What IS the Thinking?
The real estate industry is very much in flux, for a lot of reasons, like AI, Buyer Services Agreements, and the question of who should be paying buyer’s agents... But I want to talk about the notion of private listings. It is an issue that to me is such a no brainer… I scratch my head over the arguments in favor of private listings. I’m going to skip the jargon and talk in plain language regarding what private listings are and how I feel about them.
We have seen tons of real estate changes over decades. When we started as a team buyers often called the listing agent to ask questions and they got someone on the line who knew the house! Then the MLS started syndicating listing data, basically granting access to real estate companies to publish listings on their own websites. As an unintended consequence, Zillow was born. Zillow created a great search site and added some value in the process, like community info. But the main offering was our listings; photography that listing agents paid for, our marketing copy, etc. Their business model was to sell buyer “leads” back to agents. This was annoying… but it wasn’t against the rules. Now something new is happening. Private listings. That’s where a real estate company first offers a home listing ONLY to the agents in their company BEFORE putting it on MLS or Zillow. There is a lot of industry infighting about this, as you might expect. But I really have been trying to figure out why anyone would think this is a good idea for the seller clients they have a duty to protect.
There are some possible reasons why it might be good for the company, and maybe the buyers who work with agents from that company, but is it good for the seller? No way - not in my view.
Private listings are bad for most buyers because they can’t see all of the listings. Even if you are working with a company that offers these sneak peak private listings, you can’t work with more than one broker at a time, so you will miss listings from other companies. Buyers going to multiple places to search inventory is what happens with cars… and it sucks! Home listings in other countries are fragmented in this same way. We are very lucky, in my opinion, to have an MLS model that makes searching for a home centralized and straight forward. The MLS protects consumer access, encourages fair housing, helps sellers optimize their outcome and keeps brokerages from becoming monopolies. So I don’t see private listings being good for buyers.
How about sellers? As a seller, do you want to put your home in front of a small subset of buyers, or all buyers? Softball question. All buyers! Prove me wrong. That buyer who will pay the most might not be working with the very same brokerage as the seller of that perfect home. If you want to maximize the sales price, you want to reach every possible buyer. That is the only way to ensure you find the highest offer.
In Washington state, organizations like the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) and Washington Realtors have taken a stance: listings should be shared widely, not hidden. NWMLS rules prevent brokers from marketing homes exclusively within their own office or networks before entering them into the MLS — a policy meant to preserve fairness and maximum exposure for sellers. They are backing legislation to basically say that you CAN promote a listing within your own brokerage company, as long as you also put that property listing on MLS.
The National Association of Realtors’ Clear Cooperation policy also reinforces this at the national level: if a home is publicly marketed, it must be submitted to the MLS promptly, unless the seller has specific, informed reasons for opting out. Bottom line: in this market, holding your listing behind a brokerage curtain generally benefits the brokerage more than it benefits you. Maximum exposure isn’t just good practice — it’s the strategy most likely to get sellers the best price and smoothest path to closing.
