I have argued that homeowners should always be given a transparent choice about how their homes are marketed. Sellers should understand the pros and cons of full market exposure versus limited exposure, and disclosures shouldn’t be marketing pitches; they should inform consent, not manufacture it.
Compass-Redfin-Rocket partnership
One recent development deserves particular attention. Compass recently announced a three-year agreement to feature its “off-market” listings on Redfin. This announcement may signal something important for our industry.
If listings marketed as “off-market” are now being displayed on one of the largest home-search platforms in the country, the idea of private listings at scale becomes harder to sustain. Once listings are widely visible to the public, they are, in essence, no longer truly private.
At that point, the conversation’s no longer about private listings. It’s about how listings are distributed.
The bottom line is that real estate markets work best when homes are easy to find, and buyers are free to compete. For sellers, this is particularly true because a property simply can’t achieve its true market value if the full market can’t see it. Any friction introduced into the open marketplace is not in the spirit of providing the best opportunities for sellers or buyers. The market itself appears to be reaffirming the simple truth that exposure matters.
That principle has guided the housing market for decades.
Debunking the misconceptions
In my almost five decades as a real estate agent, there’s been one constant. The housing market works best when information flows freely, and consumers can make informed decisions.
One of the misconceptions driving today’s discussions is that sellers need special “private listing” strategies to control how their home is marketed.
They do not.
While MLSs are an imperfect vehicle and while acknowledging that failure to enforce their rules fairly and consistently could eventually negate having them, the MLS does provide sellers enormous flexibility in shaping how their homes are introduced to the market.
A seller can determine the date and time for showings. They can allow only pre-qualified buyers to tour their home. They can require their agent to accompany every showing. They can decide if, when and how an open house can take place. They can invite agents to preview the home and provide feedback before their home is on the market or at any time after. They can choose when and how offers will be reviewed. This list can literally go on and on.
In other words, sellers already have control over the marketing plan for their home. Without changing anything about how the MLS works today, sellers can decide how their property is marketed, from the beginning to the end, within the framework of the MLS. These options have existed for years and are available to every seller.
Some companies have taken these long-standing practices and repackaged them as if they are new or exclusive strategies. They are neither new nor exclusive. Every professional real estate agent operating within an MLS already has the ability to help a seller pursue all their options and customize how their home is marketed.
What we believe
At Keller Williams, our beliefs are straightforward.
We believe an open market serves consumers the best. Sellers should have the opportunity to reach the broadest pool of potential buyers if they choose to do so, because competition benefits the homeseller. At the same time, sellers should retain the right to set the parameters around how their home is marketed.
Information, marketing plan, timing, showing rules and offer management. Those decisions belong to the homeowner. Our job as professionals is to fully disclose and explain the options and then let the seller decide.
We must also consider the other side of the transaction. The buyer.
A healthy housing market depends on buyers having fair access to available homes. When information about listings becomes restricted, buyers see fewer options, and the market becomes less transparent. Eventually, that lack of transparency works against sellers as well, because today’s seller is tomorrow’s buyer.
Zillow’s new preview listing program
Which brings us to another development worth discussing: Zillow’s new preview listing program.
The idea behind the preview listings program is simple. A homeowner has decided to sell their property and give their agent permission to let the market know the home will be available shortly. This allows the listing agent a window to begin generating interest from buyers.
Agents have used variations of this approach for decades.
What’s different about Zillow’s program is that they believe the market is best served when all buyers are offered this opportunity, and doing so is good for both sellers and buyers alike.
Zillow also recognizes the important role and efforts of the listing agent. During the preview listings period, the listing agent’s contact information will be prominently displayed on the site, and a prospective buyer can choose with the click of a button to be connected with the listing agent directly.
Importantly, Zillow is providing real value to listing agents whose listings create buyer leads during the preview listing period.
That’s not insignificant.
When a professional agent invests the time, resources and expertise required to bring a home to market, that relationship should be respected. Leads generated from KW.com are automatically sent to the listing agent. No fees added and no friction created.
With these changes, Zillow honors agents, buyers and sellers while also respecting MLS rules. For these reasons, we’ve decided to support their new preview listing program. Our franchisees and their agents will be able to place eligible listings into Zillow’s preview listing category during the time period allowed by their local MLS, with their contact information displayed for consumers.
If this approach ultimately helps sellers build early interest, helps buyers discover homes earlier, and respects the role of the listing professional, then it represents a constructive step forward. And I, for one, welcome that.
Real estate markets will continue to evolve. New ideas will emerge. Some will succeed, and others will fade. But some things should remain constant:
- Consumers deserve transparency.
- Sellers deserve the ability to choose how their homes are marketed.
- Buyers deserve fair access to the entire market.
- Homes achieve their true market value when the entire market can see them.
And that brings us back to the point I made in my first op-ed: Homeowners deserve a clear and transparent choice about how their homes are marketed.
Transparency creates trust, and trust is what makes markets work.
Gary Keller is the co-founder and executive chairman of Keller Williams Realty. Connect with him on Instagram or LinkedIn.
