San Antonio’s MLS may have to adapt to Zillow’s ban on private listings.
Like Chicago’s Midwest Real Estate Data, the San Antonio Board of Realtors MLS includes a private listing database. Local brokers can see listings on this private network, but they don’t appear on public websites.
Zillow has stated that properties marketed privately are barred from its website, but the company might not be rigorously enforcing this rule in San Antonio.
Texas doesn’t require sale price disclosure, so sellers in areas with high property taxes often prefer private deals as a way to hide the true value of the home from local appraisers.
Zillow’s listing standard, implemented earlier this year, only allows properties that have been entered in the MLS within a day of public marketing. The company’s stated goal is to make every listing visible to all buyers, mirroring NAR’s Clear Cooperation Policy.
Zillow warned Chicago’s MLS that its private network breaches this standard. However, Zillow declined to enforce its policy in Chicago, so properties formerly listed on MRED’s Private Listing Network can still appear on Zillow.
San Antonio may be enjoying some immunity as well.
When asked if Zillow is enforcing its private listing ban in San Antonio, Zillow spokesperson Hadley Stecker said that the company’s standards “have been live in San Antonio since the summer.”
Some agents haven’t noticed, including Grant Lopez, president of Keller Williams Heritage, one of the largest brokerages in San Antonio.
“I haven’t heard of any enforcement,” said Lopez, who added that he marketed his own home privately earlier this year before selling it.
“I don’t know if I would say they’re not enforcing it, other than — from the get-go, I thought it was going to be hard for them to track it. I was wondering, how the hell are they going to track if something’s off market and then later goes on market and is in Zillow?”
Zillow is “tracking listing violations in a variety of ways, ranging from programmatic methods to manual listing monitoring,” communications director Hadley Stecker said.
The San Antonio Board of Realtors is working with Zillow to nail down its stance toward the private listing database, spokesperson Taylor Fellows said.
“We were notified of a couple of violations from some of our agents, so we’re in the process of working with Zillow to get some clarity because of what the rules look like,” Fellows said.
Fellows said he doesn’t know whether Zillow is temporarily allowing privately marketed listings.
“I’m not sure,” Fellows said. “I don’t have the exact details on the violation and what all it did entail, but that’s why we’ve reached out to Zillow, and we’re trying to clarify and resolve so we better understand.”
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