There are certain fair housing and equal opportunity rules set forth by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that every agent and Realtor are required to follow. Bergeron says that by prematurely advertising a property, agents could open themselves up “to charges of cutting off access by certain groups of buyers, which is strictly prohibited.”

If agents aren’t prompt enough in posting “coming soon properties” to the open-market MLS, then they run the risk of bleeding into pocket listings territory, which the MRED imposed restrictions on in 2013. Zillow’s president claims the inherent transparency of listing as property as “coming soon” make it the natural “antidote to pocket listings.”

Realistically, Bergeron and MRED don’t expect possible pocket listings to be much of a problem, as the group is already working on some sort of “Coming Soon” feature to add to its own listing system.

Still, it should be some time before the strategy is implemented on a large scale. As of the writing of this article, Zillow listed only five “Coming Soon” properties in Illinois, four of which were in Chicagoland.

What Zillow Has to Say

At Zillow, leadership is largely shirking off implications that its new feature will in any way damage the industry or misleads customers. To get the website’s perspective, we talked with Zillow representative Katie Curnutte, who shared her insights on the new “Coming Soon” listings.

“The practice of pre-marketing listings is not a new thing,” Curnutte says, “We really developed this tool for customers. Considering how competitive the market currently is, this gives them a chance to see what’s coming, get pre-approved and loop in their own agent.”

In response to comparing Zillow’s “Coming Soon” listings to the much more nefarious practice of pocket listings, Curnutte says that, if anything, the company is shining a light on what could have otherwise turned into a problem.

“One of the reasons Zillow established this specific framework is because agents were already posting off-market listings to the site,” she says, adding that while it was a common practice, Zillow had no means of helping customers discern between what was on the market and what was just being advertised as a future option. Curnutte says the “Coming Soon” feature eliminates that issue, making listings more transparent and their status more apparent.

To make sure agents are not taking advantage of the system, Zillow has put in place time requirements for each listing. When an agent posts a new property to Zillow’s “Coming Soon” section, Curnutte says, they are required to include an “expected listing date,” which can’t exceed 60 days from the posting date, and check an agreement that states they are complying with all real estate licensing commission, MLS and local association of Realtors’ rules, as well as their brokerage’s rules.

If an agent’s listing doesn’t go on the market within 72 hours of its expected listing date, Zillow will automatically pull the listing from syndication. Curnutte admits that while the company doesn’t actively investigate whether agents are actually complying with local, state and national rules, Zillow does retain an “audit trail” of all “Coming Soon” listings.

“Should it come to our attention that an agent is not in compliance, we’ll remove the listing and be in contact with the agent, and his or her brokerage as appropriate, to ensure the issue is resolved,” she says.

What do you think? Will “Coming Soon” listings help or hurt real estate agents? Take our poll below, and voice additional opinions in the comments section:

 Loading ...