I hate how everything is public information. Imagine taking out a mortgage and having to read about it in the papers.
With that said, I don't believe for one second that they're worth anything close to 3 billion lol.
real estate transactions are public record. and they always have been.
for instance, I saw someone moving onto my block a couple weeks ago, and I just went on the county recorder of deeds website and it quickly told me the buyer's name, marital status, her mortage rate, how much loan she took out and how much down payment she put down.
conversely, anyone could look up the same thing for me just by using my address.