This guide is part of MCP by industry, within The MCP Guide. Not legal or compliance advice. Request a free MCP readiness review.
MCP lets an AI assistant pull property characteristics, valuations and market trends from a licensed data provider, check listing data through your MLS's approved channel and update your CRM, all in one conversation. As of November 2026, Cotality and ATTOM publish MCP servers, and Cotality offers an MLS-focused option through Trestle. Fair housing law and your MLS rules apply to everything the AI produces.
MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard for connecting AI apps to other software through MCP servers. New to it? Start with What Is MCP?.
This guide covers what MCP can do for brokerages, property managers and real estate teams, which servers are documented, the compliance limits and a starter stack. Facts were checked on 2 November 2026. This is not legal advice: your broker of record, compliance lead or counsel should approve AI use in advertising and client communication.
Key Takeaways
- Cotality runs an MCP server at
https://mcp.cotality.com/mcp, and its Claude connector launched on 12 October 2026 for licensed Cotality customers. - Cotality's Trestle MCP, announced 19 October 2026, lets MLSs give approved AI apps governed access to listing data at no additional cost to the MLS.
- ATTOM offers an MCP server covering property details, AVMs, comps and sales history, with authentication, permissions and logging.
- The Fair Housing Act bars ads that indicate a preference based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, whoever or whatever writes them.
- Keep pricing advice, offers, contracts and fair-housing-sensitive copy with licensed people.
What MCP can do in real estate
Useful early jobs are research and drafting:
- Comparable research. Pull property characteristics and comparable sales for a listing presentation.
- Market snapshots. Summarize listing and rental trends for a ZIP code or neighborhood for a newsletter.
- Risk notes. Pull climate risk signals or roof age for an insurance or investment conversation, where your data license allows it.
- CRM upkeep. Tag leads, log calls and draft follow-up emails in your CRM.
- Listing drafts. Draft a property description from the facts, for an agent to edit.
The AI does the look-up and the first draft. A licensed person decides what to say to a client and what to publish.
Which real estate MCP servers exist
Cotality
Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) documents its MCP server on its developer portal. Key points:
- The endpoint is
https://mcp.cotality.com/mcp, using Streamable HTTP. - Most clients use a bearer token. The docs say "Automatic OAuth discovery is a separate flow" for registered interactive assistants.
tools/list"returns only the tools your token is scoped for," so what you see depends on your license.- The portal lists VS Code, Claude Code, Cursor and Windsurf, plus other Streamable HTTP clients.
On 12 October 2026, Cotality launched a Claude connector. The release says it covers property identifiers (CLIP IDs), property characteristics, market trends, climate risk and valuation data, subject to user licensing. It is for Cotality customers.
Trestle MCP for MLS data
Cotality's Trestle MCP announcement, dated 19 October 2026, describes "a trusted, governed connection between approved AI applications and authoritative real estate data." It is available to MLS organizations on the Trestle platform "at no additional cost to the MLS," and it extends "the permissions, licensing, and controls already established through Trestle."
This matters because MLS data comes with display and use rules. A route the MLS approves is safer than a scraper or an unofficial wrapper around a listing feed.
ATTOM
ATTOM's MCP server page says it exposes "schema-aware tools mapped to ATTOM's data," covering property details, AVMs, comps and sales history. It states that "All AI access flows through a centrally managed MCP Server with authentication, permissions, logging, and usage monitoring." The page offers a free trial request but lists no prices.
CRM and marketing
Many real estate teams run on general CRMs and marketing platforms. We have profiles for the HubSpot MCP server and the HighLevel MCP server, which many teams use for follow-up and funnels.
Portals
We found only community servers for consumer listing portals, not portal-published MCP documentation we could verify on 2 November 2026. Many portals restrict automated access in their terms. Check before you connect anything that touches portal data.
Compliance limits
Fair housing applies to AI output
Section 3604(c) of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3604) makes it unlawful "To make, print, or publish, or cause to be made, printed, or published any notice, statement, or advertisement" for a sale or rental that indicates a preference, limitation or discrimination based on "race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin."
An AI that writes listing copy or ad targeting notes can produce phrases that cross that line, often in neighborhood descriptions. Someone at your brokerage still causes the ad to be published. Review every AI-written listing and ad before it goes live, and ask your compliance lead whether your state adds protected classes.
Data licenses and MLS rules
Property data and MLS data are licensed. Cotality and Trestle both describe access that follows your existing license and permissions. Using AI does not widen your rights to display or redistribute data. If a connector lets you pull data you are not licensed to publish, the AI's answer is still unlicensed for publication.
Client data
CRMs hold buyer finances, motivations and contact details. Connect them with per-user sign-in and the narrowest scopes your vendor offers. Read MCP Data Exfiltration for how data can leak between connected tools.
Example prompts
- "Pull property characteristics and recent comparable sales for this address, and list anything that looks inconsistent."
- "Summarize listing and rental trends for this ZIP code over the last 12 months for my newsletter."
- "Which leads in my CRM asked about three-bedroom homes and have not been contacted in 30 days? Draft a short follow-up for each, for my review."
- "Draft a listing description from these facts. Describe the property, not the people who might live there."
The last prompt is a simple fair housing habit. Ask the AI to describe features, rooms and amenities, and to avoid describing the ideal buyer or neighbors.
Questions to ask a data vendor
Before you connect a property or MLS data server, ask:
- Does our current license cover use inside an AI assistant?
- Which tools will our token see, and can we limit them?
- Is access logged, and can we get those logs?
- Can we display or redistribute what the AI returns?
A starter stack
| Layer | Starting choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| AI client | A team plan with admin-approved connectors | Brokerage controls which tools exist |
| Property data | Your licensed provider's MCP server | Access follows your license |
| MLS data | Your MLS's approved route, such as Trestle MCP | Keeps MLS rules in force |
| CRM | Your CRM's official server, read tools first | Leads and notes without bulk export |
| Review | A human check on all ads and listing copy | Fair housing and accuracy |
Plan which tools may run without approval using our tool permission planner.
What to keep with licensed people
- Pricing recommendations and valuations given to clients.
- Offers, counteroffers and contract terms.
- Final listing copy and all advertising.
- Any message that a client relies on to make a decision.
- Decisions about tenant or buyer screening.
- Bulk outreach to leads.
The MCP specification says applications "SHOULD" show confirmation prompts so a human stays in the loop, per the tools section of the 2026-07-28 spec. Keep them on for every write.
Next step
Our MCP readiness audit reviews your data licenses, CRM and workflows before you connect an AI. If you need a custom server, for example over your own transaction or property management data, see MCP development. For a comparison list, read Best MCP Servers for Real Estate.
More in the MCP Guide
Free tools: MCP Readiness Quiz · MCP Server Finder
Latest research: State of MCP: October 2026
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official Zillow MCP server?
We could not find a Zillow-published MCP server to open and verify as of 2 November 2026. Community projects that call listing APIs exist, but they are not vendor products, and portal terms may restrict automated use.
Can an AI write my listing descriptions?
It can draft them. A licensed person should edit and approve every description and ad before publishing, mainly to catch fair housing problems and factual errors. The Fair Housing Act applies to the ad, whoever wrote it.
How does Trestle MCP differ from Cotality's main MCP server?
Trestle MCP is for MLS listing data and is offered to MLS organizations on the Trestle platform, with the MLS's existing permissions and controls. Cotality's main MCP server covers its property, market, risk and valuation data for licensed Cotality customers.
Can an AI do tenant screening through MCP?
Screening decisions carry fair housing and consumer reporting obligations. Keep them with people and with screening vendors whose processes your counsel has reviewed. Use AI for administrative help, not for the decision.
Do I need a developer to set this up?
Not for vendor-hosted connectors that appear in your AI app's directory. You will need technical help for servers that use manual bearer tokens, such as most Cotality developer setups, and for any custom server over your own data.
