Local or national? Private or public? Leaders in the real estate industry are rethinking where listings should be available and how consumers shop for homes.
While you may think of the multiple listing service as it exists in its current iteration, the National Association of Realtors traces the MLS concept all the way back to San Diego in 1885. In those days, runners would distribute lists of available properties to members throughout the city each business day.
From those beginnings, we’ve seen the development of one of the world’s most transparent, open real estate marketplaces. However, industry consolidation and the financial pressures of a three-year down market have driven brokerages and MLSs to rethink how they offer access to listings.
Last week, we saw strange bedfellows and erstwhile portal warriors Zillow and Realtor.com join forces to share pre-market listings across both of their platforms with the stated purpose of providing more transparency for buyers.
In a surprising partnership, Zillow and Realtor announced last week that they’d share pre-market listings across both platforms beginning this summer, offering buyers and agents more comprehensive access to home previews.
In a blog post, Realtor.com CEO Damian Eales wrote, “Pre-market inventory is growing, and too much of it is flowing into narrower and more fragmented channels. When listings and information become harder to find, buyers and sellers lose, and it becomes harder for brokers to work together to best serve their clients.”
Zillow CEO Jeremy Wacksman also stressed transparency in his statement on the deal, saying, “The real estate market works best when every buyer has access to the same information — nothing hidden, nothing reserved for a select few.”
Amid industry consolidation and increasing pressure on transaction totals and revenue, it’s more important than ever to understand not only what’s happening but how you can compete in a rapidly shifting marketplace. From leadership lessons to brokerage analysis and MLS changes, Inman contributors have been providing the guidance and insight you count on so you can do more, earn more and better serve your clients.
How ‘The Turner Test’ can help you navigate real estate’s new normal
Are you willing to push back against industry consensus and the doubts of others? If so, coach Darryl Davis writes, you might be a leader like the late Ted Turner.
Consolidation is about speed, not size, as the fast eat the slow
Zac Kennedy describes what Rocket, Redfin, Real and REMAX are actually building — and why your current business model can’t ignore it.
READ PART 2: As the industry consolidates, it’s time to build your own flywheel
MRED goes national: The quiet dismantling of our MLS system
MRED going national is not innovation, coach Darryl Davis writes. It is the beginning of the end of the guardrails provided by local MLSs.
READ PART 2: MRED goes national: How agents can protect local MLS systems