A lead is a person who asked to be contacted. A seller signal is a public record showing that something just changed for a property owner. One comes to you, shared and late. The other you go find, early and mostly alone.
The short version
Someone filled out a form or clicked "Contact Agent" on a portal. The portal sells that contact, usually to more than one agent. They raised a hand. So did everyone else's phone.
A filing at a Massachusetts Registry of Deeds or Probate and Family Court. A probate opened. A divorce filed. A tax lien recorded. Nobody raised a hand. The record just tells you where to look.
CORVENIS sells signals. It does not sell leads, and it won't tell you a filing is one.
Side by side
| A purchased lead | A seller signal | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it starts | A person takes an action on a website. | A document is recorded at a registry or court. |
| Did they ask to hear from you? | Yes. | No. Your first contact is cold, and it has to be careful. |
| Who else has it | Usually other agents who paid for the same contact. | Anyone could look it up. Almost nobody does. |
| When you find out | After the person has started shopping. | The day after the filing is recorded, often before any decision about the house. |
| What you get | A name and a phone number. | The property, the filing type, the date and the source document. |
| What it costs | Per lead or per zip code. It scales with how much you want. | A flat monthly plan. From $49. |
| What it takes from you | Speed. You're racing the other agents. | Judgment. You decide who to call and how. |
The honest part
Nobody on the other end is expecting your call. If you want people who already asked for an agent, that's a lead, and this isn't it.
A filing shows that something changed. Plenty of estates keep the house. Plenty of divorces end in a buyout. Some signals go nowhere.
These are people in the middle of a death, a divorce or a debt. How you show up decides whether you get a conversation. That part is your craft, not our software.
202 of Massachusetts's ~358 towns are live today. Check your town on the Coverage Map before you subscribe.
Why it matters
Most agents have two ways to find business. Wait for someone they know to send a referral, or pay a portal for leads.
The first one you can't control. The second one you may not be able to afford. Before building CORVENIS, founder Matt Moisan called Zillow and asked what it would cost to buy leads in his own zip code. The answer was about $2,000 a month for roughly four leads.
Signals are a third option. They don't depend on who you know, and they don't get more expensive as you work more of them.
Can you do this yourself?
Every filing CORVENIS shows you is a public record. You can pull it yourself, for free, from the registry and court websites.
"Can an agent do what CORVENIS does on their own? Absolutely. Speaking first hand, it's an incredible time suck. Finding these filings on the county websites is incredibly challenging. You can waste an entire day just trying to find two or three."
Matt Moisan, founder. Licensed Massachusetts real estate agent, 12+ years. About Matt
Massachusetts has 21 Registries of Deeds and a statewide Probate and Family Court. Each has its own search. None of them are built to answer "what was filed in my town yesterday that might mean a sale."
CORVENIS reads all 22 sources every day and sorts what it finds by property address. You're not paying for the records. You're paying to not spend your day finding them.
No. A lead is a person who asked to be contacted. A seller signal is a public filing that shows something changed for a property owner. The owner hasn't asked for anything.
They're different. A lead is warmer, shared and costs more. A signal is earlier, far less crowded and takes more skill to work. Many agents use both.
No. CORVENIS is a next-day public record search for Massachusetts real estate agents. It shows you filings. It doesn't sell contacts who asked for an agent.
Five categories of Massachusetts filing: Pre-Foreclosure, Probate, Tax Lien, Equity and Ownership Change, and Life Events such as divorce filings and death certificates.
Yes. They're public records at the Massachusetts Registries of Deeds and Probate and Family Court. The work is in checking 22 sources every day and matching each filing to a property.
A filing is typically searchable in CORVENIS the day after it's recorded.
Check your town. If it's live, we'll send up to 10 recent filings from it, free, no card.
Check Your Town