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HomeServices is among the brokerages participating in Zillow Preview, a program that allows agents to pre-market listings before they are added to the MLS.
HomeServices of America CEO Chris Kelly says Zillow’s new program, allowing agents to pre-market listings before they enter the MLS, offers the real estate industry a chance to rethink how homes are distributed online.
HomeServices is among the brokerages participating in Zillow Preview, a new program that allows agents to market listings on Zillow before they’re entered into the multiple listing service while still complying with local MLS rules.
Kelly said the rollout comes at a moment when brokerages and portals are increasingly experimenting with different approaches to listing exposure.
“I hope what it serves as is a little bit of a pulse check,” Kelly said to Inman over the phone. “Everybody should take a moment and really assess the long-term implications versus maybe the perceived short-term gains.”
Zillow announced Tuesday that Keller Williams affiliates will be able to pre-market listings through Zillow Preview, with HomeServices of America, REMAX, United Real Estate and Side also part of the program’s initial rollout.
Kelly said HomeServices had been discussing participation with Zillow for the past month as the company prepared for the launch. He added that Zillow appeared to have been developing the program for several months before that.
The launch comes as brokerages and portals increasingly explore new ways to handle listing exposure. Earlier this month, Compass and Redfin announced a partnership allowing Compass agents to display coming-soon listings on Redfin’s platform.
Other brokerages are also testing their own strategies. Last week, Pittsburgh-based brokerage Howard Hanna launched HannaList, a private listing network that allows its agents to share properties internally before distributing them more broadly through the MLS.
As those moves take shape, some industry observers have begun to frame the debate as competing camps emerging around how listings should be distributed. Kelly said some companies may be thinking about the issue in those terms, but he believes the reality is more nuanced.
“I do believe there are some that are thinking of it along those kinds of linear terms — like you’re either on this side or on the other side,” Kelly said. “But like most things in life or business, the truth is somewhere in between.”
Kelly said brokerages across the industry are experimenting with new ways to distribute listing content, but warned that the industry could create problems for consumers if listings become scattered across competing platforms.
“If all brokerages went running in the direction of their own private listing networks not shared with others, not put on the portal, not shared in the MLS — that’s where you really start running the risk of separating the agent from the consumer,” Kelly said.
The result, he said, could be a fragmented marketplace where buyers must search multiple websites just to see what homes are available. Kelly compared the dynamic to the way television viewing shifted after the rise of streaming services.
“If you look at portals like Zillow, it’s a little like YouTube TV,” Kelly said. “That’s where consumers are going to watch the content.”
While some industry leaders have advocated for greater use of private listing networks, Kelly said HomeServices believes most properties still benefit from broad exposure.
“There are times where that kind of secret-passage speakeasy approach works,” he said, referring to selective marketing strategies used for certain properties. “But for the vast majority of businesses, you’re trying to draw the biggest crowd. For the vast majority of our properties, what’s most advantageous for the seller is the widest exposure possible.”
For HomeServices, the Zillow partnership also comes as the brokerage works on simplifying its internal technology systems across its brands. Historically, many of the company’s brokerage affiliates operated on different technology platforms. Kelly said HomeServices has been working to consolidate those systems so agents and consumers can operate on a more unified platform.
“Some of the differentiation we had wasn’t actually making us better,” Kelly said. “It was differentiation for the sake of differentiation.”
By simplifying those systems, he said, the company hopes to move faster as a national brokerage while better integrating its brokerage, mortgage, title and insurance operations.
Still, Kelly said the broader industry debate over listing distribution is likely to continue as he sees more opportunity in the way homes are marketed.
“The truth is there’s lots of ways to do real estate,” Kelly said. “The question is whether we’re thinking about what works best long term — not just what helps us in the moment.”
