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Property Scan for California real estate agents

Send any California address and get a CMA back in minutes, built from recorded sales, with every adjustment shown.

Where the sales come from in California

Counties (and many cities) charge a documentary transfer tax based on the price. The tax amount must be shown on the face of the recorded deed, so the price can usually be worked out from it. The buyer also files a Preliminary Change of Ownership Report (PCOR), a two-page questionnaire that asks for the purchase price and terms of sale. It goes in with the deed; filed later, the county recorder may charge a $20 fee. The Board of Equalization says these forms 'are not open for public inspection', so the deed's tax amount is what shows the price.

Documentary transfer tax (county, with optional city tax): County: 'fifty-five cents ($0.55) for each five hundred dollars ($500) or fractional part thereof' (Rev. & Tax. Code §11911(a)). A city may add a tax at one-half that rate, which is credited against the county tax (§11911(b)-(c)).

California has 58 counties. Property Scan covers any of them, pulled on demand.

Every comp in a Property Scan report is a closed sale with a recorded price, adjusted for market time with the FHFA House Price Index for California, which fell 0.2% in the four quarters to the second quarter of 2026 (how comps are chosen and adjusted).

Works alongside your MLS

Keep your MLS for everything else. MLSs that serve California include:

Pricing opinions under California rules

Under California's appraiser law, an opinion of value a real estate licensee gives in the ordinary course of licensed real estate work is not an 'appraisal', but it must not be called an appraisal.

“The term "appraisal" does not include an opinion given by a real estate licensee or engineer or land surveyor in the ordinary course of the person's business in connection with a function for which a license is required under ... Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 10130) ... of Part 1 and the opinion shall not be referred to as an appraisal.”
Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §11302(b)

Every Property Scan report says it's a comparative market analysis, not an appraisal. Not legal advice.

Sources

Facts checked October 30, 2026.

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