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Yesterday was a win for buyers and sellers everywhere.
The Clear Cooperation Policy — which advocates for public property listings — remains in effect. Sellers can also now choose to delay their homes hitting the open market, but only if other brokerages can see the inventory, too.
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Some real estate leaders have expressed with certitude that it is a matter of time before all real estate companies start caving and marketing private listings. As Yogi Berra said, “Predictions are hard, especially about the future.”
Real estate is an asset class and, as such, it should be regulated under a fair market structure. Hiding and withholding information is market manipulation and creates artificial conditions. Transparent metrics contribute to price discovery.
There is no doubt that from time to time a seller may want to market their property privately for personal reasons. This is the exception to the rule. The vast majority of homeowners who wish to sell their homes understand that to achieve the maximum price, a home must get maximum exposure. That means it is shared everywhere.
Every single real estate agent in the area and beyond should know about a listing so that they can bring in a qualified buyer. Clearly, displaying days on market and pricing, including reductions, will have an impact on the property, both good and bad. But that is the market.
Just like in equities, there is a fair market structure that ensures the information is accurate and not artificial so that consumers can make their informed decisions and so that companies are held to account. The fact that some firms believe it is beneficial to privately market sellers’ homes without sharing them first does a huge disservice, not only to that seller, but to the market as a whole. In my opinion, that model is more about serving the bottom line than it is about seller choice.
Maybe the seller thinks they are satisfied with the price that they receive from having it listed privately, but they will never know what kind of price they could’ve gotten had it been exposed to the entire market. The market tells you everything when it’s operating efficiently and not being cornered, manipulated and underserved.
It’s important to remind ourselves why Clear Cooperation came into effect: for the purpose of sharing factual information so that buyers, sellers and agents alike were able to see inventory levels, pricing and days on the market.
Here’s a question that I would pose to a consumer: If you were looking to buy a home, would you like to know the number of days on the market that home has been for sale? Would you also like to know if there have been price reductions? I am going to assume that the answer is yes to both.
Now, as that same person, you are now selling your home: Do you think it would be appropriate for you to hide the days on the market and whether there have been price reductions? If the answer to that question is yes, then you’re asking to have your cake and another cake, too, which doesn’t work.
Transparency is the only way that a fair market structure can flourish, and, therefore, keeping Clear Cooperation allows that to continue. It is a consumer-forward model, and we owe it to our buyers and sellers to keep it that way.
Bess Freedman is the CEO of Brown Harris Stevens in New York City.
