The public already thinks that they are.

It follows their business planning quite nicely. Furthermore, the public trust is there. They are very much a part of the Real Estate industry whether agents like it or not. That piece of a Multi-trillion dollar Real Estate pie...beckons to all

Hi Leanne Smith 

   I think it's a great idea.   NAR totally failed its members, its days are numbered.  Any platform would be better than what NAR has become.

  Spencer Rascoff, the founder of Zillow, got his training from Expedia.  As you recall, Expedia totally up-ended the travel industry.  Many, many travel agents found themselves out of business.

  When Rascoff created Zillow, he stated that he wanted to "bury NAR".    I was told that on a phone call with an ActiveRain member who grew up with Rascoff (same high school, etc.).  That member is not active on AR, so I will not give a tag nor a shoutout.

  Rascoff is no longer with Zillow... I don't know the details.  I would assume that Zillow has the same objective - to replace NAR and the MLS as we have known it.

     Last year, when the NAR lawsuits were just getting underway, Rascoff voiced his opinion,  He said "ending cooperative compensation would have impacts that extend to brokerages, franchisors, NAR and MLSs."

  Here is a link to that discussion (there is a paywall, you can hack around it).

  Brokers and Agents can complain about Zillow all day long, but IMHO, Zillow is the future of "MLS".   

   The NAR staff will continue to loot whatever money is left in the till (we have all seen the athlete-level salaries that they are paying themselves).  As the lawsuits continue, NAR will eventually be bankrupt.

  BTW, you may recall that when ActiveRain was seeing the end of its "glory days", it was sold to Zillow.   It then changed hands, ultimately winding up with Ben Kinney.

Leanne Smith 

A long time ago when the Zillow first started, we were able to update the listing on their site for free, upload photos, correct the maps, etc. Zillow is Zilly, but a lot of consumers do search their site. They are genius at manipulating real estate companies and agents to pay for leads. Only time will tell if they do become a national MLS and any possible consequences.  Like Thomas J. Nelson, REALTOR ® CRS,ABR,PSA,RCS-D, ePRO said, I am not losing any sleep about it. I do also keep an eye on the competition and it motivates me more. 

Hi Leanne... I've given this no thought to be honest. I figure when and if this comes to pass, I'll be retired. Not really sure why we need a national MLS... we're licensed in specific states... I'm licensed in NC and SC... why do I need MLS information for Wisconsin, for example? Plus, what Thomas J. Nelson, REALTOR ® CRS,ABR,PSA,RCS-D, ePRO said.

No surprise here! I’m not losing any sleep. Most of Zillow’s big launches either fizzle out and fade, and to the best of my knowledge, they’re still not even profitable—at least they weren’t as of 2023.

I keep an eye on my competitors, but only for motivation. Fear or worry? Zero. I've been in real estate far longer than Zillow, and I’m already more profitable. In my business book, that’s the real edge.

Given that I have no trust in the Z or the NAR it makes perfect sense that this is being talked about, or considered.  

Why would they start now to do something that makes sense?

If you think about it, all portals already are a national MLS of sorts.  They'd have to be like Homes.com and give listing agents their leads for free to get me to buy-in to them as an MLS.

Beyond that, the logistics in creating and managing a national MLS as well as enforcing any rules would be very difficult.

ponder-worthy for sure.  

My thoughts - John Q already believes that is what Z is. 

#2 - I don't see them selling their website like NAR did.

Why not?!

I no longer have a horse in the race BUT I can tell you that I have been looking for investment properties and I've only used local brokerages to look, NOT Zillow.

#1 Consumers will continue to work with real estate agents despite all the noise and or mergers, AI etc. Zillow over the years is just getting closer to the transaction and getting into more aspects of the transaction. Products like Zillow home loans, flex , showcase and more are growth strategies. The more things change the more they stay the same. 

Regarding the Zillow as a national MLS, a better option is out there by Nexus MLS acts as a utility. Rob Hahn attorney there I believe worked a CB developed the feed for agents data in mind.

While things are changing, standing still is not an option for these companies.

Zillow, HomeServices of America, eXp, and, for the most part, Anywhere, have all been profitable since 2018, with 2021 a notable highpoint.

Opendoor, Compass, and Redfin have all been generally unprofitable during the same period (Redfin was briefly profitable in 2020 and 2021)

Nope I don't think it will happen.  They just don't have a good reputation despite being the elephant in the room.  

I've said this before...

I think Brokers should start charging a Royalty Fee for every Listing that post on the MLS!!!

I have better ways to spend my time then worrying about what Zillow does.

I hadn't heard that. It wouldn't excite me for an investor to basically own MLS.

We must remember everything in real estate is LOCAL!!  Z can do what ever they want, but the local Chiefs will always be the market experts.

No. Or it would have done so already.

Z has been around close to 20 years and has not improved in data accuracy. LOL

It is not smart to allow one company to monopolize the entire MLS and their web site is notorious for displaying erroneous information. 

Stupid.  MLS, just like real estate is local.  No way to tell the type of ownership on zillow and we have full lease holds, and lease strips on our lake.

Z has joined our board ages ago & has full access to our MLS. Buyers still prefer looking there so ... they actually already are.

Than's ridiculous

Zillow has their hands in almost every sector of real estate, so not surprised.   

Big Z is on the move .

Since Manhattan doesn't have an MLS- Streeteasy became the closest match to an MLS and the consumers use it. Streeteasy was created by the Daimler's to address aspects of our market that none of the other listing sites did well for our market, bought by Zillow in 2012, and Susan Daimler is now President of Zillow. Many small changes over time have stripped Streeteasy features of what made it such an amazing tool. I suspect that Streeteasy will likely make these features available again- for a fee. I used to be able to look up all of a developers buildings in one search. I used to be able to see which locations were in a flood zone or hurricane flood zone. I used to be able see user generated comments about a specific building on a link on that buildings page. Looking at past sales in a building- it's become much harder to find. All of this to say, the data is all there but much has become inaccessible. 

Retired, parked and reading while I ponder the possibilities. That said leaning on agreeing with Kathleen Daniels, Probate & Trust Specialist and moving on to read a good book. 

We'll see what happens. Zillow certainly has become a household name. 

When Zillow was competing in certain market as a Real Estate Broker, definitely no as an alternative. I believe Zillow is finished with that brokerage experiment, but will they try it again in the future. I don't want to compete with them. However even though compensation is not mentioned in the MLS any longer the private remarks and showing information are still important for agents. Not sure if Zillow would be good for that.