Why anyone selling a home should be following the ‘Zillow ban’ lawsuit closely right now

Marketwatch ^ | Jul 2, 2025 | Aarthi Swaminathan

[where's_the_Outrage?]

The real-estate industry is battling it out over control of for-sale listings, and home sellers in particular could get hurt.

Two major lawsuits filed over the last two weeks against the real-estate platform Zillow and the National Association of Realtors, an industry group, seek to answer the question of who controls home listings in America.

The lawsuits, filed by two real-estate companies, challenge the status quo of how for-sale listings are seen by millions of users on the internet. The plaintiffs want to keep some listings private and only accessible to those who hire certain brokers.

Under the current policy, which is essentially enforced by real-estate platforms, buyers can see almost all U.S. homes for sale online within 24 hours of the properties being publicly marketed as for sale. Because all public for-sale listings are fed to real-estate platforms, home sellers can get the highest level of exposure and the highest price possible.......

In the first lawsuit, the real-estate brokerage Compass accused Zillow of being anticompetitive with its new rule banning any home listings from the platform that appear on any other service for more than 24 hours before going up on Zillow. Critics have dubbed the rule, which went into effect Monday, the “Zillow ban.”

Compass has argued that it should be able to offer listings marketed exclusively via its own platform without having them appear on Zillow. Zillow, for its part, has said that “consumers deserve fair access to listings without having to get access behind a velvet rope controlled by any one company.”

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: fsbo; housing; mls; realestate; realty; zillow

[where's_the_Outrage?]

As I seller I'd want more access to my listing(s), seems like there's effort to restrict who can see what based on who lists.

Just outside my subdivision there's a house with a relator for sale sign, but it does not come up on Zillow.

[VAFreedom]

i still remember we had to go thru travel agency to get tickets cheaply

[PGR88]

As I seller I'd want more access to my listing(s),

And as I real estate broker, I'd want to make sure government and the courts enforce my industry's long-term monopoly over the market and guarantees my profits!

[AAABEST]

Thankful to be a commercial broker and not deal with any of this, or MLS, NAR, lockboxes, empty-nest fatasses and the rest of the nonsense resi people put up with.

Believe it or not selling industrial/retail/land is so much easier.

[cuban leaf]

The place I currently live was FSBO. We used an attorney to buy and it was easy-peasy. I don’t expect the place to come on the market again until after I’m dead.

I’d not want to be a buyer nor seller in the current real estate market.

[wally_bert]

Hopefully nothing to do with Eric Cartman Real Estate.

https://youtu.be/Iysw5I50Cr0?si=ty0H9gapfuWDy-xb

The usual South Park language warnings but it is funny.

[RainMan]

What is at issue here are what are referred to as pocket listings. Pocket listings are basically listings by brokers that do NOT go on the MLS. The reason is that the seller is willing to sell, but not fully committed to it. Another term for this is a “make me move” listing. Pocket listings typically get a price higher than typical market, specifically because the seller will not sell unless they get what they want. The last thing the seller wants is a record of how many days they were on market at a specific price without selling, because if they ever do sell, that could be used against them to drive down the price. I would often use pocket listings on properties that I was flipping. It was essentially preselling the house so that once I completed the work it was already sold.

[Bayard]

And if I was a home buyer I would be resistant to any attempted platform that enables greater price fixing for infalted housing prices.

[sevinufnine]

I had a big problem with Zillow just last month. Made the difficult and emotional decision to sell a large chunk of hunting property. Went with a major agency that specializes in the same. When the listing popped up on Zillow they had incorrect information about my land displayed. This property has been in the family since 1952. The land below me has changed hands multiple times. That parcel sold 2 years ago for $120k. My parcel is literally 20 times larger and 5 times more expensive to purchase. So….zillow had my place as being sold 2 years ago for $120k. It took my realtor, the MLS manager lady for our area, and nearly an act of God to get it removed. Hopefully it didn’t cause any prospective buyers to turn away. I was not happy. Sloppy work on Zillows part.

[sevinufnine]

I mean, how do you confuse 15 acres with 240 acres in a listing’s history???

[cableguymn]

yup. We contacted the agent we bought our house from 10 years ago, said we are looking to sell. he came out looked the house over gave us a estimated sale price and said “call me when you are ready” after we told him we had to do some landscaping and get the place generally ready to sell.

he called last night and asked “if I got you 10% over what I said it would sell for (already a healthy number) would you be able to close in 30 days?

I laughed and said “why? sell it already?” he replied “only if you say yes”

so we have 29 days to move out lol.

blows me away someone would buy a home for lets say half a million based on old photos and someones word. but here we are.

[RitchieAprile]

I actually didn’t know that. Make me move, indeed..

[JimRed]

The idea behind a multiple listing service (MLS) was to have brokers cooperate to the client’s advantage. More exposure usually equals more offers from which to choose.

[Chickensoup]

Zillow is problematic for renting property too.

They want to control the process. Not good. Cannot get misinformation off the site.

[Vaduz]

Zillow covers a wider range of options than the big agents do and better prices.

Worth looking into if on the house hunt.

[Faith65]

thanks
bfl

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

So….zillow had my place as being sold 2 years ago for $120k. It took my realtor, the MLS manager lady for our area, and nearly an act of God to get it removed. Hopefully it didn’t cause any prospective buyers to turn away. I was not happy. Sloppy work on Zillows part.

Was the listing correct on your local MLS?

[AppyPappy]

This happened to me. We called our realtor to say we were ready and she had a full-price offer immediately. We still had to list the house if only for a few minutes.

[AppyPappy]

That’s common where we lived previously. White hot market at a university. Bidding wars were common. The guy with the highest bid will be the hardest to work with. His price is the maximum he will pay and he’ll start grinding you down.

We sold the house, the guy next door sold his for double our price and now the Zestimate is $130k more than our price.

[Dr. Sivana]

The place I currently live was FSBO.

We sold our starter home FSBO in Rockford, IL.

The Rockford market is rarely "hot", and our neighborhood was okay. I did my research, and was confident in our pricing. It helped that the house was on a main road. People saw the sign. Besides all the realtors who called wanting the listing, or an offer of a commission if the y bring a buyer, Iwe had only gotten a couple of tire kickers.

Then, a mother-adult daughter team. Husband was killed in civil strife in Burundi. TRUE refugees. They were concerned because they were new to the country, and didn't have their realtor, but saw the sign.

I asked them if they had a bank, and were cleared for financing. They told me they were. I told them they should go to the bank with our flyer, and let him lead them without the realtor. They came back, counter with $3,000 off, and a one-year guarantee on the furnace. That was exactly what I wanted. A reasonable counter. From there, we got a deposit, and all went smooth. That was in 2006. The paperwork is much worse now.