Zillow, Redfin to allow delayed listings that appear on MLS, VOW feeds

Digging into the details

Over the past week, both Zillow and Redfin have unveiled policies that ban certain listings from their sites. These are listings that have been publicly marketed without being input into the MLS and made available to share on any listing website.

Under NAR’s MLOS policy, listings are input into the MLS, but are not available for syndication or to be shared on internet data exchange (IDX) feeds until the delay window expires or the seller chooses to allow for syndication.

But according to NAR’s FAQs about MLOS, delayed listings should be made available on virtual office website (VOW) data feeds. The trade group said the purpose of VOW sites are not for advertising purposes but “to help with the provision of brokerage services to consumers with whom there is an established broker-consumer relationship.” 

In an emailed statement, a Redfin spokesperson wrote that “if a delayed marketing exempt listing is marketed on the listing brokerage’s site, but not shared with other sites in IDX or VOW via the MLS, then it would be banned on Redfin for the life of the listing.”

Redfin is defining the life of a listing as the time a property is spent listed by a specific agent. If the listing is then listed by another agent, even at the same firm, and a different marketing strategy is used, it would be eligible to be shared on Redfin. 

While Zillow is viewing its policy in a similar way by giving the green light to delayed listings — since they are available on MLS and VOW feeds — it defines “life of listing” differently. To be eligible to be shared on Zillow, an expired listing that had previously been banned must be relisted with a new agent from a different brokerage firm.

Based on the current NAR rules for delayed listings and VOW feeds, all delayed listings will appear in VOW feeds, allowing all MLS-participating brokerages with VOW data feeds to post any firm’s delayed listing within their own VOW site. This makes the example described by Redfin, in which a listing is in the MLS but only visible on the listing brokerage’s website, not currently possible.

But Compass, a vocal critic of CCP, recently sent a letter to MLS executives asking them to remove delayed listings from VOW feeds. If an MLS adopted this policy, then a delayed listing would be ineligible to be shared on both Zillow and Redfin.

Although Zillow and Redfin are allowing for delayed listings as long as they appear in VOW feeds, eXp Realty — which was the first firm to agree to Zillow’s listing standards policy — has announced it will not be taking part in delayed marketing exempt listings.

On an industrywide call on Wednesday after, eXp Realty CEO Leo Pareja announced the company’s decision. 

“If a seller really needs privacy, we’re absolutely going to support that. But once that property is input into the listing service to be shared with other brokers, our position as a company is we’re going to share it with everyone,” Pareja said. 

He believes this is an important decision for the brokerage as he feels it will protect eXp and its agents from future lawsuits. 

“Many years from now, or a couple of years from now, when there is class-action litigation against our industry, it’ll be because of a flow chart that shows that you had to be a member of an association or an MLS to get access to the data that was not made publicly available — and we’re just not going to participate in that mess,” Pareja said, referencing NAR’s flow chart to explain delayed marketing listings. 

While Redfin and Zillow have come out strong with their respective stances on the public marketing of exclusive listings, Homes.com has an opposing view. 

In a letter sent to agents over the weekend, CoStar CEO Andy Florance called Zillow’s move “a pure power play of epic proportions.” Florance also reassured agents that “if Zillow does block your listing it will still be seen on Homes.com and the other sites.”

Realtor.com, the only major listing portal yet to announce a stance on this issue, told HousingWire earlier this week that it is “giving the topic thoughtful consideration.”