266: Did the NAR just kill Zillow?

Traditionally, there have only been two ways for a REALTOR® to list a home for sale - either exclusively to their company or openly on the MLS and internet. But the National Association of REALTORS® this past week announced a third way that they are going to allow homes to be listed - on MLS but without the listing being immediately syndicated out to other websites (like Zillow, homes.com, realtor.com, Redfin, etc.).

Why would a seller want their home listed this way? Well, there are actually several scenarios where it could make sense, but I'm more interested in the big picture potential outcomes of this new policy. The aforementioned websites that rely heavily on MLS listings being syndicated to them would suffer badly if even 10% of listings didn't show up on their platforms. So in doing this, was the NAR shooting a "shot across the bow" at those websites, potentially threatening to end their reign atop the real estate information food chain? It's an interesting possibility and one we have to consider quite seriously.

As always, if you have any questions or comments (or, of course, need a realtor), feel free to reach out to Stan McCune directly by phone/text at [phone] or by email at [e-mail].