NextHome commits to Zillow’s listing transparency standards

“Partnering with Zillow to commit to listing transparency is simply the right thing to do for homebuyers and sellers across America. Prioritizing humans over houses is a core value at NextHome because it builds trust and fosters a more informed and confident client base which we believe puts our agents in a position to win,” James Dwiggins, the co-CEO of NextHome, said in a statement. “Through this partnership we are setting a new standard in the industry.”

Under Zillow’s new listing standards, announced Thursday, if a listing is publicly marketed to any buyer it must be put in an MLS and be able to be published on Zillow as well as other sites that receive internet data exchange (IDX) feeds. 

Errol Sameluson, Zillow’s chief industry development officer, the listing standards come from Zillow’s desire to preserve transparency and equitable access to data for all consumers.

“The idea here is that if a brokerage is holding listings back, they’re only sharing those listings and publicly marketing those listings to buyers who work with them. We think that’s bad for sellers, it’s bad for buyers, and it’s bad for the market,” Samuelson told HousingWire on Thursday. 

Dwiggins and NextHome have been strong supporters of the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP). 

“CCP is one of the most pro consumer policies in place! It’s literally designed to protect sellers and buyers!” Dwiggins wrote in a LinkedIn post last month. 

While NextHome and eXp have made this commitment to Zillow, Compass, a CCP critic, is asking MLSs to establish a separate “coming soon” status, which would allow listings to be submitted to the MLS and therefore publicly marketed, but they would be withheld from both IDX and virtual office website (VOW) data feeds, which would prevent other MLS participants from displaying their delayed or coming soon listings on their website.