There is new information about the Zillow vs. Compass battle over private listings. According to Homes.com, Zillow “banned” a real estate agent’s listing that hadn’t been submitted to Zillow. It had been listed on the Bright MLS and complied with MLS and NAR rules. Should someone search for the property on Zillow, it will appear with the label “Off Market” that Zillow uses to capture search rankings for properties before their owners are even thinking about selling. “Off Market” could confuse buyers and reduce the price received by the owner of the property.
Zillow, at the same time, has listed homes for sale that are listed only with Zillow and not on any MLS. They intermingle these Zillow only listings with MLS listings. Zillow is doing exactly what they don’t want Compass to do. Both Zillow’s actions and Compass’s will weaken MLSs as a neutral source for information about homes for sale. If you want to see all homes for sale, Zillow wants to force you to go to Zillow. Compass wants to force you to go to Compass. Both want to monopolize the entire real estate market. Will this result in only one place to list your home for sale?
Homes.com responded with “boosted it for free on Homes.com providing enhanced exposure on Homes.com and advertising all over the internet.” Homes.com also describes Redfin and Realtor.com as being partners of Zillow stating “Zillow is paying hundreds of millions, possibly up to a billion dollars, to Realtor.com and Redfin”.
Attempts to monopolize and exploit the real estate market are becoming quite open. The main competition for your commission dollars isn’t between real estate agents, it is between huge real estate firms. A monopoly or cartel won’t be good. “Do no harm” is not in the history of these players.
An MLS is reported to have begun requiring disclosures to buyers and sellers of any referral fees that are paid or received, so that they will know which companies are getting their commission dollars and how much they are getting. You will be better able to understand the costs of buying or selling a home.
The information was taken from a mass email sent by homes.com so I am unable to link to it.