name, the seller's name, the sale price, the sale date, and a short article written about the transaction. That article format is what sets BlockShopper apart from other property brokers.

The articles are generated automatically from county deed records, then dressed up in a news template. Coverage is limited to a set of U.S. metro markets, so not every county appears. Where BlockShopper covers, it covers in detail.

Why it matters if you're on the job

Most property brokers hide the record behind a search box. BlockShopper turns it into an article that search engines index. A home purchase becomes a Google result that reads like "John Smith buys home in [neighborhood] for $X," with the name, neighborhood, and price in the page title.

That format ranks well. Search your name and the BlockShopper article can climb the results. The street address isn't in the headline, but the full record is one click away.

If you took a quieter suburb to keep work away from home, this is a bad kind of exposure. The listing reads like the local paper covered your closing, and it ties your name to where you live and the people there.

How to opt out

BlockShopper is the most restrictive property broker we track. Its FAQ states plainly that it does not remove records for general privacy requests, citing "data integrity."

One exception covers most of our audience. BlockShopper will remove records for government officials, sworn law enforcement, public-safety workers, people under court protection orders, and people with documented stalkers or threats. Email scarlett@blockshopper.com from your department address. State your role, the property, the article URL, and the safety concern in one short paragraph. Attach a protection order if you have one.

If email isn't workable, fax the same request to 314-786-0519, or mail it to the Chicago address in the steps above. BlockShopper says it answers exception requests within 24 to 48 hours; a general privacy request runs on a slower track that can take over a month. If the exception doesn't apply to you, BlockShopper will not remove the record, and the remaining route is statutory redaction at the county level.

Full steps are in the opt-out steps above.

How long until you're back

When removal is granted under the exception, the record tends to stay down. A refinance, a new deed, or another recorded transaction can trigger a fresh article, so a change in your property records can put you back.

The county-level redaction route matters more here than with most brokers. BlockShopper's pipeline starts at the recorder's office, so cutting off the source record stops the article from being written in the first place.

Three state laws help with that source record:

• New Jersey's Daniel's Law lets covered police, judges, and prosecutors require the removal of their home address and unpublished phone number from public records and broker sites.
• Texas Tax Code 25.025 lets eligible Texas officers and officials keep their home address out of county property and appraisal records.
• Florida Statute 119.071 exempts the home addresses of eligible Florida public-safety personnel from public records.

Each law sets its own eligibility and process, and none of them guarantees a broker takes the listing down on its own. We file where you qualify and check the result.

What we do that's faster

We draft the BlockShopper exception email, send it from your department address with the right framing, and follow up if they sit on it. We keep re-checking the listing and re-file if it comes back after a new deed or refinance. We also check whether your state has a statutory redaction track and walk you through the county filing. We run the same process across the other broker sites we cover, in parallel.

Removing your BlockShopper article is one part of the removal work we do for sworn personnel.