In the second episode of Cadê Moradia, Orange County realtor Sammy Veicer points to one of the things that most surprises Brazilians about the American market: the sheer amount of information available. "Here we know everything about everything," he says. "It's all open, you have metrics for everything."

He compares it with Brazil. If you want to sell, you call one real estate office, then a friend at another, and each one advertises on its own — "they don't connect." And if you want to know what your neighbor sold for, you ask the building manager, who guesses. In California, it works differently.

"If your neighbor listed their property, after they sold and closed, it'll say exactly how much they sold the house for." — Sammy Veicer, on the episode

One inventory for every brokerage

Sammy explains that when an agent takes a house to sell, they sign an exclusive contract with the owner — the listing agreement — with a set term and commission, and enter the property into the MLS, the Multiple Listing Service. It contains the homes listed by every agent belonging to the regional association, regardless of company. Any agent in the system can show any house to their clients.

That cooperation is what underpins the two-agent model in a transaction, one on each side, explained in another article in this newspaper. The buyer's agent searches the entire inventory; the seller's agent exposes the property to the whole market at once.

Metrics for everything

Besides price, photos and features, the system tracks data Brazilians rarely see: how many days the house has been on the market, whether the price has dropped, how many similar homes are for sale, and whether the market favors buyers, sellers or is balanced. The days-on-market indicator has its own article in this newspaper.

The most valuable figure comes after closing: the price actually paid. Recent sales of similar homes in the same area — known as comps, short for comparables — are the basis for setting a list price, making an offer and for the lender's appraisal.

Where the transparency comes from

Part of it comes from the MLS; part from public records. In California, every property transfer is recorded with the county recorder, along with the deed and the transfer tax — from which the sale price can be derived. Some U.S. states, known as non-disclosure states, don't make sale prices public; California isn't one of them.

What about Zillow?

Portals such as Zillow, Redfin and Realtor.com show much of this information to the public, including homes already sold. But these sites' automated value estimates are an algorithm's calculation, not an appraisal. Zillow itself states that its estimate's margin of error is much larger for homes that aren't on the market than for listed ones. In the first episode of Cadê Moradia, realtor Mariness Chata had already issued the same warning: use it as a reference, not to make a decision. The price of a house sold a year ago, in different condition, says little about the house you're looking at today.

Licenses are by state — and referrals are paid

Jason Lanzarini asks whether any agent in the country can sell a house listed by Sammy. No: real estate licenses are issued by the state. Sammy is licensed in California and can't work in Florida without getting a license there. What is common is referrals between states: if one of Sammy's clients wants to buy in Florida, he refers a local agent and receives a share of the commission, the referral fee.

Sources and verification

• Episode 2 of the Cadê Moradia podcast (February 2026), with Sammy Veicer and Jason Lanzarini.
• National Association of Realtors — how the Multiple Listing Service works.
• California Department of Real Estate — state licensing of real estate agents.
• Zillow — Zestimate methodology and margin of error for listed and off-market homes.
• Los Angeles County / Orange County Registrar-Recorder — public records of property transfers.

This topic comes from the full episode — watch it:

CADÊ BRAZIL