CMA Report: What to Include, a Sample, and Winning Listings

A seller who meets three agents in the same week walks away with three prices. If those numbers are within 5% of each other, price isn't what decides who gets the listing. What decides it is what the document behind the price taught the seller about their home, and about the agent.

The CMA report is that document. Most agents treat it as a formality: a price range, three comps, a logo. Yet it's the only thing the seller keeps after the listing appointment. This guide covers what a comparative market analysis should include, walks through a sample page by page, and shows how to tie it to what actually helps you win more listings: a concrete marketing plan.

What you'll learn in this guide:

• The difference between a CMA, an online value estimate, and an appraisal, and the “not an appraisal” statement some states require
• The nine sections of a complete CMA report, in the order the seller reads them
• How to use MLS comps without falling into their blind spots
• Free or paid: what the rules say
• The appointment flow that turns your CMA into a signed listing agreement

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What is a CMA report? Definition and rules

A comparative market analysis (CMA) is a document in which a real estate agent gives an opinion of the price a home is likely to sell for (or rent for) on a given date, based on comparable sales. You hand it to the homeowner, usually after a walkthrough, and it becomes the starting point for setting the list price.

A CMA is not an appraisal. Appraisals follow the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) and are prepared by state-licensed or certified appraisers; your CMA sits outside those rules as long as you don't present it as an appraisal. It doesn't bind the seller, who stays free to list at whatever price they choose, and it won't replace an appraisal for a lender, a court, or the IRS.

CMA, online estimate, appraisal: three different documents

Sellers use these words interchangeably. For you, the distinction matters, because it decides what you can promise.

	CMA	Online value estimate	Appraisal
Prepared by	Real estate agent	An algorithm (listing portals, lenders)	State-licensed or certified appraiser
Scope	Limited: walkthrough, MLS comps	No visit: public records and listing data	Full: documented analysis, several approaches
Value supported	No, the value is an opinion	No	Yes, supported report
Typical use	Pricing a listing, listing appointment	A first idea of price	Mortgage, estate, divorce, litigation, tax
Cost	Usually free	Free	Paid, quoted per assignment

The “not an appraisal” statement

NAR's Code of Ethics draws the line in Standard of Practice 11-1. When REALTORS® prepare an opinion of value or price other than in pursuit of a listing or to help a buyer make an offer, it must include, among other items, the basis for the opinion and, “if the opinion is not an appraisal, a statement to that effect.”

State law often goes further. In Texas, 22 Tex. Admin. Code § 535.17 requires every CMA, broker price opinion, or estimated sale price to include, word for word and in at least 12-point type, a statement that it “is not the same as the opinion of value in an appraisal developed by a licensed appraiser under the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice.” Florida bars licensees from calling a CMA an appraisal at all.

Put the statement on every CMA, whatever your state. It protects you, and it doesn't make the document look weaker to the seller, as long as the rest is solid.

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What should a CMA report include?

A convincing CMA answers three questions, in this order: what did you see in my home, what are you basing this on, and how much. Most templates open with the price. That's a mistake: a number on page one triggers the comparison with the other agents before anyone reads your reasoning.

Here are the nine sections of a complete report.

1. Identification: homeowner, property address, walkthrough date, report date.
2. Property description: type (single-family, condo, townhouse), square footage and where the figure comes from, bedrooms and bathrooms, lot size, floor level for a condo, view, extras (garage, basement, outdoor space).
3. Condition and features: overall condition, recent updates and needed repairs, age of the roof and major systems if you know it.
4. Location: neighborhood, commute, shopping, nearby schools, any nuisances.
5. Local market: recent comparable sales, active and pending listings nearby, typical days on market.
6. Method: how you selected and adjusted the comps.
7. Value: a range, then a recommended list price and why.
8. Limitations: the “not an appraisal” statement (in the exact wording your state requires, if any), the information you couldn't verify, and how long you'd consider the analysis current.
9. Signature: your name, brokerage, and license number.

Square footage is where mistakes cost the most: a gap between the advertised and actual living area flows into the price per square foot of the whole analysis. No national rule tells agents how to measure. Fannie Mae has required appraisers to use the ANSI Z765-2021 standard since April 1, 2022, so the appraiser's number may differ from tax records or an old listing. Say where your figure comes from. Our article on living area and the floor plan goes deeper into what to measure and display.

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CMA report sample, page by page

The table below lays out a four-to-six-page CMA. The right-hand column shows what the seller actually takes away from each page. That column is the difference between a report they read and a report they flip through.

Page	Content	What the seller takes away
1	Main photo of the home, address, date	“They took the time to photograph my home”
2	Description, square footage, floor plan	“They get how we live here”
3	Strengths and watch-outs	“They didn't just flatter me”
4	Sold comps and active listings, on a map	“This price didn't come out of thin air”
5	Price range and recommended list price	“I understand why this price”
6	Marketing and launch plan, “not an appraisal” statement, signature	“I know what they'll do with my home”

Page 3 is the one most often missing. Yet it's the page that builds trust: an agent who points out a bathroom that needs updating or an aging roof before naming a price sounds more credible than one who only sees strengths. It also sets up the negotiation to come, because the flaws were named before the home hit the market.

Page 6 is the one almost no template includes, and we'll come back to it below: it's the page that turns the report into a listing pitch.

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Valuation methods: sales comparison first

Appraisers work with three approaches: sales comparison, income, and cost. For a home, a CMA almost always relies on sales comparison, backed by the income approach when the home is rented or bought as an investment.

Using MLS comps without falling into their blind spots

Your MLS sold data (closed price, closing date, square footage, beds and baths, days on market, photos, and agent remarks) is the best source of comps you have. County records and portal estimates help fill gaps, but every source has blind spots:

• Non-disclosure states: in Texas, Utah, and the other non-disclosure states (about a dozen in all), sale prices aren't public record. MLS sold data is often the only reliable source, and your MLS rules govern how you can share or advertise it;
• Public records can lag behind the MLS, so the most recent sales may not show up there yet;
• The closed price isn't always the whole story: seller credits toward closing costs can make a sale look stronger than it was. Check the concessions field or the remarks when your MLS records them;
• Records ignore condition: two condos of the same size in the same building can show very different prices per square foot, and the data won't tell you why. Photos and remarks will.

Some sales don't belong in your comps at all: transfers between family members, foreclosures and short sales, or one price covering several parcels. Leave them out, or adjust for them openly.

Adjusting comps to the subject home

A raw comp is worth nothing. Adjust each sale up or down for what the data doesn't capture: floor level and elevator for a condo, condition and needed work, outdoor space, garage or parking, natural light, recent updates. Write those adjustments into the report. A seller who sees “+5% for the deck, −8% for the kitchen that needs a remodel” follows the logic. A seller who sees an average price per square foot multiplied by their square footage concludes anyone could have done it.

Add the active listings nearby. They show the competition the home will face, and they help you explain why the neighbor's listing at a higher price never sold.

The trap of the inflated price

Overpricing to win the listing, “buying the listing,” is a familiar temptation, and it has a cost. NAR's Code of Ethics is explicit: Standard of Practice 1-3 says REALTORS®, when trying to secure a listing, “shall not deliberately mislead the owner as to market value.” Article 11 adds that your services must meet the standards of competence reasonably expected in your field.

The other cost is commercial. A listing priced above the market goes stale in a few weeks without showings, and the seller blames you for the price reduction that follows.

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Free or paid CMA?

Since a CMA isn't an appraisal, whether you charge for it is a business decision. Most agents offer it free, because it opens the conversation about the listing. Paid price opinions usually serve other purposes (a lender, an investor, estate planning), and many states regulate them, often under the name broker price opinion (BPO).

The rules vary by state. Two examples:

• in Florida, a CMA or BPO must never be called an appraisal, and a BPO must be performed under a broker's direction and paid to the broker, according to Florida REALTORS®;
• in Texas, every CMA, BPO, or estimated sale price must carry the state's written statement, free or not (22 Tex. Admin. Code § 535.17).

For an agent looking for listings, the question is mostly strategic. A free home valuation is a hook for the first appointment. It's the whole message of the “What's my home worth?” campaigns agents run on social media to bring in sellers.

A “free home valuation” campaign targeted on a radius around your office: the first link in the chain that leads to the listing appointment

These valuation requests come from sellers at a precise moment: they're still comparing agents. IACrea's real estate lead generation is built for exactly that, and our guide to AI real estate lead generation covers the full process.

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Rental CMA: what changes

A rental CMA estimates a home's market rent. It serves the owner who wants to rent the home out, and the brokerage looking to win the property management agreement. The structure stays the same, with three differences.

• Your comps are rents, taken from leased homes of the same type, with furnished and unfurnished units handled separately.
• Spell out what the rent includes: utilities, parking, lawn care, or other services, so your comps line up.
• Rent regulation applies in some places. In California, the Tenant Protection Act (Civil Code § 1947.12) caps annual increases on most covered units at 5% plus regional inflation, with a 10% maximum; the owner can generally set the starting rent for a new tenancy. Local rules can be stricter, and in New York City, rent-stabilized units have a regulated rent. A rental CMA that ignores these rules exposes the landlord to a challenge from the tenant.

For an investment property, the rent also lets you cross-check the sale price with the income approach: net operating income divided by the cap rate seen in the area.

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From CMA to signed listing agreement: what wins the seller

Back to the seller who met three agents. The three CMAs look alike: same MLS data, similar ranges, same “not an appraisal” statement. Price no longer separates them. What does is the answer to the question the seller doesn't always ask out loud: “And what are you going to do with my home?”

Show the home as it will be marketed

The CMA says what the home is worth. Page 6 of our sample says how it will be sold, and it works better concrete than declarative:

• enhanced photos of the home, with the empty living room furnished through virtual staging or the dated kitchen updated through virtual renovation, from a photo you took during the walkthrough;
• the 2D floor plan, scanned on site, which also lets you double-check the square footage in your CMA;
• a short video generated from the photos, plus the launch schedule for the MLS, listing portals, and social media.

The seller's kitchen, photographed during the walkthrough and then virtually renovated: an AI-generated image you present as such to the seller, and label “Virtually staged” in the listing (NAR's Code of Ethics requires a true picture, and California requires a disclosure for digitally altered listing photos)

A seller who sees their own kitchen remodeled is comparing something other than a price: they're comparing a project. We've covered that effect for the floor plan in using the floor plan to win the exclusive listing, and it holds for every image you produce during the appointment instead of promising it for after the signature.

Leave a listing presentation, not just a PDF

Sellers rarely reread a CMA from start to finish. They do show it to their spouse, their kids, sometimes a friend who “knows real estate.” A branded listing presentation that brings together your CMA, the images, and the marketing plan does the convincing while you're not in the room. IACrea's listing presentation kit gathers the staged photos, floor plan, and video; your CMA, built from your MLS comps, slots in alongside them.

Photo quality matters as much as staging: our guide to real estate photography covers how to get the shots right during the walkthrough, in natural light.

Present the price last

In the flow of the appointment, save the price range for the end: description and watch-outs first, then comps, then the recommended list price, then the marketing plan. The seller reaches the number with your reasoning in mind, and leaves with the next steps already underway.

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FAQ

Is a CMA legally binding? No. A CMA is an informational price opinion: it doesn't prove a value and it doesn't bind the seller. Several states require it to say in writing that it isn't an appraisal; Texas, for example, imposes a word-for-word statement on every CMA. For a mortgage, an estate, a divorce, or a lawsuit, you need an appraisal from a licensed appraiser.

Is a CMA from a real estate agent free? Most of the time, yes: agents offer it because it opens the conversation about the listing. Nothing requires it to be free, though. Paid price opinions are regulated state by state, often as broker price opinions; in Florida, for example, a BPO must be performed under a broker's direction and paid to the broker. Check your state's rules before you charge.

What's the difference between a CMA and an appraisal? A CMA is a price opinion an agent prepares from comparable sales, with limited scope. An appraisal is a supported report prepared by a state-licensed or certified appraiser under the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), and it's what lenders rely on. An online value estimate from a listing portal is neither: it's an algorithm.

How long is a CMA valid? No rule sets an expiration date. A CMA reflects the market on the day it was prepared: after three to six months, or after a clear shift in interest rates or local prices, update it before you set the list price.

What should a rental CMA include? A description of the unit, rents for comparable leased homes, the recommended market rent, what that rent includes (utilities, parking, services), and whether the unit falls under rent regulation. In California, for instance, the statewide cap limits increases on most units, and some cities, such as New York City for rent-stabilized units, regulate the rent itself.

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Conclusion

A solid CMA report, with verified square footage, adjusted comps, named watch-outs, and the “not an appraisal” statement, builds trust. It isn't enough to win the listing, because the other agents hand over one too. What makes the difference is the page they don't have: the seller's home already photographed, staged, laid out on a floor plan, with its launch schedule.

IACrea puts those images in one tool, ready before the appointment ends. Create a free account or see our plans and bring them to your next listing appointment.