A clear look at Mortgage & Real Estate data accuracy in Model Match

What’s in This Article 

1. How Model Match Collects Mortgage Transactions

2. Why Some Real Estate Transactions Appear as Cash at First

3. Data availability

4. Historical data access

5. When is license and contact information updated?

6. How we ensure accuracy

How Model Match Collects Mortgage Transactions

Model Match collects new mortgage and real estate transactions daily.

In most cases, the process looks like this:

1. A transaction occurs

2. The county records the document

3. Model Match collects and processes the record

4. The transaction appears in the platform

From recording to appearing in Model Match, the typical timeline is 3 to 5 weeks, depending on the county. Many metro areas update faster, while rural counties may take longer. Collection speed continues to improve as more counties modernize their systems.

Why some real Estate transactions appear as "cash"

Some real estate transactions initially appear as cash purchases. This is normal.

In many cases, the property transfer is recorded before the related mortgage document. When the mortgage transaction is later received, Model Match automatically updates the original transaction with the loan details.

No manual updates are required, and this does not indicate missing or incorrect data.

Why some data fields are not available

Not all transactions include every possible data field. Field availability depends on what was included on the transaction record.

A missing field does not invalidate a transaction. It simply means that detail was not present in the source data at the time it was collected.

Model Match continues to expand field-level coverage across both existing and new markets as more data becomes available

Historical data access

Model Match provides nationwide mortgage and real estate data starting in 2017.

Before that point, records existed but consistency varied significantly by market. Changes driven by the SAFE Act and expanded HMDA reporting requirements led to more reliable licensing and transaction data, making it possible to consistently associate mortgage activity with individual loan officers using their NMLS ID.

Some transactions from 2016 may appear, but coverage prior to 2017 should not be considered complete or uniform across markets.

When is license and contact information updated?

License and contact information in Model Match is updated independently from transaction activity.

Loan officer license data is updated whenever sponsorship or registration changes are recorded. These updates do not require a mortgage transaction to occur. If a loan officer changes employers, updates their registration, or modifies licensing details, those changes are reflected when they become available.

Contact information is refreshed on a regular basis, typically monthly, or sooner when updated information becomes available.

 

How we ensure accuracy

Accuracy matters because the decisions made from this data matter.

Model Match is committed to being transparent about how mortgage and real estate data is collected, processed, and displayed. We believe users should understand not only what the data shows, but how it came to exist in the first place.

We work with multiple data sources to ensure coverage reflects the frontier of what is publicly available. As new markets modernize and new records become accessible, we continuously expand and refine our coverage.

Model Match has been collecting and displaying mortgage transaction data since it first became consistently available, and we’ve evolved alongside changes in reporting standards, technology, and data access. That history matters. It allows us to recognize inconsistencies, improve attribution, and apply lessons learned over time.

Behind the scenes, we apply internal processes for deduplication, conservative attribution, validation, and ongoing review to ensure reports reflect the most accurate view of activity possible. These safeguards go beyond what is commonly applied in the industry and are designed to prioritize correctness over convenience.

We prioritize accuracy over completeness. If we can’t confidently verify a record, we don’t display it until sufficient data becomes available.

No public-record-based dataset is perfect. What we can control is how carefully that data is handled, how clearly limitations are explained, and how consistently accuracy is improved. That commitment is ongoing.