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With multiple listing services (MLS) across the country set to implement the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) Multiple Listing Options for Sellers (MLOS) Policy by the end of this month, Zillow has decided to make some changes of its own.
Under the MLOS policy, home sellers may choose to delay the widespread marketing of their property for an amount of time determined by the seller with guidelines set by their local MLS. If a listing is entered into the MLS in a delayed status, the listing may not be syndicated to other websites or be part of an IDX data feed. However, the delayed listing will be included in virtual office website (VOW) data feeds.
Due to this policy, if a property is listed in the MLS in a delayed status, it would not appear on Zillow, which relies on IDX feeds to fuel its nationwide listing portal. In response to this Zillow has begun rolling out a VOW experience.
A Zillow spokesperson confirmed that VOW is now available on its website and availability on its mobile application is coming soon. The spokesperson added that Zillow made this change so it could ensure that it can provide home shoppers with the most listing coverage.
Zillow is anticipating less than 1% of the listings in its ecosystem to only be available in the VOW feed. The VOW feed is supplementary to Zillow’s main site. To access the VOW site, consumers will have to login to Zillow, but there is no requirement to work with Zillow or any form of exclusivity.
This move by Zillow adds some clarity to the confusion surrounding Zillow’s listing standards policy, which bans listings that are not available for display on Zillow within one business day of public marketing. When Zillow announced this policy in April there was some initial confusion as to how it would impact delayed listings as those listings would not be immediately available on Zillow’s website due to the IDX nature of it, despite the listing having been entered into the MLS in a compliant time frame.
This policy is currently at the center of a lawsuit between Zillow and Compass, which sued the listing portal giant, claiming that the policy will cause irreparable harm by preventing its agents and clients from using Compass’s three-phased marketing plan.
Despite these protestation by Compass, and the threat of having their listings banned from Zillow, it appears more and more home sellers are choosing to employ Compass’s marketing plan, as the brokerage’s exclusive listing inventory is on the rise.
