A CMA (comparative market analysis) compares a seller's home with recent sales nearby. Berchtold suggests a price range from those sales. You present it to the seller in person, or send them a link.
Before you start
CMAs need two things:
- The CMAs feature. A workspace admin turns it on in Settings, Features. CMAs need Real estate, so turn on Real estate first. See Choose your business type.
- MLS data licensed for CMAs. A CMA uses only MLS data that is licensed for comparative market analysis. Each MLS has its own CMA license and fee. In Settings, Integrations, MLS, a workspace admin selects Request CMA data for the MLS. The fee shows before you send the request.
Until both are in place, the CMAs page says what is missing.
Make a CMA
- Open CMAs, then select New CMA.
- Choose the seller from your contacts, or enter the home's address.
- Berchtold adds the nearest closed sales from the last 6 months, plus homes for sale or under contract nearby.
The CMA opens on its outline. The address is its name.
If the home is listed or just sold
Berchtold checks the home's own MLS listings first.
- A home that is listed or under contract gets no CMA. Make it after the listing ends.
- A home that sold in the last 12 months asks first, with the sale date. Select Make the CMA anyway if you still want one.
Berchtold checks again each time you send the CMA. If the home sells again later, Berchtold asks again. To confirm a sale on a CMA you already have, select Confirm the sale under Agent and delivery.
Check the home's facts
Under Your home, check the beds, baths, square feet, lot, year built and garage spaces. Berchtold fills them from these places, in this order. It never replaces a fact that has a value.
- The property in your CRM.
- The property's MLS listing, when the property is linked to one.
- The home's earlier MLS listing: the most recent listing at the same address and unit. Berchtold uses only MLS data licensed for CMAs.
- Public records, where your plan includes them.
Each fact shows where it came from, for example "MLS listing, May 2021" or "Public records, Oct 2026". Select Edit to change a fact. What you enter always wins, and the history keeps each change.
An unknown fact shows "Not listed". Berchtold never counts it as 0.
Fill empty facts
On a CMA you made earlier, select Fill empty facts. Berchtold looks for each fact that is Not listed. It looks in the home's earlier MLS listing, and in public records where your plan includes them. It never changes a fact that has a value, or one you cleared. The history shows each fact it filled and where it came from. You see the button only while a fact is empty.
Public records may count square feet differently from the MLS. Check the square feet with the seller, because they change each adjusted price.
Choose the homes
- Find more homes searches by distance, sale date, size, beds and status. Select Add next to a home.
- In the presentation, use the switch on each home to include it or leave it out.
- Refresh comps gets the latest MLS facts and shows what changed. Until you select it, each home keeps the facts it had when you added it. So your presentation never changes on its own.
Unusual sales
Berchtold flags a sale when its price per square foot is under 70% of the median. It is often a sale between family members or a home that needs work. The flag says why. In CMA settings, choose whether these sales start included or left out.
The numbers
- Stats use the included closed sales first. Its tabs show homes under contract or for sale instead. Berchtold never averages sold prices and asking prices together. A line says what the numbers use, for example "Numbers use 6 closed sales."
- Adjusted price = sold price + (your home minus the sale) x the value per unit. It adjusts for square feet, bedrooms, bathrooms and garage spaces. You set each value on the Price slide. A value that is missing on either side adds $0.
- Suggested range: the adjusted prices of the included closed sales, from lowest to highest. With 5 or more sales, Berchtold leaves out the lowest and the highest. It rounds the range to the nearest $1,000. The middle value is the median of the adjusted prices.
In CMA settings, an admin can save default values for each market area. A new CMA in that area starts with them.
This is a comparative market analysis, not an appraisal.
Slides
The outline lists the slides in order. Move a slide up or down. Turn Show off to leave a slide out of the presentation, the link and the PDF.
- Data slides: Stats, Compare, Map and Price.
- Content slides come from the Slide library, for example "About us" or "Pricing strategy". Select Add slide from library. In the Slide library, you write workspace slides and your own slides, with text and images.
Present in person
Select Present. Use the arrow keys, swipe on a tablet, or select Full screen. The bar at the top switches between Stats, Compare, Map and Price. Opening the presentation does not change its status. After you show it to the seller, select Mark as presented. A "Listing presentation" note goes on the linked contact's Activity. With no contact, it goes on the linked property. You can present a CMA with neither one linked.
Send it to the seller
- Send link to seller emails the link from your own email. It needs a contact with an email address.
- Copy link copies it to send another way.
- A link works for 90 days. Renew gives it 90 more days. Revoke turns it off.
The seller sees the shown slides only. They cannot change anything.
Each time the seller opens the link, it shows on the contact's Journey. The first time, the contact's owner gets a follow-up task. An automation can start when you send a CMA or the seller opens it.
Export a PDF
Select Export PDF. The PDF has the shown slides in order, with the MLS credit and notices on every data page.
After the presentation
Select Start a listing deal. Berchtold makes a seller deal with the contact and the home, and links it to the CMA. If the CMA has a contact and a property, Berchtold also saves that contact as the property's owner.
MLS credit and notices
Every home shows its MLS's name on its photo and data. Each MLS's credit and notices show on every data slide and page.
If CMAs are turned off
When a workspace admin turns CMAs off, Berchtold keeps your CMAs but hides them. Seller links stop working. Turn CMAs on again to bring them back.
With Claude or ChatGPT
Claude or ChatGPT can make and manage CMAs: the homes, the values, the slides, the link and sending it. They can also fill empty facts. They never get the homes' addresses, prices, photos or the price range. They get only the facts you entered, not the ones from the property, the MLS or public records. Open the CMA in Berchtold to see those.