Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com, local MLS: what each is good for when buying in Florida

Canadian search habits versus Florida reality

A Canadian buyer arriving on the Florida market looks for a familiar portal equivalent. If they come from Quebec, that reference is Centris, the sole mandatory consumer portal under OACIQ rules. If they come from any other province, that reference is Realtor.ca, operated by CREA on behalf of its member boards. Neither has a direct Florida equivalent. Florida has a fragmented portal landscape built on top of regional Multiple Listing Services that are private cooperatives owned by local Realtor associations. The portals license their data, layer proprietary estimates on top, and compete commercially through paid agent placements.

The table below covers all ten provinces. Quebec stands apart on two dimensions: its consumer portal (Centris, mandatory for OACIQ-licensed brokers) and its provincial broker regulator (OACIQ). The other nine provinces share a common federal infrastructure (Realtor.ca via CREA) but each has its own provincial regulator, its own rules around buyer representation agreements, and its own land-record access systems — all detailed row by row below.

Opinion. Treating Florida portals as interchangeable with a Canadian search experience is the most common structural mistake a Canadian buyer makes. The Florida portal market is fragmented, commercially driven, and carries no mandatory listing rule. No single portal gives the full picture. Each is reliable for different things, and a buyer who relies on one alone will, on a competitive listing, end up with stale or commercially biased data.

The landscape: who owns what and who feeds the same MLS

Before comparing user experience, it helps to understand the ownership and supply-chain structure of the Florida portal market.

Zillow Group owns Zillow.com, Trulia (acquired in 2015 for USD 2.5 billion in stock), HotPads (rentals), and StreetEasy (the New York portal). Its data comes from direct agreements with regional MLSs and from listing brokers pushing their listings via ListHub feeds.

Redfin Corporation, since July 1, 2025, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rocket Companies (NYSE: RKT), following an all-stock acquisition valued at USD 1.75 billion. Redfin remains operational under its own brand, with founder Glenn Kelman as CEO. Importantly for buyers, Redfin is structurally both a portal and a brokerage. Its salaried agents have direct MLS access in their licensed markets, which is what gives Redfin its near-real-time data freshness.

Realtor.com is operated by Move, Inc., a News Corp subsidiary, under official license from the National Association of Realtors. That backing gives Realtor.com privileged access to RPR data and to the most timely status feeds across NAR-affiliated MLSs.

Homes.com belongs to CoStar Group, which acquired it from Dominion Enterprises in May 2021 for USD 156 million in cash. CoStar then invested heavily and launched a major "your home, your agent" campaign in 2024, including Super Bowl advertising, to position Homes.com against Zillow's paid-agent model.

Compass is a brokerage with a public consumer portal (Compass.com), publicly listed on the NYSE since April 2021. Movoto is a brokerage-brand portal owned by OJO Labs. Both pull from MLS feeds where they hold IDX agreements.

Regional MLSs themselves (Stellar MLS, MIAMI Realtors MLS, BeachesMLS, NABOR, and others) are the underlying private cooperatives. Some publish a public consumer-facing storefront (Stellar Connect, for example). Others remain agent-only.

Verified fact. All major Florida consumer portals ultimately license listing data from one or more regional MLSs. The differences a buyer experiences (data freshness, layered estimates, photo quality, neighborhood overlays, user experience) are differences in what each portal does on top of that licensed data, not differences in the underlying inventory. Source: NAR MLS Handbook and Stellar MLS coverage area documentation.

Zillow

Zillow.com is the most-trafficked US real estate portal. For a Quebec user familiar with Centris, the interface is recognizable: a map, filters by price and bedrooms, photos, a detailed listing card. The depth of imagery is greater than on Centris, the price-history layer is more extensive, and the off-market data layer (properties not currently listed but for which Zillow displays municipal records) has no Canadian equivalent.

What Zillow does well is breadth. Its photo libraries are typically the largest, embedded 3D walkthroughs and video tours are common, the price-history view shows previous sale prices and the dates of each change, and an integrated mortgage tool gives a quick monthly-payment estimate. Where it falls short is on data freshness and commercial neutrality.

Verified fact. Zillow.com received between 210 million and 322 million monthly visits across recent measured periods (Similarweb, Q4 2025 to Q1 2026 estimates), making it the most-trafficked real estate portal in the United States. Its closest competitor, Realtor.com, draws roughly half that traffic.

Verified fact. Zillow's published median error rate for the Zestimate is 1.74% for on-market homes and 7.20% for off-market homes nationwide (Zillow Zestimate methodology page, accessed April 2026). These figures are nationwide medians: half of Zestimates are within those margins, half are not. Local error rates vary substantially.

Typical range. In Florida specifically, Zestimate gaps of 10 to 20% versus actual sale price are common on niche subtypes: waterfront condos in Cape Coral and Naples, recently renovated single-family homes, tear-down lots in Miami Beach, condotels. This is a practical observation, not a published Zillow figure.

Opinion. A Zestimate is useful as a first-pass anchor and as a rough delta detector when comparing two homes in the same building. It is not a price formation tool. The number that should drive an offer is the appraisal, ordered by the lender or independently by a cash buyer.

The Zestimate trap is the first one a Canadian buyer falls into. Zillow's status updates are also slower than competitors. A property that has gone Pending on the MLS can stay Active on Zillow for 24 to 72 hours. Photos are sometimes retouched (artificial blue sky, off-season green grass, removal of utility poles), the per-broker decision to retouch flowing through to Zillow without modification. And commercial pressure is visible: paid Premier Agent placements appear at the top of contact options on a listing page, without always being clearly labeled as paid placements.

For a non-resident buyer, two operational notes apply. The Zillow Home Loans mortgage tool is integrated into the Zillow listing flow, but Zillow lenders do not serve non-US residents. A Canadian buyer cannot use that path. And the Premier Agent contact form, if filled out from a Canadian phone number, will trigger international call charges to whoever the paid agent on rotation is.

Redfin (now part of Rocket Companies)

Redfin positioned itself from its early days (Seattle, 2004) as the data-first and transparency-first alternative to Zillow. Its model is hybrid: a public consumer portal layered on top of a full-service brokerage with salaried agents. That combination is what produces the data freshness Redfin is known for.

Verified fact. Redfin became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rocket Companies (NYSE: RKT) on July 1, 2025, in an all-stock transaction valued at USD 1.75 billion. Redfin continues to operate under the Redfin brand, and its founder Glenn Kelman remains as CEO. Source: Rocket Companies press releases dated March 9, 2025 and July 1, 2025.

Verified fact. Redfin's published median error rate for the Redfin Estimate is 1.94% for on-market homes and 7.47% for off-market homes (Redfin Estimate methodology page, accessed April 2026). On-market accuracy is materially better than off-market accuracy because Redfin's brokerage operation has direct MLS feeds in the markets it serves.

For a Canadian buyer, Redfin is most valuable as a status-and-history cross-check. If a property is shown as Pending on Redfin while still Active on Zillow, the property is gone. The price-history view is often more complete than Zillow's, with each price change dated to the day. Walk Score, Transit Score, and Bike Score are embedded for every address, useful for buyers unfamiliar with the local geography.

Typical range. Redfin's listing-side commission, before the Rocket acquisition, was advertised in the 1.0 to 1.5% range. Post-acquisition fee structures are evolving, and any buyer or seller relying on Redfin's brokerage services should verify the fee directly at the time of transaction. As a buyer, this matters less than as a seller: the relevant question on the buy side is the buyer-broker agreement and its compensation terms, not the listing-side fee.

What Redfin does less well than Zillow is geographic breadth. In smaller cities and rural counties of Florida, Redfin's coverage thins because its brokerage operation isn't licensed in every market. The salaried-agent model also means a less commission-pressured agent posture, which some buyers welcome and others find insufficiently responsive.

Realtor.com

Realtor.com draws its legitimacy from its official link with the National Association of Realtors. Its UI is less polished than Zillow's or Homes.com's, but for two specific things it is the most reliable portal in the US.

The first is listing status. Active to Pending to Sold transitions on Realtor.com are typically the most current of the three major portals. The second is source attribution: most Realtor.com listings carry a clear "Listing courtesy of [brokerage] via [MLS]" footer, telling the buyer exactly which MLS the data is sourced from and which broker holds the listing. That source-attribution discipline is rare on Zillow.

Verified fact. Realtor.com is operated by Move, Inc., a subsidiary of News Corp, under official license from the National Association of Realtors. Source: NAR licensing documentation and Realtor.com About page.

For a Canadian buyer, Realtor.com is the recommended primary status-check tool, especially before any out-of-pocket commitment (inspection deposit, earnest money). The price-change history is also more granular than Zillow's, with each change dated. Photos on Realtor.com are generally unretouched, though retouching is a per-broker decision and Realtor.com does not enforce a no-retouching rule.

The Find a Realtor tool on Realtor.com lets a buyer filter brokers by active license, languages spoken, and certifications (Certified International Property Specialist, Graduate Realtor Institute, Accredited Buyer's Representative). Useful when looking for a French-speaking Florida-licensed Realtor.

Opinion. Realtor.com is the closest US analogue to Centris in spirit, even though structurally Centris is single-portal-single-cooperative and Realtor.com pulls from many MLSs. The shared trait: both treat listing data as the product, not user time-on-site driven by add-on layers.

Trulia

Trulia was acquired by Zillow Group in February 2015 in an all-stock transaction valued at USD 2.5 billion. Since then, Trulia has shared Zillow's underlying database but built its UI around the neighborhood rather than the property. For a Canadian unfamiliar with Florida, this can be a useful discovery layer.

What Trulia adds, compared to Zillow on the same listing, is neighborhood overlays: thematic maps for crime statistics, school ratings, demographic composition, and resident-satisfaction surveys. Heatmaps visualize price evolution over 1, 5, or 10 years across a metropolitan area. None of these are legal facts. They are aggregated from public sources and self-reported surveys, and they should be treated as directional indicators only.

For the property listing itself, Trulia gives substantially the same information as Zillow, on the same data feed. The complementary value is on the neighborhood side.

Opinion. Trulia's neighborhood layer is most useful at the early discovery stage, when a Canadian buyer is choosing between Cape Coral and Naples or between Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton. Once a specific listing is in scope, the analysis moves to Realtor.com, Redfin, and the county property appraiser site.

Homes.com

Homes.com was a secondary player for years until CoStar Group acquired it in May 2021 for USD 156 million and began rebuilding it. The 2024 repositioning, anchored on the "your home, your agent" campaign and a Super Bowl ad spend, marked a strategic pivot: the listing agent (the actual agent who holds the listing) appears on the listing page, rather than a paid Premier Agent who has bought the placement.

For a Canadian buyer, this is operationally relevant. On Zillow, clicking the "Contact" button on a listing typically routes the buyer to a Premier Agent who paid for that lead, not necessarily to the agent who holds the listing or knows the property. On Homes.com, that contact button routes to the listing agent, which means the first conversation is with the person who has been inside the property, knows the seller's situation, and can answer questions of fact rather than handing off through a referral chain.

Homes.com also benefits from the underlying CoStar data infrastructure, with strong MLS coverage and a clean, large-format photo presentation. Demographic and neighborhood overlays are integrated, similar to Trulia.

Opinion. Homes.com is the most useful portal for a Canadian buyer who wants direct contact with the agent who actually has the property. It has not yet matched Zillow's traffic or Realtor.com's status-data reputation, but for the first conversation it is often the better entry point.

Compass and Movoto

Compass operates Compass.com, the consumer portal for the Compass brokerage. Compass is publicly listed on the NYSE since April 2021. Its portal displays Compass's own listings prominently, plus listings shared via IDX from cooperating MLSs. As with any brokerage-brand portal, the inventory is biased toward Compass-listed properties and the discovery experience is shaped by what Compass wants the consumer to see first.

Movoto is a brokerage-brand portal owned by OJO Labs, with similar logic: it is a portal that funnels leads into a brokerage operation.

For a Canadian buyer, brokerage-brand portals are useful only as a secondary cross-reference. They do not aggregate the full MLS inventory the way Zillow, Redfin, or Realtor.com do.

Regional MLS sites and broker IDX

If a buyer wants the absolute freshest data, the path is to bypass the consumer portals and go to the source: the regional MLS public storefront, or an individual broker's IDX site.

Stellar MLS is the largest MLS in Florida, with more than 80,000 subscribed agents and brokers across 20-plus Realtor associations in central and southwest Florida and Puerto Rico. Stellar Connect is its public consumer-facing storefront. MIAMI Realtors operates the MLS for Miami-Dade. BeachesMLS covers southeast Florida (Broward, Palm Beach, parts of Martin and Indian River). NABOR (Naples Area Board of Realtors) covers Naples, Marco Island, and parts of Collier County.

The trade-off on regional MLS storefronts is austerity. The user experience is functional rather than polished, photo galleries are smaller, filters are sometimes more limited, and there is no Zestimate-style algorithmic estimate. What the buyer gets in exchange is data that is typically as fresh as it can be, often updated within the hour of a status change.

A broker IDX site is the second freshest option. When a Florida Realtor sends a Canadian buyer a personalized link (often something like jane-smith-realty.com/listing/12345), the buyer is browsing an IDX page. The listings are real and pulled directly from the broker's MLS subscription, with the broker's branding layered on top. The trade-off is scope: an IDX site only displays the listings of the MLS the broker subscribes to. A broker subscribed only to Stellar MLS will not show Miami-Dade listings via IDX.

Many Florida brokers configure a personalized buyer portal on their IDX, where the buyer sees real-time matches, can mark properties as "love it", "maybe", or "pass", and the broker sees that feedback. Once a Canadian buyer has chosen a Florida-licensed Realtor, the broker IDX portal is often the most efficient day-to-day search tool, more efficient than going back to Zillow for each new listing.

Alerts, saved searches, and privacy

All major portals let a buyer save searches and receive alerts when new listings match the criteria. For a Canadian, four operational details matter.

Email address. Use a dedicated address (florida-search@yourdomain or a Gmail alias) so that the marketing emails that follow can be filtered and, if needed, archived without polluting the main inbox. All US portals use registration emails for commercial follow-up, lead distribution, and remarketing.

Phone number. Avoid giving a Canadian phone number on a portal account. Premier Agent calls (paid lead distribution) start within hours of registration. For a Canadian carrier, the result is international call charges per minute and a flooded voicemail. The fix is a Google Voice number (free, US-based, forwards to email) or a dedicated US VoIP number.

Alert frequency. In an active Florida market (Cape Coral, Naples, Miami Beach, parts of Boca Raton), the meaningful frequency setting is "instant", not "daily" and not "weekly". Well-priced condos in some segments sell within 24 hours. A buyer on weekly alerts misses the live market.

Privacy regime. This is the point most easily overlooked.

Verified fact. Florida portals are subject to US federal and state privacy law, not to the Canadian regime. PIPEDA (federal Canada), Loi 25 (provincial Quebec, formerly Bill 64), and the GDPR (EU) do not generally apply to a Florida-based portal account. A Canadian who creates an account on Zillow is operating under the portal's US-law privacy policy, not under PIPEDA's consent-based regime. Read the privacy policy at registration.

Opinion. For a Canadian using these portals as a buyer, the practical implication of the privacy delta is not that data will be misused, but that data will be commercialized broadly: lead distribution to paid agents, remarketing, and resale to third-party data services. Pricing this in via dedicated email, dedicated phone, and selective registration is the right defense.

The triple-screen method

For each property that catches a buyer's attention, the procedure is to open three browser windows and cross-check.

1. Realtor.com to verify the listing status and the exact MLS source attribution.
2. Redfin for the algorithmic estimate, the price-change history, and the status as a second confirmation.
3. Zillow for the photos, the 3D walkthrough if available, and the off-market context.

The decision logic is simple. If all three portals agree on Active, the property is very likely available. If Realtor.com or Redfin shows Pending while Zillow still shows Active, trust Realtor.com or Redfin: Zillow is lagging. If the three estimates differ by more than 15%, the algorithms are struggling and the property should be evaluated by a human appraiser before any offer.

Then the buyer goes to the fourth screen, which is the county property appraiser site.

The county property appraiser layer

Each Florida county operates a free public website maintained by its property appraiser's office. These sites carry the kind of data that, in Quebec, would require a paid request from the Land Registry plus a separate visit to the municipality. For a Canadian non-resident, the county property appraiser site is the single most useful tool that does not exist on Zillow.

What the buyer can verify on the county PA site, for any Florida address:

The complete ownership history (every recorded owner since the property's registration with the county). The current just-market value (the appraiser's opinion of fair market value as of January 1 of the current year). The current assessed value (the value used for tax purposes, capped under Save Our Homes for Florida-resident homestead owners). The current millage rate (the property tax rate per USD 1,000 of taxable value). The exemptions on file (Homestead, veteran, senior, widowhood). The Save Our Homes accumulated cap (the gap between just-market value and assessed value that resets when the property is transferred). The permit history (open and closed building permits, often with the work description and contractor).

For a Canadian buyer, three points stand out. The first is that the assessed value will reset to just-market value when the property is sold. A buyer looking at a property that the current owner has held for ten years will pay property tax on a substantially higher base than the current owner. The second is that open permits are a closing-blocker risk: a property with an open permit may not be insurable until the permit is closed. The third is that homestead exemption does not transfer to a non-resident buyer. A Canadian who buys a Florida property is not eligible for homestead, and the effective property tax rate is therefore higher than the Florida-resident neighbor's rate, sometimes substantially.

A non-exhaustive list of useful Florida county property appraiser sites:

• bcpa.net: Broward County (Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood)
• miamidade.gov/pa: Miami-Dade
• leepa.org: Lee County (Fort Myers, Cape Coral)
• collierappraiser.com: Collier County (Naples, Marco Island)
• sc-pa.com: Sarasota County
• pcpao.gov: Pinellas County (St. Petersburg, Clearwater)
• hcpafl.org: Hillsborough County (Tampa)
• ocpaweb.ocpafl.org: Orange County (Orlando)
• pbcpao.gov: Palm Beach County (West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Delray Beach)

Worked example: cross-checking a Cape Coral condo

The example below is illustrative. Numbers are plausible for the current Cape Coral waterfront condo segment as of April 2026 but do not refer to a real listing.

A Canadian buyer is looking at a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom waterfront condo in southwest Cape Coral, listed at USD 519,000.

On Zillow, the property shows as Active. The Zestimate is USD 485,000. Photos are abundant, with a 3D walkthrough. The Premier Agent contact card on the right is for a Cape Coral agent the buyer has never met.

The buyer cross-checks on Redfin. The Redfin Estimate is USD 506,000. The status is Pending. The price-change history shows one reduction (USD 539,000 to USD 519,000) two weeks ago, then a Pending status change three days ago.

The buyer opens Realtor.com. Status: Pending, listing courtesy of Royal Palm Realty via Stellar MLS, last status change three days ago.

The synthesis: the property is no longer available. Zillow is lagging. The Zestimate undervalued by 4 to 6% relative to the Redfin Estimate, and 6 to 7% relative to the listed price the seller and listing agent agreed on. An offer at the Zestimate would have been wrong on two counts: the property is gone, and the algorithmic anchor would have been low for the comparable that does eventually close.

The buyer then opens leepa.org for the same address. Just-market value (Lee County's opinion of fair market value as of January 1, 2026): USD 472,500. Assessed value (cap-limited under Save Our Homes for the current homeowner who has held since 2018): USD 388,000. Annual property tax under the current homestead-protected base: roughly USD 7,750 at a millage of about 20 mills.

For the Canadian buyer, the relevant projection is that the assessed value would reset to just-market on sale, and the homestead exemption would not transfer. The new property tax base would be approximately USD 472,500 (subject to the appraiser's annual reassessment), without the Save Our Homes cap and without homestead, producing an annual tax bill of roughly USD 9,450 to USD 10,400, depending on the precise millage and the absence of homestead. This is a 22% to 34% jump versus what the listing agent or the seller might quote based on current ownership.

The leepa.org permit page also flags one open permit (HVAC replacement, opened January 2026, not yet closed). That is a closing-period item: the buyer or the buyer's broker should require closure of the permit before final settlement, or accept it knowing that some insurance carriers will refuse to bind coverage on a property with open permits.

Verified fact. Save Our Homes is a Florida constitutional cap that limits the annual increase in assessed value of a homesteaded property to 3% or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. The cap resets on sale. Homestead exemption is available only to Florida-resident owners using the property as their primary residence. Source: Florida Department of Revenue, Property Tax Oversight, Save Our Homes documentation.

Common mistakes Canadian buyers make on Florida portals

1. Pricing an offer off the Zestimate. With a 7.20% off-market median error nationwide and 10 to 20% local errors common on Florida waterfront and renovated homes, anchoring an offer to a Zestimate can mean overpaying by USD 30,000 to USD 80,000 on a USD 500,000 property, or underbidding in a competitive segment and losing the contract. The number to anchor on is the lender's appraisal, ordered for a financed deal, or an independent appraisal, ordered for a cash deal.

2. Trusting a single portal's Active status. Zillow can lag 24 to 72 hours behind the MLS on status changes. A Canadian buyer who wires earnest money based on a Zillow Active status, without cross-checking on Realtor.com or Redfin, can end up writing an offer on a property that has been Pending for two days. The result is a wasted negotiation cycle and lost position on a real listing.

3. Registering with a Canadian phone number. Premier Agent calls start within hours. International call charges accumulate quickly, and the inbox floods with paid-lead voicemails. Use Google Voice or a dedicated US VoIP number. Better yet, register with email-only contact when the portal allows.

4. Expecting buyer-broker compensation to appear on the listing. Since August 17, 2024, the NAR settlement prohibits offers of compensation on the MLS. A Canadian arriving in 2026 expecting to see a buyer-side commission listed on Zillow will not see it. Compensation is now negotiated buyer-side, in a written buyer-broker agreement signed before the first tour. Plan for that conversation, and budget for it in the all-in transaction cost.

5. Skipping the county property appraiser site. Tax-related risks (millage rate, absence of homestead, special assessments for hurricane recovery, open permits, prior code-enforcement liens) are visible on the county appraiser website but invisible on Zillow. A Canadian who skips this layer can close on a property and discover at closing a USD 12,000 special assessment or, worse, an unclosed permit blocking insurance binding.

6. Treating Trulia neighborhood scores as legal facts. The crime, school, and resident-satisfaction layers are aggregated from public sources and self-reported surveys. They are directional, not authoritative. For flood-zone decisions, the source is msc.fema.gov. For school zoning, the source is the school district's online school finder. For crime, the source is the local police department's open-data portal where one exists.

7. Confusing a broker IDX site with the full MLS. When a Florida Realtor sends a Canadian buyer a personalized IDX link, the listings are real but limited to the MLS the broker subscribes to. A Stellar MLS broker will not display Miami-Dade or southeast Florida listings via their IDX. For statewide search, the consumer portals (Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com) plus a second broker in the secondary market are the right combination.

FAQ

Can I sign up for a Zillow account from Canada? Yes. Use a dedicated email address and, ideally, a US phone number (Google Voice works) to avoid international Premier Agent calls.

Why do Zillow and Redfin show different estimated values for the same property? Each portal uses its own algorithm with different data sources and weighting. Redfin has direct MLS access through its brokerage operation, Zillow relies on a broader mix including ListHub feeds and public records. Differences of 5 to 10% between the two estimates are normal. Differences above 15% mean the algorithms are struggling on that property type.

Is there a single Centris-equivalent portal for all of Florida? No. The closest functional equivalent is Realtor.com because it pulls from nearly all NAR-affiliated MLSs and is the most reliable on status. Structurally, no US portal aggregates 100% of Florida residential listings the way Centris does in Quebec.

Can a Canadian use Zillow Home Loans for the mortgage? No. Zillow's lending operation does not serve non-US residents. Canadian buyers finance through foreign-national mortgage programs at US banks (RBC Bank US, BMO Harris, Scotiabank, others) or through cash. The chapter 01 financing topic covers this in detail.

Does Florida offer a public listing of who owns each property? Yes, and it is more accessible than in Quebec. Each county property appraiser maintains a free, public website with current and historical owners, sale prices and dates, assessed value, exemptions on file, and permit history.

Why does the buyer-broker commission no longer appear on the listing? Because of the NAR settlement effective August 17, 2024, which prohibits offers of compensation on the MLS. Buyer-side compensation is negotiated in a written buyer-broker agreement, signed before the first tour, between the buyer and the buyer's broker.

How do I tell if a portal listing is current? Cross-check on at least two of Realtor.com, Redfin, and Zillow. Look for the "Last status change" or equivalent date if shown. If they disagree, trust Realtor.com or Redfin first. Zillow is the laggiest of the three.

Out of scope (for now)

The search-portal infrastructure comparison in this guide now covers all ten Canadian provinces in the CA\u2009↔ FL table above. The Quebec column uses Centris as the reference portal; the other nine provinces use Realtor.ca via CREA.

Commercial real estate portals (LoopNet, CoStar Connect) are not covered in this guide. The scope here is residential.

Real estate auction portals (Auction.com, Hubzu) are touched only in the dedicated foreclosure, REO, and short-sale guide of chapter 01.

New-construction direct-from-developer portals are covered in the dedicated preconstruction guide of chapter 01.

Pocket listings and the post-NAR-settlement off-MLS dynamic (how compensation is now negotiated outside the MLS, and what that means for buyer access to non-listed inventory) are flagged for a forthcoming dedicated guide.