The MLS has the data
in the markets you are licensed in
For your own board, the MLS is the reference standard and nothing replaces it. The problem starts at the county line, and with the fact that raw sold data is not an ARV.
If you hold MLS membership, your local MLS is the most accurate source of sold data in your market and no third-party tool matches it there. Two things limit it. The first is geography: access is granted by board, so an investor buying two states over, or an agent licensed in one market and investing in another, simply cannot pull those comps. The second is that the MLS gives you records, not a valuation. Selecting the comparable sales, judging which sold renovated and which sold distressed, deciding whether a cash sale was market activity, and turning the survivors into an after-repair value and an offer, is all manual. Propera works on any address in all 50 states without membership, grades each comp for condition and sale type, adjusts and weights it accordingly, and returns an ARV with a confidence score.
Side by side
| Capability | Propera | Your local MLS |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage | Any address in all 50 states | The markets your board covers |
| Membership required | No | Yes, plus dues and board rules |
| Data recency in your own market | Recorded sales, verified against a second source | The reference standard, often same-day |
| Listing detail and photos | Street view of the subject, and every address links through to its Zillow listing | Full listing records, photos and history |
| Comp selection | Selected for you, then graded | You search and select |
| Comp condition grading | Renovated, Partially Updated, Dated or Rough, adjusted and weighted | You read the listings and judge |
| Retail vs non-retail sales | Every comp graded automatically | You judge from the record |
| After repair value | Generated, with a confidence score | You calculate it |
| Repair estimate | Itemized, from a plain-language description | Not applicable |
| Offer formula | More than 20 configurable inputs, applied automatically | Your own spreadsheet |
| Cost | $49 to $299 per month | Board dues and licensing, which vary widely |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
Your local MLS capabilities taken from Your local MLS's own public pages, checked September 7, 2026. Plans and features change; verify anything that matters to your decision before you buy. "Not described" means the capability is not part of that product's published description of itself, which is not the same as proof it is absent.
Nothing beats your own MLS in your own market
It is worth saying plainly, because a comparison page that pretends otherwise is not worth reading.
Your board's data is the source most third-party tools are ultimately derived from, it updates faster than anything downstream, and it carries listing history and photographs that public records never will. If you are licensed and you are working your own patch, use it.
What it will not do is travel. Access is granted by board, so the moment a deal sits outside the markets you are licensed in, the best data source you have is unavailable to you. That is the case Propera is built for, and it is why coverage is the same on every plan rather than something you buy by territory.
Records are not a valuation
The gap between a comp search and a defensible number is where the hours actually go.
A search returns sales. Turning them into an after-repair value means deciding which properties genuinely compare, reading each listing closely enough to know whether it sold renovated or dated, spotting the transfers that were never open-market sales, discarding the outliers, and carrying what survives into your own offer maths.
Propera does that pass automatically and shows its work: each comp carries a condition grade and a recorded sale date, prices are verified against a second public source, comps that fail verification are excluded, and the resulting ARV carries a confidence score reflecting how hard the comps were to find. You can disagree with any of it, but you start from a number rather than a list.
Not all comps deserve equal weight
A renovated sale and a distressed sale on the same street support very different values. Propera grades every comp on the condition it sold in and on whether the sale was a genuine retail transaction, adjusts its price per square foot toward renovated-equivalent based on that grade, then weights it by how confident the grade is. A dated sale still counts, at what it is worth.
Which one you should actually pick
Stick with the MLS if
- You are licensed and every deal you touch is inside your own board
- You need listing photos, full history and same-day accuracy
- You are comfortable selecting and adjusting comps yourself
- You are producing a listing presentation rather than an acquisition number
Switch to Propera if
- You underwrite outside the markets you are licensed in
- You are not a member and have no route to becoming one
- You want the comp pass done and graded rather than done by hand
- You need the repair budget and the offer, not just the sales
Questions people ask
Can I pull comps without MLS access?
Yes. Propera works on any address in the United States without MLS membership, using recorded sales verified against a second public source. Comp quality follows sales density rather than membership, so results are strongest where recent nearby sales exist and weakest in rural markets where comparable sales are sparse.
Is MLS data more accurate than public records?
In your own market, generally yes. The MLS updates faster and carries listing detail, photographs and history that public records do not. The trade is that it stops at your board's boundary and gives you records rather than a valuation, so the selection and the maths remain yours.
I am an agent. Does this replace my MLS?
No, and it is not meant to. Keep your MLS for your own market and for listing work. Propera is useful to agents in two places: underwriting outside the markets you are licensed in, and producing the ARV, repair budget and offer maths that investor clients ask for and most agent tools do not generate.
Why does comp condition matter so much?
Because a renovated sale and a distressed sale on the same street support very different values. Include a finished flip in an as-is comp set and the number climbs; include a foreclosure in an after-repair set and it falls. The MLS record usually contains enough to tell them apart, but only if someone reads every listing. Propera grades each comp, adjusts its price per square foot on that grade, and weights it by how confident the grade is.
Does MLS access vary by board?
Considerably. Membership requirements, dues, data rules and what you may do with the data all differ between boards, and some markets have several. That variation is exactly why coverage outside your own board is difficult, and why Propera prices coverage the same on every plan rather than by territory.
Run a property you already know
The fastest way to judge the comps is on a deal you underwrote yourself.
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