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Days after vowing to work with Zillow to uphold the National Association of Realtor’s Clear Cooperation Policy, eXp Realty on Wednesday rolled out a new “Seller Advisory” form in an effort to warn consumers of the risks that come with marketing a property outside of multiple listing services.
The “Seller Advisory: Risks of Limited Market Exposure” open-sourced form is available to anyone via eXp Realty’s website, the brokerage announced in a livestream on YouTube. The form warns homesellers that marketing a property privately without listing it on the Multiple Listing Service or other wider channels “can significantly limit visibility and reduce buyer competition, which may negatively impact your final sale price and terms.”
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The form includes four sections on the drawbacks of limited buyer exposure, financial risk involved as a result of limited competition, the potential for longer days on market and the negative impact of withholding listings from public portals.
“EXp Realty strongly encourages you to consider exposure to the broadest market possible which includes the Multiple Listing Service and broader public marketing channels available to all consumers, prior to accepting an offer,” the form reads in bold.
EXp executives specified on Wednesday that the form is not a contract and also notes that sellers should establish their priorities and weigh any potential ramifications before deciding on forgoing public marketing of a listing.
But before two signature lines at the bottom of the page, the form also says, “Ultimately, the final choice of marketing direction is at your discretion. You acknowledge your eXp Realty agent has explained your options.”
Pareja also took the opportunity during Wednesday’s presentation to criticize “a company” — presumably Compass — that has spearheaded the “so-called ‘seller choice movement,'” which eXp characterized as anti-consumer.
“The loudest voices behind the so-called ‘seller choice movement’ come from a company born out of greedy venture capital that has purchased all its growth without a sustainable business model or a clear path to profitability,” Pareja said.
“And now, in a rush to appease Wall Street investors, they are pushing an agenda that runs clearly counter to consumer best interests.”
The intention behind the new Seller Advisory form is to increase transparency for homesellers, eXp Realty said in a press release.
“Seller choice is foundational, but choice without truth is a disservice,” eXp Realty CEO Leo Pareja said in a statement. “We believe the industry must lead with transparency, not tactics. That’s why we’ve open-sourced this advisory. To give every seller in America a clear view of what’s at stake.”
During a YouTube presentation on Wednesday, Pareja and Holly Mabery, SVP of brokerage operations, said that the form is designed for seller education and to facilitate conversation. But it’s also available to help empower agents industrywide.
“We are going to empower sellers and empower all the agents out there — whether you’re with eXp or another company … you’ll have access to this form,” Mabery said.
Pareja also clarified that its agreement announced with Zillow last week was in no way a signal toward an exclusive partnership with the portal.
“We are offering the same opportunity to every major portal,” Pareja added in a statement. “This is not about favoring platforms — it’s about delivering consumer transparency at scale.”
Pareja framed the move as one by eXp to lead the industry away from the recent conversation surrounding private listing networks and toward transparency.
“We’re not waiting for the industry to catch up,” Pareja said. “We’re modeling what leadership looks like.”
During Pareja and Mabery’s joint YouTube presentation, the two also clarified that eXp Realty will not be engaging in the National Association of Realtors’ new delayed marketing exempt listings option.
After the NAR settlement, “we made a unilateral decision as a company that we would no longer do broker-to-broker to remove confusion to the consumers,” Pareja said.
“We’re finding ourselves in the same situation with delayed marketing — we are not going to do it. We truly believe if a seller requires privacy, which we strongly believe in seller choice, coupled with seller truth and education, if a seller needs that, we are absolutely going to support that. But once that property is inputted into the listing service to be shared with other brokers, our position as a company is, we’re going to share it with everyone.”
View the full Seller Advisory form below.
