A new feature from real estate portal Zillow is causing fresh consternation among real estate agents. The site now offers agents the opportunity to “pre-market” their listings for a fee, letting them appear on the site marked as “coming soon.”
The “Coming Soon” feature can only be used by Zillow Premiere agents, those who pay to advertise with the portal, as well as brokerages and MLSs that provide Zillow their listings in a direct feed. “Coming soon” listings include only the name of the listing agent. (That ads for other agents appear on Zillow alongside their own listings has long been a source of complaints from listing agents.) The listings can be renewed for up to a month.
“In many markets across the country, there are many more buyers than there are for-sale homes, and buyers often experience competitive bidding wars when they do make an offer on a home. Knowledge about homes that will soon be on the market gives buyers a leg up,” Zillow spokeswoman Amanda Woolley wrote in a blog post announcing the feature.
Many multiple listing services (MLSs) frown upon premarketing techniques. MLSs generally require their members to enter the details of any listing they acquire shortly after the agreement is signed with the seller – often in 48 hours or less. The intention is to give all broker members of the MLS a fair shot at finding a buyer for the listing. Advocates say that this practice is best for sellers, too, exposing the listing to as many potential buyers as possible in order to make sure the seller gets the best price.
In extremely competitive market like metro Boston, however, where a dearth of inventory has plagued the market for months, buyers are often ready, willing and able to leap on any listing as soon as it become available. “Pocket listings,” those which are sold without ever being entered into the MLSs – often with a single agent or brokerage capturing the entire commission for the sale – have been on the rise, due to the intense buyer demand.
Forbidden At Home
Though some degree of off-MLS sales are inevitable in such a tight market, premarketing deliberately incentivizes them, critics say. Some MLSs, including Northwest MLS, which governs Zillow’s hometown of Seattle, absolutely forbid any form of premarketing.
That’s not the case in Massachusetts. MLS PIN, the largest MLS in the state, requires listings to be entered into it within 24 hours of a signed listing agreement being received by the listing broker (excepting weekends and holidays). However, MLS PIN does allow brokers to delay showing and accepting offers on the property for up to seven days with the sellers’ agreement. Many brokers take advantage of that time to stage the property and make any repairs or improvement necessary before scheduling the first open house. The listing could be entered as a “coming soon” on Zillow during that period.
However, a recent search of the new feature on Zillow found only a handful of Massachusetts agents taking advantage of it, with just seven “coming soon” listings across the state, from Springfield to the Cape.
Perhaps that’s because many agents have responded quite negatively to the new feature. A recent poll on real estate news portal Inman News found 72 percent of agent respondents “did not approve” of the new feature, with only 22 percent coming out in favor.
Bobbie Files of Success Real Estate in Norton, however, fell among the 22 percent. A buyer’s agent should strive to identify all properties for sale for their clients, not just those listed by a real estate agent, Files contends in a opinion piece for Inman. In that respect, the Zillow feature is similar to checking out for-sale-by-owner sites or Craigslist when searching for a suitable home, Files said.
Email: csullivan@thewarrengroup.com
