Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Yes, they should be equal at the bottom line. You can't tell if the seller made money; that would require you to know his/her cost basis and perhaps a bunch more facts that go into the profit calculation and aren't shown on a closing statement. You can, however, find out with some degree of accuracy and certainty what the seller paid for the property X years ago by reviewing the public records at the recorder's office or even using Web sites such as zillow.com which often show old selling prices of various addresses.

I think Mr. Whipple interpreted your question as whether they made money in appreciation in value. If you meant whether the seller had excess proceeds from the sale after the loan was paid, then that information should be in the buyer closing statement.

Mr. Roach really needs to stick to answering questions about things he knows and understands. The seller's side of the escrow is private. There is no way the buyer's closing statement would ever show the seller's financial information, at least not if the escrow agency doesn't want to get sued. The buyer's statement should balance, however. The buyer's statement should show all money deposited into the escrow by the buyer or on the buyer's behalf (including any new loan proceeds from lender(s)), all the money paid out on buyer's behalf, including the purchase price, less seller's credits to buyer if any, delivered to the seller's side of the escrow (this is the only seller's information that would appear on the buyer's statement), title and escrow fees, lender fees, and anything else that the buyer is responsible for paying. If it is a good faith estimate, there usually will be a "cash needed to close" on the buyer's statement. On the final statement, there may be a small payment due the buyer if the cash needed to close was less than estimated. That would then balance the statement.