This story originally appeared on Real Estate News.
In a move designed to “create an even playing field,” real estate listings that are publicly promoted to consumers but not made widely available via the MLS will be barred from Zillow.com starting in May.
“Our belief is that, if a listing is going to be marketed to a buyer or a subset of buyers, it really needs to be made available to all buyers,” Errol Samuelson, Zillow’s chief industry development officer, told Real Estate News on April 10. “This is our implementation of the Clear Cooperation Policy.”
The CCP, instituted by the National Association of Realtors, requires listings to be submitted to the multiple listing service within 24 hours of being publicly promoted.
After months of contentious discussion and debate, NAR announced on March 25 that Clear Cooperation would continue — with an important addition: Multiple Listing Options for Sellers. This new policy will let a seller temporarily keep their home off the Internet Data Exchange, which allows agents, brokers and home search sites — such as Seattle-based Zillow, Realtor.com and Homes.com — to display MLS property listings.
A conflict with ‘delayed marketing exempt listings’?
Zillow’s new standards are “not in direct response to any recent CCP update,” Samuelson said. “This is really about any status of listing.”
But it’s the Multiple Listing Options for Sellers policy, with its provision for “delayed marketing exempt listings,” that could be most affected by Zillow’s action.
NAR, in a frequently asked questions section of its page about the new policy, says that during the delayed marketing period a seller and a listing broker can “advertise their delayed marketing exempt listing on other websites, portals, social media, or elsewhere on the internet in addition to the listing broker’s website.”
Samuelson confirmed that Zillow considers social media, email blasts and even yard signs to be the kind of public marketing that could keep a listing off Zillow forever if that listing is not submitted to an MLS within 24 hours and made widely available to the places buyers search for homes.
“It’s really up to the listing agent and their seller to decide how they’re going to market the listing,” he said. “But if they choose, regardless of the status — including delayed marketing status — to say, for example, ‘I’m only going to market this listing on my own brokerage website,’ there isn’t fair access to all other buyers.”
And Zillow “would not show that listing when it eventually came out on the MLS,” he added.
Why eXp is supporting Zillow’s move
Zillow’s new standards will launch with the endorsement of eXp, which is “deeply committed to giving our clients the most transparent, comprehensive access to property listings in the market,” eXp Realty CEO Leo Pareja said in a statement. “Our new agreement with Zillow ensures that every eXp Realty listing has maximum visibility, creating a more efficient, trustworthy, and open marketplace.”
Samuelson said Zillow is “hopeful” that others will get on board as well.
“We’ve talked to a number of brokerages, and our observation is that the vast majority of brokerages in this country support equal access,” Samuelson said. They “recognize what is special about this notion of the open marketplace” and the MLS as “a cooperative where people can exchange listings.”
It’s also a place where the data says that consumers benefit. Research by Zillow and Bright MLS has found that off-MLS listings can cost sellers thousands of dollars per home, with sellers in communities of color disproportionately harmed by the practice.
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