A proptech startup has entered the chat on private listings, offering a possible alternative to pocket listings in the Texas luxury market.
As real estate heavy hitters Compass, Zillow and the National Association of Realtors duke it out over the legality of private listings, Dayton, Ohio-based Unlisted has created a product that turns the whisper network of off-market listings into an app.
The Waitlist is a platform that lets homeowners gauge buyer interest before listing. The web app, which will eventually be available on iOS as well, lets window shoppers express interest in homes before their owners are ready to sell. Homeowners can respond to users on their waitlist, and its profit model sells real estate agents the chance to own zip codes on its website.
The goal is to create Waitlist profiles for every home in the country, using property descriptions generated automatically and public record data purchased from ATTOM. Since the app launched on June 18, 7,000 homes, worth an estimated $5 billion, have generated waitlists.
Real estate agents can buy zip codes in the Unlisted system, assuming the title of Local Expert and attaching their information to every home profile in the area. Only one agent is selected per zip code, and most of them so far are Sotheby’s International Realty professionals.
JB Hayes, a Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s agent who’s bought five zip codes throughout Dallas, is betting on Unlisted to become a springboard for off-market transactions.
“Before, people would share off-markets with their colleagues that are in other brokerages, or people they’ve done deals with, but that’s illegal marketing now,” Hayes said.
She’s referring to the nationwide dispute over the National Association of Realtors’ Clear Cooperation Policy, a rule that requires listing agents to put a property on the local MLS within one day of marketing it for sale. Zillow has lent its considerable muscle to enforcing the rule, interpreting yard signs and social media posts as public marketing.
NAR and Zillow are challenging Compass, which has pioneered private exclusive listings on a systematic scale. In addition, Compass has inspired firms like Douglas Elliman, Corcoran and Coldwell Banker to prove NAR’s rule.
But Unlisted founder Katie Hill insists The Waitlist isn’t a shopping platform, and it isn’t meant to facilitate off-market sales.
“That’s not the vision right now. We want to be a readiness site, not a listing site,” Hill said. “The entire industry as we know it competes in listings; nobody competes in folks who are not for sale.”
Effective November, homeowners on the site can authorize agents to update their property profiles.
The app could be particularly useful in Austin, where high property taxes and no mandatory sales price disclosure generate a strong preference for privacy among luxury buyers and sellers for whom it’s more profitable to avoid a flashy price tag.
Because private sales keep local appraisers in the dark about the true price of a property, it’s all but conventional for homes above $10 million to avoid the Austin MLS altogether, according to Jeanne and Julie Residential Group, an Austin luxury team.
“Austin is an anomaly. California puts everything on MLS, everything. And Dallas and Houston put pretty much everything on MLS. So Austin’s really kind of an anomaly in the country,” Jeanne Parker said.
A dwindling buyer pool in Austin is driving more Austin ultra-luxury sellers to the open market this year, according to the team. However, as long as there are wealthy buyers and sellers who want privacy more than a top-dollar offer, there will be a demand for private listings.
“People get the most exposure when you promote and market and list. That is definitely the best way to go, because you’re going to drive up the price, and there’s more people that are going to get their eyeballs on it. There are some people that just don’t care,” Hayes said.
“They get the price they want, they’re going to be happy. So why go through all the hoops to make the house show-ready?”
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