How to get MLS comparable sales without being an agent

Last updated 2026-07-11

Why do you need comparable sales for a property tax appeal?

Your assessor almost certainly set your value using comparable sales. That's not a guess. The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), which most state assessment laws incorporate by reference, treat the sales comparison approach as the primary method for residential valuation ^[1]. To beat the number, you have to show the assessor picked the wrong comps, missed better ones, or adjusted them wrong.

Here's the part that helps you: the data the assessor used is mostly public. Every sale of real property creates a recorded deed. Recorded deeds are public records. The MLS aggregates those same deed transfers and layers agent-entered listing details on top. You can't get inside the MLS. The sold data underneath it? That's yours for the taking.

This matters for a DIY appeal. Boards of equalization and hearing officers want paper. A printed page from Zillow showing three nearby homes that sold for less than your assessed value, backed by a county recorder printout confirming those sales, is real evidence. No Realtor required.

What is the MLS and what part of it is actually restricted?

The Multiple Listing Service is a private database. Around 580 regional MLS systems operate in the United States as of 2024 ^[2]. Getting in requires a real estate license and association dues. Inside sit active listings, pending sales, and the useful stuff: sold listings with full detail, list price, sale price, days on market, gross living area, condition notes, and the agent's photos.

What's locked is the query interface and the full field set on recent sales. What's not locked is the sale itself. When a property closes, the deed gets recorded with the county recorder or register of deeds. That recording is a public document, searchable free in most counties.

Portals like Zillow, Redfin, and Realtor.com license MLS data from those regional systems and show a slice of it to the public. The delay runs 24 to 72 hours after a sale closes. You see fewer fields than an agent does, but sale price, date, and basic attributes are almost always there.

The real wall is the agent-facing analytics layer: automated CMA tools, market trend dashboards, and bulk export. You can route around every bit of that with the sources below.

How can you get sold comp data from your county assessor for free?

Start here. Every county assessor in the country keeps a property record database, and most publish it online. That database carries the sale price and sale date for every arm's-length transfer used in the mass appraisal model. It's functionally the same sale data the MLS records.

To find your county's sale search tool, Google: [Your County Name] assessor property search OR parcel search. The Cook County Assessor publishes sale prices through its Parcel Viewer at cookcountyassessor.com ^[3]. Los Angeles County's Assessor Portal at assessor.lacounty.gov lets you search by address and see sale history. If you're in a big metro and want to understand your local system, guides like la county property tax and cook county tax assessor tax bill walk through the specific portals.

Once you find a nearby sale, pull the full parcel record. Grab the sale price, sale date, square footage, bed and bath count, lot size, and year built. Do that for five to ten properties within half a mile that sold in the past 12 months. Some jurisdictions let you reach back 24 months when recent sales are thin.

One practical note: assessor databases often lag 60 to 90 days after closing. If a comp shows on Zillow but not in the assessor database yet, note the APN (assessor parcel number) and check the county recorder, which usually records the deed within 30 days.

Texas is its own animal. There, the appraisal district (not the assessor, Texas uses that word differently) publishes sales through the district's online portal. The bexar county tax assessor page covers how Bexar's system works.

Which free public websites show actual MLS sale prices?

Several consumer portals license MLS data and show sale prices to the public for nothing. Redfin and Zillow together cover most of what a homeowner needs.

Redfin is the closest free tool to what an agent sees. Its sold listings carry sale price, date, price per square foot, and a short condition description. Redfin pulls straight from the MLS in most markets it covers, which as of 2024 is the majority of major metros. You can export any single listing as a PDF.

Zillow wins on geographic reach. Sale prices sit on the property page under "Price history." Zillow also runs a Research Data page (zillow.com/research/data) where you can download median sale price time-series by ZIP code free, handy for proving a market-level trend ^[4].

Realtor.com shows sale prices in its listing history. Coverage thins out in markets where local MLSs don't share data under National Association of Realtors agreements.

Estated (estated.com) has a limited free tier that returns sale history and property attributes. For an appeal, skip the API and use the web search.

None of these replaces a full agent CMA. But for pulling five to eight comparable sales with price, date, and specs, Redfin and Zillow together handle about 80% of U.S. metro markets fine.

Source	Cost	Sale price shown	Export option	Coverage
County Assessor Portal	Free	Yes (usually)	Varies	County-wide
Redfin	Free	Yes	PDF per listing	Major metros
Zillow	Free	Yes	Manual copy	National
Realtor.com	Free	Yes	Manual copy	National
Estated (free tier)	Free	Yes	Limited	National
Attom One-Time Report	$25-$75	Yes	PDF/CSV	National
Library (CoreLogic, etc.)	Free w/ card	Yes	Varies	National

Can a FOIA request get you MLS-grade comp data from a government agency?

Yes, in many states. Assessors are government agencies, so their internal sale data, including the comparable sales worksheets used to set your value, often falls under Freedom of Information laws.

Ask for the "comparable sales analysis" or "sales ratio study" for your neighborhood or assessment district, plus the underlying sale file that fed the mass appraisal model for your property type in the most recent reassessment cycle. Some assessors hand this over with a phone call. Others want a written FOIA or open records request.

California's Government Code Section 6250 et seq. (the California Public Records Act) covers assessor records ^[5]. Illinois runs on its Freedom of Information Act, 5 ILCS 140, which requires agencies to respond within five business days ^[11]. Most states have an equivalent statute. A request costs nothing or a small copying fee and can return the exact spreadsheet the assessor used. That beats anything you'll scrape off Zillow.

One catch. Some assessors claim their internal comp databases are proprietary tools licensed from vendors like CoreLogic or Tyler Technologies, and argue the raw data is exempt. That argument is contested and has lost in several state appellate decisions. If you get a denial, narrow the ask to the "recorded deed transfer data" used in mass appraisal. That is unambiguously public.

Do public libraries give you access to professional-grade property data?

Some do, and it's one of the most overlooked resources for a DIY appellant. A single library card can put you in front of the same data a professional appraiser buys.

Larger public library systems, especially in big metros, subscribe to databases like Reference Solutions (formerly Reference USA, now Data Axle), American Community Survey data tools, and sometimes Esri's ArcGIS. A smaller number of academic library systems carry CoStar or CoreLogic through research licenses.

Call your main branch and ask a plain question: "Do you have any real estate sales databases or property data tools for cardholders?" The answer swings wildly by system. Some New York Public Library branches, for instance, give cardholders access to tools with property records built in.

If your library comes up empty, check whether a nearby university library sells community borrower cards. Many do, usually $25 to $75 a year. Real estate and urban planning programs often hold CoreLogic or similar licenses.

One phone call. If you can pull a comp report off a CoreLogic terminal at a library for free, you're working from the same source a paid appraiser uses.

What do paid one-time comp reports cost and are they worth it?

If you want something fast and clean, several vendors sell a one-time comparable sales report for a single address with no subscription or license. Expect $25 to $75 for a solid neighborhood pull.

Attom Data Solutions (attomdata.com) sells individual property reports with comp sales. Pricing moves around, but a neighborhood comp report usually runs $25 to $75 for a one-time pull ^[6]. The data comes from recorded deeds and public records, not agent-entered MLS fields, which is fine for a tax appeal.

PropStream and BatchLeads are investor tools with free trials, usually seven days. Pull a full comp analysis during the trial, cancel before billing, keep what you need. These are legitimate trials, not tricks, but read the cancellation terms before you sign up.

Rocket Homes and HomeLight both hand out free comparable sale reports as lead bait. Enter your address, they show comps, they hope you hire an agent. You owe them nothing. The comp data is real.

My honest take: for most homeowners, the free county assessor portal plus Redfin does the job. Pay for a report only if you're in a rural county with sparse online data, or you need clean formatted output for a hearing where presentation earns points.

How do you make sure your comps are strong enough to win an appeal?

Getting the data is step one. Picking the right comps is step two, and it's where most DIY appeals fall apart. Weak comp selection loses more cases than bad data does.

Assessors and appeal boards use the same selection tests professional appraisers use. Comparability breaks down along four lines: proximity, recency, physical similarity, and arm's-length status.

Proximity: within half a mile is ideal in the suburbs. In rural markets, one to three miles works. In dense cities like Manhattan or downtown Chicago, two or three blocks can be the relevant radius.

Recency: sales within 12 months of your valuation date carry the most weight. Your state statute sets the valuation date. In most states it's January 1 of the assessment year ^[7].

Similarity: aim for properties within 20% of your square footage, the same bath count, similar lot size, and built within 15 to 20 years of your home. Condition counts too. A fully renovated sale is not comparable to your unrenovated house without an adjustment, and the assessor doesn't always make that adjustment in your favor.

Arm's-length: throw out foreclosures, short sales, estate sales, and sales between related parties. They won't hold up under USPAP-aligned standards ^[1].

You want at least three comps that sit clearly below your assessed value. Say your assessment implies $275 per square foot and you find three recent arm's-length sales of similar nearby homes at $230 to $250 per square foot. That's a case.

If you want a structured workflow to carry those comps through a full appeal, the TaxFightBack DIY appeal kit includes comp worksheets built to match what your board of equalization expects.

What's the difference between a sales price record and an MLS comparable report?

Worth being straight about this. There's a real gap, and pretending there isn't sets you up for a bad surprise at a hearing.

An MLS comparable report (a CMA) prepared by a licensed agent includes the agent's notes on condition and upgrades, an adjusted sale price that accounts for differences between each comp and your property, and a professional signature. Some boards, especially for higher-value properties or formal appraisal review hearings, want a full appraisal rather than raw sale prices.

For most residential appeals before a county board of equalization or assessment review board, raw comp data is enough. These are administrative hearings, not courts. Nobody makes you hire an appraiser.

For high-value or commercial properties, or a formal Tax Court proceeding, a full USPAP appraisal is often necessary. If your assessed value runs above roughly $500,000, or you've already lost at the administrative level and want to go to Tax Court, budget for a certified appraiser. Residential appraisal fees run $300 to $700 in most markets, per the Appraisal Institute ^[8].

For the typical homeowner fighting a $350,000 assessment, free county records plus Redfin printouts get it done.

Are there any state-specific databases or portals worth knowing about?

A handful of states built genuinely good public sale portals that go past a basic assessor search.

New York: The New York State Office of Real Property Tax Services (orps.ny.gov) keeps a statewide property database with sale transfers. NYC runs ACRIS (Automated City Register Information System), where you can search every recorded deed in the five boroughs by address or document type free of charge ^[9]. If you're dealing with nyc property tax, ACRIS is the tool.

California: The California Board of Equalization publishes county-level assessment ratios and sale data guides. County assessors vary a lot. Santa Clara County's assessor portal is unusually detailed, and the santa clara property tax guide covers that system.

Minnesota: Hennepin County's property search at hennepin.us is well built and returns sale history with full parcel detail. Hennepin county property tax has more on the local cycle.

Maryland: The state's SDAT real property database (sdat.dat.maryland.gov) plus Montgomery County's own portal both return sale history. See montgomery county property tax for the walkthrough.

Georgia: Gwinnett County's assessor publishes sale data at gwinnettcounty.com with enough detail for comp work. The gwinnett county tax assessor page covers the local appeal calendar.

County not listed? The National Association of Counties (naco.org) keeps a directory of county government websites ^[10]. Start there, find your assessor, and look for a "property search" or "sales search" link.

What format should your comps be in when you submit them to the appeal board?

Format matters more than people expect. A hearing officer working through 40 cases in a day gives your evidence about five minutes. Make it easy to read.

Print each comp on its own page, or build one clean table holding every comp. For each sale, show the property address, APN or parcel number, sale date, sale price, square footage, price per square foot, and the source (name and URL). Then add a column with your property's matching figures.

Pair a county recorder printout (a government document) with the Redfin printout, and your evidence has two independent sources confirming the same sale. That reads far stronger than one source alone.

Do the math for the reviewer. "These three sales average $241 per square foot. My assessment implies $276 per square foot. At the market rate, my property's market value is $X, not $Y, so my assessed value should drop accordingly." That sentence, with the numbers filled in, is the spine of a winning appeal.

Keep the packet under 15 pages. Boards don't reward length.

How does this process change for commercial properties?

Commercial appeals are harder, and the comp search shows it. Sales are less frequent and true matches are scarce.

Because commercial sales come around less often, finding real comparables inside a reasonable distance and time window is genuinely tough. The income approach (capitalizing net operating income) often carries more weight than sales comparison for apartment buildings, retail centers, and industrial property ^[1].

Commercial sale prices are still public record, though. CoStar is the dominant professional database for commercial comps, but it's expensive (subscriptions run $5,000 or more a year) and closed to anyone outside the commercial real estate trade. CREXI (crexi.com) and LoopNet (loopnet.com) are the public alternatives. LoopNet is owned by CoStar and shows a subset of commercial sale history. CREXI shows closed sales in many markets.

For commercial property, a free or cheap approach works on straightforward cases. But if you're contesting a $2 million-plus assessment, an MAI-designated appraiser (a credential from the Appraisal Institute ^[8]) earns the cost. The fee usually runs $1,500 to $5,000 depending on property type and complexity.

If you own commercial property in LA, los angeles county property tax covers how Proposition 13 interacts with commercial reassessments there.

Frequently asked questions

Can I legally access MLS data without a real estate license?

You can't log into the MLS itself. But the MLS doesn't own the underlying sale data. Recorded deed transfers are public records you can search through county recorder offices and assessor portals. Consumer sites like Redfin and Zillow license MLS data and display sale prices publicly. Browsing those sites or pulling county records requires no license at all.

Will Zillow or Redfin comps actually hold up at a property tax appeal hearing?

In most administrative hearings before a county board of equalization, yes. These are informal proceedings, not courts. A printed Redfin listing showing a nearby sale with date, price, and specs, paired with the county assessor record confirming that same sale, is acceptable evidence. High-value cases or formal Tax Court proceedings may want a certified appraisal, but for typical residential appeals the free portals are enough.

How many comparable sales do I need to support a property tax appeal?

Three is the practical minimum. Most assessment appeal guidelines follow appraisal standards that call for at least three sales, and hearing officers expect that baseline. Five or six comps all pointing the same direction is stronger. Skip outliers or sales you can't explain; one bad comp weakens three good ones.

How recent do my comparable sales need to be?

Within 12 months of your jurisdiction's valuation date is the standard. Most states set that date at January 1 of the assessment year. If your market is thin and recent sales are scarce, sales up to 24 months old are generally accepted when you note the time adjustment. Check your state's assessment statute or your assessor's appeal instructions for the local rule.

Does my comparable sale data need to come from a licensed appraiser?

For most administrative property tax appeals, no. You represent yourself and can submit public records and portal printouts. A licensed appraiser is required for formal Tax Court filings in many states and is strongly advisable for commercial properties or any assessment over roughly $500,000, where the math on a professional fee makes sense.

What if my county's assessor website doesn't show sale prices?

Start with your county recorder's website, which records deeds separately from the assessor. If neither is online, file a written open records or FOIA request for the sale transfer file used in your most recent mass appraisal. Many states require the assessor to provide that data. You can also check your state tax department's site, since several states run centralized property transfer databases.

Can I get MLS access through a flat-fee or discount brokerage for comp purposes?

Some flat-fee brokerages will prepare a CMA for you as a paying client without requiring you to list your home. Fees run $75 to $200 for a written report. This gets you agent-level comp data in a formatted document. It's a fair option when your county's public data is sparse and you want a cleaner presentation for the board.

What does 'arm's-length transaction' mean and why does it matter for comps?

An arm's-length sale is one where buyer and seller are independent, with no relationship and neither under duress. Foreclosures, estate sales, intra-family transfers, and bank-owned (REO) sales get excluded from comp analysis because they don't reflect open-market value. Using a non-arm's-length sale as a comp can sink your case; the assessor will point it out.

How do I find the sale price of a specific house if it's not on Zillow or Redfin?

Go to your county recorder's office (in person or online) and search by property address for recorded deeds. The warranty deed or deed of trust filed at closing shows the sale price in many states, or it lives in a separate transfer declaration. Some states charge $1 to $5 for certified copies. This works for any sale, MLS-listed or not.

Is there a free government database of comparable home sales I can download?

The Federal Housing Finance Agency publishes a House Price Index and sale data aggregates, but not property-level comp records ^[12]. The U.S. Census Bureau publishes American Housing Survey data, also not property-level. For actual individual sales, public county recorder and assessor databases are your best free government source. No single national public MLS equivalent exists.

What if the assessor used a sale I think was not arm's-length to value my property?

Challenge it head-on in your appeal. Under an open records request, ask the assessor for the list of sales included in your neighborhood's sales ratio study. If a non-arm's-length transfer is in that set, argue the mass appraisal model was skewed. This works best when you can name the specific sale and document why it fails the arm's-length test.

How do comparable sales work differently in non-disclosure states?

Twelve states, including Texas, Missouri, and Kansas, don't require sale prices on the recorded deed. That makes public comp searches harder. In these states, assessors get sale data through seller disclosure affidavits or transfer tax filings that may not be public. Your best alternatives are Zillow (which gets voluntary disclosures and MLS data), Redfin, and paid providers like Attom. Texas appraisal districts also publish sales voluntarily despite non-disclosure status.

Can I use a sale price from a home I toured or a neighbor told me about?

Only if you can verify it with a public document. Hearsay sale prices aren't evidence. Your neighbor saying their house sold for $310,000 is worthless at a hearing unless you can print the county assessor record or recorder deed that confirms the figure. Trace every comp back to a verifiable public record before you cite it.

How far back can I go when looking for comparable sales?

For most assessments, 12 months before the valuation date is the standard window. Go beyond that and you need to acknowledge the time gap and note the market's trend direction, because the board will. Sales older than 24 months are usually too stale to carry weight in a rising or falling market. In a flat market, some boards accept 36-month-old sales with a written time adjustment.

Sources

1. Appraisal Foundation, USPAP 2024 Edition: USPAP calls the sales comparison approach the primary method for residential property valuation and requires arm's-length transaction status for valid comparables
2. National Association of Realtors, MLS Technology & Emerging Issues Advisory Board: There are approximately 580 regional MLS systems operating in the United States as of 2024
3. Cook County Assessor's Office, Property Search Portal: Cook County Assessor publishes sale prices through its online Parcel Viewer accessible to the public at no charge
4. Zillow Research, Housing Data Downloads: Zillow offers free downloadable median sale price time-series data by ZIP code on its Research Data page
5. California Legislative Information, Government Code Section 6250: California Public Records Act (Government Code Section 6250 et seq.) covers government agency records including assessor data
6. Attom Data Solutions, Property Reports: Attom sells individual neighborhood comparable sale reports with deed-based sale data; one-time report pricing typically $25-$75
7. International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO), Standard on Mass Appraisal of Real Property: Most state assessment statutes set the valuation date at January 1 of the assessment year; IAAO standards call for comparable sales within 12 months of that date
8. Appraisal Institute, Appraisal Fees and Cost Information: Residential appraisal fees range from approximately $300-$700 in most U.S. markets; commercial appraisals by MAI-designated appraisers typically run $1,500-$5,000 depending on property type and complexity
9. New York City Department of Finance, ACRIS (Automated City Register Information System): NYC's ACRIS system provides public search access to every recorded deed in the five boroughs by address or document type at no charge
10. National Association of Counties (NACo), County Government Directory: NACo maintains a directory of county government websites that can be used to locate any county's assessor or recorder office
11. Illinois General Assembly, Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140): Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140) requires government agencies including assessors to respond to public records requests within 5 business days
12. Federal Housing Finance Agency, House Price Index: FHFA publishes aggregate House Price Index data by metro area and ZIP code but does not provide individual property-level sale records