An open letter directed to MLS providers by Compass, Redfin and Rocket Mortgage was made public last week. It represents a new low in disingenuous behavior. In it, they make an argument for “seller choice” in permitting sellers and their agents to withhold listings from MLSs so they can be introduced in “private listing” networks which drastically limit the amount of exposure these listings will receive. But who benefits here?
The goal of these private listing networks has NEVER been to offer sellers of residential real estate more options. The goal has always been, and remains, to make more in house deals in which the agency with the listing pockets both sides of the commission. It’s not just that private listings disadvantage buyers by making many listings which might suit their criteria invisible to them; it also disadvantages sellers who, whatever they have been told, expose their home to a very limited buyer pool.
The firms promoting this form of listing lack credibility on multiple counts. The most serious is that there has ALWAYS been a methodology for keeping listings private if that is what the seller truly desires. Many agents have dealt with this when marketing homes owned by celebrities or other public figures. These sellers understand the risk/reward ratio and are willing to accept the extra risk (most particularly the risk that lack of exposure to the full market cannot guarantee the achievement of the highest possible sale price) to reap the reward of enhanced privacy. But this issue only exists for a tiny percentage of sellers in the real estate market.
When the authors of the open letter tout the fact that more and more sellers are choosing to begin their marketing within a private listing network, they neglect to mention the most important fact: sellers are choosing it because it is being aggressively pressed on them and oversold by the very agents and companies which then tout the increase as proof of a change in seller behavior!
The bottom line is simply this: both buyers and sellers are best served by the sort of transparency which Multiple Listing Services, whatever their other issues may be, brought into the marketplace. To pretend otherwise feels self-serving. Sellers are NOT better served by limiting the number of eyes which see their listings. Buyers are NOT better served by not having a single venue or two which they can consult to see all the available inventory which fits their criteria.
When the authors of the open letter claim they are advocating for “seller choice,” experienced agents know that very few sellers, if they truly understand their options, would choose to limit the online visibility of their homes. For many, their home is their most significant asset. Surely they want to be certain they receive the broadest exposure to every appropriate buyer out there.
The Compass/Anywhere merger seems to have slipped through the DOJ’s anti-trust division with a mysterious lack of friction or questioning. The newly formed conglomerate now holds the licenses of over 25% of the country’s real estate agents. This means that this new behemoth’s aggressive belief in guarding its own listings in house through its private networks will be preached throughout its vast network of owned and franchised brokerages.
As I see it, this becomes a disaster for consumers, whose easy access to the broadest listing information will vanish. Our industry worked for decades to create transparency for buyers and sellers wanting access to listing inventory. Private listing networks, in compromising that access, represent a giant step backwards for residential real estate!
For more information, visit https://www.bhsusa.com/.
