StreetEasy: NYC sellers express ‘remorse’ after listing privately
A survey by the Zillow subsidiary found that most sellers support broad listing access, and those who listed off the MLS were more likely to regret their sale.
The debate over private listings has become increasingly muddled.
One side — led by Compass — says private listings are better for sellers. Compass promotes private listings as a form of "seller choice" and asserts that agents do sellers a disservice by listing their homes on the MLS immediately, releasing preliminary data in February that suggests homes sell faster and for a higher price when initially pre-marketed.
The opposing side — led by Zillow, eXp and others in the industry — contends that sellers are not well informed about private listings, presenting contradictory studies that indicate sellers who list off the MLS are potentially leaving thousands of dollars on the table.
While neither camp seems likely to budge, new data from StreetEasy, a Zillow subsidiary specializing in the New York City market, gives private listing opponents more ammunition.
Seller's remorse? A Harris Poll commissioned by StreetEasy surveyed more than 500 people who sold (or tried to sell) a home in NYC using an agent, and the findings suggest that sellers don't prefer private listings.
Nearly three-quarters of the respondents (73%) said their agent recommended listing their home privately. While the report didn't indicate how many sellers took that advice, it found that 1 in 3 sellers (33%) who listed privately at some point in the sale process experienced "seller's remorse." Among those who only listed publicly, 12% had regrets.
Agent-related challenges: NYC sellers typically contacted four agents before settling on one, and many sellers reported difficulties during and after the selection process. Finding the right agent was a top challenge for 40% of the sellers surveyed, and 37% said they had trouble communicating with their agent.
Still, most clients stuck with their agents — but there was one notable difference: 16% of sellers who listed privately at some point ended up firing their agent, compared to 5% of those who only listed publicly. Private sellers were slightly more likely to consider offers below asking (41% versus 37% of public sellers) or have an offer fall through (34% versus 32%).
What do sellers want? The vast majority of NYC sellers surveyed (94%) agreed that having their home in front of more buyers would help it sell faster, and 93% said they believed wide exposure would lead to a satisfactory offer. Those findings align with a similar national survey conducted by Zillow in January. More than 4 in 5 of the over 2,000 respondents polled at that time said they would want their home to be listed on a public consumer website.
Zillow has been one of the loudest voices in the battle against private listings, announcing in April that it would ban listings that are publicly marketed but not widely available via the MLS. StreetEasy said it would adopt the same listing standards starting in June.