Unlike in virtually all other areas of the country, private listings are barred by the NWMLS.
New York-based Compass has taken aim at the local prohibition, sparking a federal lawsuit and plenty of industry controversy. This spring, Seattle-area Compass agents listed a handful of private exclusive properties before the NWMLS cut off the company’s access to its data feed in April, essentially forcing Compass to relent.
Even as Compass has halted private exclusive listings here because of local rules, a small share of Seattle-area properties are already sold without full transparency. Some homeowners want to sell to a neighbor or family member without broad advertising. Wealthy people, celebrities and homeowners with security concerns sometimes sell their properties off-market. Agents working with privacy-conscious sellers may skirt the NWMLS rules or submit listings and get permission to not have the property displayed broadly.
OP Note: I don’t think this is just about listing days on the market. This is probably more about racism, since you have to sign in to see anything and I’m sure they pay for data brokers.
I don’t doubt it, and I 100% support regulations aimed at increasing wealth and ownership opportunity and equality. If Compass is shown to be discriminating against minorities, then yeah prosecute the fuck out of them. I just think forcing people to list their home even though they already have a buyer selected isn’t really going to do anything about it and just artificially raises the sale price to cover the realtor fees. Say some elderly home owner is nearing hospice or something and wants to sell the house to their grandkid who is starting a family. Why should they have to do anything other than get a mortgage approved and go sign all the deed/title paperwork for the bank and the county? Forcing it to be listed isn’t going to suddenly make that home be an option for a discriminated minority buyer, because the buyer has already been selected by the owner.