Why am I seeing so many houses for sale, but not listed on Zillow?

[Anonymous]

There are houses for sale in our neighborhood. They have signs in front that say something like "office exclusive". Why is this happening and what does it mean? This is a SFH neighborhood in Fairfax County just outside the beltway FWIW.

[Anonymous]

An office exclusive is when your home is sold by an agent, but not put on the MLS. Instead, it is shopped around where your agent works, or their "Brokerage.” Another word you might hear for this is a "pocket listing."

[Anonymous]

An office exclusive is when your home is sold by an agent, but not put on the MLS. Instead, it is shopped around where your agent works, or their "Brokerage.” Another word you might hear for this is a "pocket listing."

I can't recall so many of these before. Now there are several listed this way. Why would they do this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

An office exclusive is when your home is sold by an agent, but not put on the MLS. Instead, it is shopped around where your agent works, or their "Brokerage.” Another word you might hear for this is a "pocket listing."

I can't recall so many of these before. Now there are several listed this way. Why would they do this?

We live in NW DC and there’s a ton of these here. Compass is the main culprit. It proliferated in the aftermath of the NAR legal settlement. If the listing doesn’t go on the MLS, agents can still collude on fees.

We’ve had a few threads on here about “exclusive” listings. They are almost never to the advantage of the seller.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

An office exclusive is when your home is sold by an agent, but not put on the MLS. Instead, it is shopped around where your agent works, or their "Brokerage.” Another word you might hear for this is a "pocket listing."

I can't recall so many of these before. Now there are several listed this way. Why would they do this?

Oh look, Compass agent is back!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

An office exclusive is when your home is sold by an agent, but not put on the MLS. Instead, it is shopped around where your agent works, or their "Brokerage.” Another word you might hear for this is a "pocket listing."

I can't recall so many of these before. Now there are several listed this way. Why would they do this?

We live in NW DC and there’s a ton of these here. Compass is the main culprit. It proliferated in the aftermath of the NAR legal settlement. If the listing doesn’t go on the MLS, agents can still collude on fees.

We’ve had a few threads on here about “exclusive” listings. They are almost never to the advantage of the seller.

All these threads innocently asking "what are these private exclusive signs?" are clearly agents trying to drum up business for that type of listing. It's so obvious they are trolls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

An office exclusive is when your home is sold by an agent, but not put on the MLS. Instead, it is shopped around where your agent works, or their "Brokerage.” Another word you might hear for this is a "pocket listing."

I can't recall so many of these before. Now there are several listed this way. Why would they do this?

We live in NW DC and there’s a ton of these here. Compass is the main culprit. It proliferated in the aftermath of the NAR legal settlement. If the listing doesn’t go on the MLS, agents can still collude on fees.

We’ve had a few threads on here about “exclusive” listings. They are almost never to the advantage of the seller.

How does a pocket listing enable agents to "collude" on fees?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

An office exclusive is when your home is sold by an agent, but not put on the MLS. Instead, it is shopped around where your agent works, or their "Brokerage.” Another word you might hear for this is a "pocket listing."

I can't recall so many of these before. Now there are several listed this way. Why would they do this?

We live in NW DC and there’s a ton of these here. Compass is the main culprit. It proliferated in the aftermath of the NAR legal settlement. If the listing doesn’t go on the MLS, agents can still collude on fees.

We’ve had a few threads on here about “exclusive” listings. They are almost never to the advantage of the seller.

How does a pocket listing enable agents to "collude" on fees?

Because if the only agents who know it’s for sale are in your office, the buyer’s agent will also be in your office and your office will get all of the fees.

Zillow banned these, Homes.com allows them, there’s a big fight about it currently. Lots of articles if you google.

Pocket listings or private exclusives never benefit the seller.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

An office exclusive is when your home is sold by an agent, but not put on the MLS. Instead, it is shopped around where your agent works, or their "Brokerage.” Another word you might hear for this is a "pocket listing."

I can't recall so many of these before. Now there are several listed this way. Why would they do this?

We live in NW DC and there’s a ton of these here. Compass is the main culprit. It proliferated in the aftermath of the NAR legal settlement. If the listing doesn’t go on the MLS, agents can still collude on fees.

We’ve had a few threads on here about “exclusive” listings. They are almost never to the advantage of the seller.

How does a pocket listing enable agents to "collude" on fees?

Because if the only agents who know it’s for sale are in your office, the buyer’s agent will also be in your office and your office will get all of the fees.

Zillow banned these, Homes.com allows them, there’s a big fight about it currently. Lots of articles if you google.

Pocket listings or private exclusives never benefit the seller.

This! +1

It is nothing more than agents trying to take advantage. Open market competition is normally the best option.

Pocket listings only advantage the small number of exclusive sellers (think Michael Jordon trying to sell a property) who value privacy over home sale value. There is a trade off. For the average seller, it's a dumb approach.

[Anonymous]

It's a way to deliberately limit the buyer pool, which reduces competition among buyers. It provides an advantage to the listing brokerage, usually Compass, because they get both buyer and seller commissions; agents from other brokerages never learn about the listing, can't show it to their clients, and can't earn a commission.

The bogus argument usually advanced for this practice is that it allows people to "test the market", but all that's being "tested" is whether potential in-house buyers might be interested; the buying public at large has no chance to make offers, whether below, at, or above the listing price, so the "testing" period really doesn't reveal anything. And, if the selling agent is skilled, the house will be priced correctly to start with - there is no need to see if people consider the asking price to be too high, because it won't be. If the price is low for the market, the seller should receive multiple offers at or above the asking price, assuming the buying pool is as large as possible, which only happens when a property is in the MLS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

An office exclusive is when your home is sold by an agent, but not put on the MLS. Instead, it is shopped around where your agent works, or their "Brokerage.” Another word you might hear for this is a "pocket listing."

I can't recall so many of these before. Now there are several listed this way. Why would they do this?

We live in NW DC and there’s a ton of these here. Compass is the main culprit. It proliferated in the aftermath of the NAR legal settlement. If the listing doesn’t go on the MLS, agents can still collude on fees.

We’ve had a few threads on here about “exclusive” listings. They are almost never to the advantage of the seller.

How does a pocket listing enable agents to "collude" on fees?

Because if the only agents who know it’s for sale are in your office, the buyer’s agent will also be in your office and your office will get all of the fees.

Zillow banned these, Homes.com allows them, there’s a big fight about it currently. Lots of articles if you google.

Pocket listings or private exclusives never benefit the seller.

Pocket listings are available to any brokerage, they just don't go on MLS. And agents don't make more money if the transaction involves agents from the same brokerage. So no one is colluding on fees despite the paranoia and hysteria on this site about realtors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

An office exclusive is when your home is sold by an agent, but not put on the MLS. Instead, it is shopped around where your agent works, or their "Brokerage.” Another word you might hear for this is a "pocket listing."

I can't recall so many of these before. Now there are several listed this way. Why would they do this?

We live in NW DC and there’s a ton of these here. Compass is the main culprit. It proliferated in the aftermath of the NAR legal settlement. If the listing doesn’t go on the MLS, agents can still collude on fees.

We’ve had a few threads on here about “exclusive” listings. They are almost never to the advantage of the seller.

How does a pocket listing enable agents to "collude" on fees?

Because if the only agents who know it’s for sale are in your office, the buyer’s agent will also be in your office and your office will get all of the fees.

Zillow banned these, Homes.com allows them, there’s a big fight about it currently. Lots of articles if you google.

Pocket listings or private exclusives never benefit the seller.

Pocket listings are available to any brokerage, they just don't go on MLS. And agents don't make more money if the transaction involves agents from the same brokerage. So no one is colluding on fees despite the paranoia and hysteria on this site about realtors.

What are the advantages to the seller and buyer of not going on MLS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

An office exclusive is when your home is sold by an agent, but not put on the MLS. Instead, it is shopped around where your agent works, or their "Brokerage.” Another word you might hear for this is a "pocket listing."

I can't recall so many of these before. Now there are several listed this way. Why would they do this?

We live in NW DC and there’s a ton of these here. Compass is the main culprit. It proliferated in the aftermath of the NAR legal settlement. If the listing doesn’t go on the MLS, agents can still collude on fees.

We’ve had a few threads on here about “exclusive” listings. They are almost never to the advantage of the seller.

How does a pocket listing enable agents to "collude" on fees?

Because if the only agents who know it’s for sale are in your office, the buyer’s agent will also be in your office and your office will get all of the fees.

Zillow banned these, Homes.com allows them, there’s a big fight about it currently. Lots of articles if you google.

Pocket listings or private exclusives never benefit the seller.

Pocket listings are available to any brokerage, they just don't go on MLS. And agents don't make more money if the transaction involves agents from the same brokerage. So no one is colluding on fees despite the paranoia and hysteria on this site about realtors.

What are the advantages to the seller and buyer of not going on MLS?

This has been discussed ad nauseam on this site. Do some research.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a way to deliberately limit the buyer pool, which reduces competition among buyers. It provides an advantage to the listing brokerage, usually Compass, because they get both buyer and seller commissions; agents from other brokerages never learn about the listing, can't show it to their clients, and can't earn a commission.

The bogus argument usually advanced for this practice is that it allows people to "test the market", but all that's being "tested" is whether potential in-house buyers might be interested; the buying public at large has no chance to make offers, whether below, at, or above the listing price, so the "testing" period really doesn't reveal anything. And, if the selling agent is skilled, the house will be priced correctly to start with - there is no need to see if people consider the asking price to be too high, because it won't be. If the price is low for the market, the seller should receive multiple offers at or above the asking price, assuming the buying pool is as large as possible, which only happens when a property is in the MLS.

Agents from other brokerages can show and write on pocket listings.

[Anonymous]

Private listings. This is how we sell our houses. I don't want to have my addresses blasted over the internet.