Zillow Lays Down the Law: Will It Work?

The new policy from Zillow is all kinds of interesting.

[I know it’s unusual for me to post twice in one day. Hell, I’d go weeks without posting sometimes, but this topic is quite special and timely. VIP Subscribers are getting their value this week, for sure!.]

The industry and even mainstream corporate press is agog at Zillow’s announcement that it will ban all private listings from its category-leading portals:

For a seller to get maximum exposure with their listing on Zillow, an agent will need to enter it in the MLS at the point of publicly marketing. Our standards are straightforward: If a listing is marketed directly to consumers without being listed on the MLS and made widely available where buyers search for homes, it will not be published on Zillow. These new standards will go into effect on Zillow and Trulia in May 2025.

Zillow partnered with eXp Realty, the largest brokerage in the country by agent count and transaction sides, in making this announcement. Which is smart, but raises further questions.

Reactions so far are… interesting.

My good friend James Dwiggins, a champion of CCP if there ever was one, declared this is CHECKMATE!

Others have simply noted that this was a real power move by the most powerful institution in the industry. Turns out, that isn’t NAR; it’s Zillow.

I… have questions. Yes, this is a power move by Zillow. Knowing the guys and gals over there, it’s very smart. I’m sure they have thought about it for a while. However, there are real risks here for Zillow and I’m not sold like others that this is a slam-dunk checkmate move. It might be, but might not be.

Let’s dig in, think about things, and speculate together as to what happens now.