A self-declared nosy TikToker sparked a fierce debate after exposing how to find out just how rich your friends are. Florida-based Kaitlin (@kaitlinn.kk) earned over half a million views on her clip sharing this “trick.” In it, she reveals how to find out how much money people put down for their homes.
How to be nosy 101
“Have you ever wanted to figure out how much money your friends put down on their homes?” Kaitlin begins. “I just found a quick and easy way to do it.”
The TikToker advises you to go to Homes.com and type in the address of the house you want to snoop on. She shows the process in a green-screen behind her. Kaitlin scrolls all the way down until she reaches the Property History category. It shows the last time the house was sold, which was $320,000 in 2020.
“You keep scrolling, then you’re gonna get to mortgage history,” Kaitlin says. “You’re going to be able to see how much they opened the mortgage for, which was $256,000.”
Kaitlin added in the caption, “Public records are wild. I hope all of you crazy girls enjoy this. Cheers.”
Not everyone was on board
While Kaitlin’s clip could’ve been gold for “nosy” people, several viewers disapproved of the practice.
“May this friendship never find me,” one top comment read.
Another wrote, “No this isn’t right I would feel terrible violating someone’s privacy.”
Others thought the trick invasive, but admitted it was interesting data.
“I think it might be invasive to look at friends but I think it’s interesting to look at the nicer homes in neighborhood where you think they are fairly wealthy and they have $2M+ loans,” one wrote.
Can anyone find this housing info?
As Kaitlin said, information on the purchasing and selling of homes is often considered public information. While sale price is usually public, down payments aren’t always easily accessible. Searches this writer did for a random home on Zillow and RedFin did not provide the mortgage loan amount, but Homes.com did, as Kaitlin said. It even provided the full names of the home owners, both past and present.
Still, while it may be surprising that a lot of this information is public, talking about money like this with friends is still considered taboo by many. Psychologist Leon Festinger proposed the Social Comparison Theory, which posits that people evaluate themselves based on attractiveness, wealth, intelligence, and success. Per Psychology Today, “as much as 10 percent of our thoughts involve comparisons of some kind.”
Recognizing “income gap” friendships, then, can make some folks feel differently toward their friends. As one of Kaitlin’s TikTok viewers commented, “$225k down? I never want to talk to them again.” It’s not uncommon for folks to feel a certain way once they find out their friends are way better off than they initially thought. This has even led to some hiding their wealth from their friends.
Pocket-watching
One Reddit user whose net worth hit $1M said he won’t tell anyone since his friends aren’t in the same place financially: “I would feel really weird.”
Another asked for advice on how to share with his family and friends that he’s now wealthy. The top response? “Frankly, I would recommend you never tell people. It’s always bad news when people find out you have money. It brings out the worst in all of your relationships,” one wrote.
There’s even a term for this phenomenon called “pocket watching.”
“An action in which an individual is monitoring or speculating an aspect of another person’s life. Usually done in jealousy or tied to some form of inferiority or self-consciousness,” per Urban Dictionary.
But not everyone is as cautious or cynical. Several of Kaitlin’s TikTok viewers thought it wasn’t a big deal.
One user said, “I’d probably just tell my friend if they asked…”
@kaitlinn.kk If you’re nosy like me and want to see how much someone put down on their house… this is your walkthrough. Public records are wild. I hope all of you crazy girls enjoy this. Cheers. #RealEstateTikTok #HomeBuyingTips #MortgageSnoop #PublicRecordsHack #HouseHuntingSecrets #CrazyGirlsClub #TikTokTutorial ♬ original sound – Kaitlin.KK
“I straight up told my friends all these details idc i’m proud of my home purchase,” another added.
“My friends would just ask me,” one echoed. “What kind of friends do you have??”
The Mary Sue reached out to Kaitlin via her LinkTree contact page.
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