Ed Neuhaus 
Perplexity has 15 million active users, and as of March 2026, Pro, Max, and Enterprise subscribers can connect it to any external data source through MCP. We built an MCP connector that pipes live Austin MLS data directly into your Perplexity searches. Active listings, sold comps, market stats. The same property data that powers NeuhausRE.com, just delivered inside the AI tool you already use for research.
Sounds like a lot of moving pieces right. It’s not. The setup is about two minutes, and once it’s connected you can ask Perplexity things like “show me 4-bed homes under $1M in Westlake” and get real MLS results back. Not web scrapes. Not Zillow estimates. Actual listing data.
According to Perplexity’s own changelog from March 13, 2026, custom MCP connectors are available to all paid subscribers. So if you’re already on Pro ($20/month), Max, or Enterprise, you have everything you need. Lets walk through how to set it up.
What Perplexity Pro Actually Is (Quick Version)
If you’re reading this article you probably already know Perplexity. But just in case: it’s an AI-powered search engine that cites its sources. Think of it as Google meets ChatGPT, except it shows you exactly where every answer came from. Pro gives you unlimited searches with the best models (Claude, GPT-4o, Mistral), file uploads, image generation, and the thing that matters for us, MCP connectors.
MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. I wrote a full explainer on what MCP means for real estate if you want the deep dive. The short version: MCP is a standard that lets AI tools talk to external data sources. Instead of Perplexity only searching the web, it can also query a live database directly. In this case, the Austin MLS.
Seth Godin’s whole philosophy is about permission. People opt in to things that genuinely serve them. That’s the idea here. You’re not switching tools or learning a new platform. You’re adding a data source to the one you already use.
What This MCP Connector Gives You
When you connect the NeuhausRE MCP connector to Perplexity, you get four tools that Perplexity can call during any conversation:
search_listings. Find active listings by city, zip code, neighborhood, price range, bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, lot size, and property features. Ask in natural language and Perplexity figures out the parameters.
get_listing. Pull the full details on a specific property. Photos, descriptions, tax history, HOA info, school assignments. Everything the MLS has on it.
get_comps. Closed-sale comparables by address, radius, and date range. This is what agents use to price homes, and it’s what smart buyers use to make informed offers. Available with the Active Buyer tier.
get_market_stats. Median prices, active inventory, days on market, price-per-square-foot trends, and absorption rates by city or zip code. Also Active Buyer tier.
The beauty of this inside Perplexity specifically is that you can combine MLS data with web search in the same conversation. Ask “what sold in 78746 last quarter and how does that compare to the Austin metro average” and Perplexity will pull comps from our MLS server AND search the web for metro-wide context. Try doing that in any other single tool.
Step-by-Step: Adding Austin MLS to Perplexity
Here’s the actual setup. I’m going to walk through this the same way I would if you were sitting across from me at a coffee shop.
Step 1: Open Your Connectors Settings
Log into Perplexity and go to Settings > Connectors. You can also navigate directly to perplexity.ai/settings/connectors. You’ll see any existing connectors you’ve already set up (maybe Google Drive, Slack, whatever you use day to day).
Step 2: Add a Custom Remote Connector
Click the “+ Custom connector” button in the top-right corner. In the modal that pops up, select “Remote” (not Local, since our MLS server runs on the web, not your machine).
Step 3: Configure the Connection
Fill in these fields:
- Name: Austin MLS (or whatever you want to call it)
- MCP Server URL:
https://mls.neuhausre.com/mcp - Description: Live Austin MLS listings, comps, and market data from NeuhausRE.com
- Authentication: OAuth 2.0
- Transport: Streamable HTTP
That URL is the same endpoint used by Claude, Cursor, and every other MCP client we support. One server, works everywhere.
Step 4: Acknowledge and Add
Check the acknowledgement box (Perplexity wants to make sure you understand you’re connecting to a third-party service, no big deal right) and click “Add”.
Step 5: Authenticate
Click the new connector card in your settings to start the OAuth flow. You’ll see a quick signup form asking for your name, email, and phone number. Fill it out, authorize, and you’re done.
The whole process from opening settings to running your first query takes maybe two minutes. I timed it. And I type slow (not going to lie, the dyslexia doesn’t help with form fields).
Example Searches to Try
Ok so you’re connected. Now the fun part. Here are some real queries you can throw at Perplexity to see what comes back. These are the kinds of questions I ask myself when I’m working with a buyer or evaluating a neighborhood.
Finding homes:
- “Show me 4-bedroom homes under $1M in Westlake“
- “What’s available in Bee Cave with a pool and at least 3,000 square feet?”
- “Find listings in 78704 under $600K that have been on the market more than 20 days”
- “Are there any homes in Lakeway near the lake under $800K?”
Pulling comps (Active Buyer tier):
- “What sold within half a mile of 4500 Bee Cave Road in the last 6 months?”
- “Show me closed sales in Westlake Hills over $2M this year”
Market research:
- “What’s the median home price in Dripping Springs right now?”
- “Compare days on market between Lakeway and Bee Cave”
- “How much inventory is available in 78738?”
But here’s the thing that makes Perplexity different from, say, using our MCP connector in Cursor or Claude Desktop. Perplexity blends. It will pull from our MLS AND from the web in a single response. So you can ask something like “show me homes for sale in Bee Cave and tell me about the school district” and it’ll give you real listings from our database alongside school rating data it found online. That combination is genuinely useful for relocators who are researching from out of state.
I recently helped a family moving from San Diego who did exactly this kind of research before they ever called me. By the time we got on the phone, they already knew the zip codes they wanted, the price ranges that worked, and which neighborhoods had the school ratings they needed. We skipped about two weeks of the typical “discovery” phase. That’s what happens when someone has real data instead of Zillow guesstimates.
Who This Is Actually For
Lets be honest about the audience here, because this isn’t for everyone.
Relocators doing serious homework. You’re moving to Austin from somewhere else. You’re the kind of person who researches everything before making a decision (you wouldn’t be on Perplexity Pro if you weren’t). You want real listing data, not whatever Zillow’s algorithm decided to show you. This gives you that.
Investors running numbers. You want to pull comps, check market stats, and evaluate neighborhoods without calling an agent for every question. The Active Buyer tier gives you the data to do your own analysis. And when you’re ready to make a move, I’m here.
Tech-forward buyers who live in AI tools. You already use Perplexity for everything from trip planning to tax research. Why would you go to a separate website to search for homes? This just… adds Austin real estate to the tools you already have.
People who hate chatbots. I wrote a whole article about why real estate chatbots are broken. They ask three questions and then demand your phone number before telling you anything. This is the opposite. You get data first. The conversation with me happens when YOU decide you’re ready, not when a popup harasses you into it.
Free Access and the Active Buyer Retainer
The NeuhausRE MCP connector has a free tier and a paid tier. Here’s how they work.
Free tier. You can search active listings right now, no cost, no credit card. You get 10 results per search, 10 queries per hour, and 100 per month. That’s enough to browse, explore neighborhoods, and get a feel for what’s out there. If you’re just curious about the Austin market or doing early-stage research, this is plenty.
Active Buyer tier ($200/month). This is a buyer’s agent retainer for my services at Neuhaus Realty Group. When you sign a buyer representation agreement with me, you get full MLS access including sold comps, market stats, saved searches, higher query limits (50 results per search, 200/hour, 10,000/month), and of course, me. Nineteen years of Austin market experience, property tours, offer strategy, negotiations, the full agent relationship. The $200 is credited back to you at closing if you purchase through us, so if you end up buying you effectively paid nothing.
I want to be clear about what this is and what it isn’t. The free tier is a tool. The Active Buyer tier is a professional relationship with a real estate agent. You’re not buying data. You’re working with me, and the MLS access is one of the things that comes with that.
How This Compares to Other AI Clients
If you’ve seen our Claude Desktop guide or our Cursor guide, you might be wondering what’s different about Perplexity.
Same MCP server. Same data. Same endpoint: https://mls.neuhausre.com/mcp. The difference is what each client is good at.
Cursor is for developers who want to code against real estate data. Claude Desktop is for deep analysis and long conversations about specific properties or strategies. Perplexity is for research. It excels at blending multiple data sources into a single coherent answer, which makes it particularly good for the “I’m exploring Austin and want to understand the market” use case.
If I had to pick one for a relocator who doesn’t write code, I’d say Perplexity. The web search integration means you don’t have to go anywhere else for context. The full list of supported AI clients is on the main connector page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to Try It?
The setup is genuinely two minutes. Go to Settings > Connectors in Perplexity, add a custom remote connector, paste https://mls.neuhausre.com/mcp, authenticate, and start asking questions about Austin real estate. If you run into anything weird during setup or want to talk about what you’re finding in the data, reach out to me directly. I built this because I think the best way to find a home is to start with real data, not a chatbot quiz. And the people who use tools like Perplexity to do their own research tend to be the exact kind of client I work best with. We get along.
The full list of supported AI clients and detailed documentation is on the Austin MLS MCP connector page.
Be safe, be good, and be nice to people.
