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Amid a raging debate within the real estate industry over private listings, Realtor.com CEO Damian Eales on Monday slammed advocates of the idea, calling their arguments “utter nonsense” and suggesting they will find themselves on the wrong side of history.
Damian Eales
Eales made the argument in a blog post in which he praised the U.S. real estate market for, uniquely, giving buyers “fair access to all properties.” He also noted that as an Australian, he has first-hand experience selling homes where the principles of Clear Cooperation do not apply.
Clear Cooperation is a National Association of Realtors rule that requires brokers to put their listings into their local multiple listing service within a day that they begin marketing. The rule has been polarizing, but NAR recently opted to keep it in place, albeit with a key modification.
In his blog post on the topic, Eales most incendiary comments ultimately came several paragraphs in, when he said “it is anathema to common sense that more and more sellers want the ‘choice’ of fewer free eyeballs.”
“More likely, under the influence of those who should know better, and those who have a fiduciary obligation to serve their client’s interests, some sellers are seduced into believing that ‘less is more,'” Eales wrote. “It is utter nonsense, and never-more-so in an emerging buyers’ market.”
The comments tap into the ongoing debate over private listings, which are for-sale homes that are marketed exclusively between brokers or via a broker’s platform but which do not go into the local multiple listing service. Compass and its CEO Robert Reffkin have been the industry’s most vocal advocates of the concept, rolling out a three-phase strategy that sees homes begin their journey on the market as private listings.
Though Compass has been the most proactive voice in favor of private listings, other brokerages have also rolled out their own private listing networks.
However, opponents of the concept have been equally vocal and earlier this year Zillow and Redfin both said they would ban homes from their platforms that are marketed privately. Zillow began warning brokers that their listings were at risk of getting banned earlier this month.
Eales revealed in his blog post that Realtor.com’s relationships with MLSs require the company to show all listings, meaning the site will not follow Zillow and Redfin’s lead in banning privately marketed homes. However, he did say that Realtor.com is “open to working with MLSs who want us to better enforce the principles and policy of Clear Cooperation.”
He also said that cooperation is what enables “this free and open marketplace” — and criticized those on the other side of the debate.
“Why should an uncooperative listing agent be able to sell privately to a restricted group of buyer agents and buyers; and at the same time, benefit from unrestricted access to the listings of cooperative listing agents?” Eales asked in the blog post. “Why should sellers be able to access the value of the very MLS they diminished by being uncooperative? One shouldn’t turn up to a potluck dinner carrying only a fork.”
Eales did mention “some genuine fringe cases,” suggesting there could indeed be times when a private listing is warranted. But he rejected the idea that such cases are widespread, and offered a warning for private listing proponents.
“Brokers who facilitate private marketplaces,” Eales said, “are likely to find themselves on the wrong side of history by putting themselves in the bullseye of litigation from both sellers who feel shortchanged, as well as buyers who claim they were selectively excluded from seeing a property.”
