If Less Is More, Imagine How Much More MORE Could Be!

Perhaps one of the greatest inventions in the history of real estate is the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). As soon as I post a listing onto the MLS, it is aggregated to literally thousands of OTHER web sites, where virtually every buyer in the world can instantly see details, pictures, neighborhood statistics, sales history and all kinds of other information about this property. It’s great for sellers, who can put their properties in front of every interested buyer at once. It’s great for buyers, who can be notified in real time whenever a property that fits their criteria hits the market.

It is a system that keeps the real estate market moving, a system that liquidates houses much more quickly than could possibly happen otherwise.

How could we possibly top such an amazing system? What new development could be even better?

Well, one real estate brokerage thinks they have the secret:

“How about we not put your listing in the MLS?”

I kid you not, this is a thing right now. A big thing. There is a brokerage, whose name rhymes with “Dump Us,” who is encouraging their sellers to list their homes for the first several weeks as “private exclusives” where no one can see them except this agency’s own agents and their registered buyers.

How, you ask, could this possibly be good for sellers? Funny, I’m asking the same thing. So are a lot of people in the industry. If you’re selling a house, isn’t the goal to get it in front of as many buyers as possible?

Why yes, yes it is.

So why the “private exclusive”?

They say it’s an opportunity to “test price, gather insights, and build anticipation before going public.” First of all, for most properties, I’m not sold on the value of this approach. But if that is your strategy, we already have ways — much better ways — to do it. We have “Coming Soon” status on the MLS, where we can expose the listing to the entire market, check back end metrics for clicks and views, build anticipation — all without accruing days on market.

They say it “generates buzz” and “signals to buyer working with [our] agents that new inventory is coming.” Why not send that buzz to all of the buyers in the market?

They say it maintains your “privacy” so that your home’s photos and floor plans are only visible to their agents. Well, yeah, that might be nice if you’re a billionaire or a celebrity, if you’re a potential target for kidnapping, if you’re willing to take less money in your home sale in exchange for that level of security. But for all of us regular folks out here, fewer people seeing our home’s photos means fewer buyers seeing your home. Which means fewer opportunities to sell it, and a lower net price if it does sell.

Speaking of which, the last statistic I saw said that off-MLS home sales sell for an average of 17% less than properties listed on the MLS. It makes sense. More exposure to more buyers equals more demand. More demand equals higher prices.

So why do they really push this “privates exclusive” idea? Well, for one thing, they can then use your listing as “bait” to hook more buyers. They are essentially saying “We have access to properties that other agents can’t see.” With that comes the implication that, with less competition, they can buy these houses at lower prices than they would pay if they were to compete on the open market.

Apparently it isn’t working that way, as 94% of these “private exclusive” listings wind up on the MLS. But only after wasting several weeks of valuable market time languishing as a secret listing, while they use your home to squeeze out more buyer leads for themselves.

Keeping the listings in-house also greatly increases the opportunity to “double end” the transaction — for one agent, or agents from one company, to work with both buyer and seller. That increases $$$ for the agent and/or the company. It also leads to lawsuits — as transactions with a single broker have a much higher likelihood of ending up in litigation. I don’t like this. Yes, I know I would make more money if I too would try to double ended more transactions. But I have found that transactions are the fairest and run the smoothest when each party has their own agent protecting their interests.

Are you seeing a pattern here? Lots of benefits to the brokerage. But no true benefits to you, the seller. Their President of Growth has publicly acknowledged that the goal of this program is not to do deals, nor to move inventory, nor to sell houses. It is to help their agents drum up more business.

Here’s the thing: in any given transaction, I have a primary fiduciary duty to my client. Not to myself, not to my brokerage, not to other buyers I may be representing in other transactions. My duty is to look out for what is best for the person who is paying me to sell their house — to facilitate the process and to protect them through what is often the highest dollar transaction they will ever experience.

For a vast majority of sellers, I do not believe that “private exclusive” listings do that. I don’t believe they serve the best interest of the seller. Further, I think that any brokerage who pushes them is gaslighting their clients.

They are also not good for buyers, who are deprived of seeing all of the options available to them. Nor is good for the market as a whole. Imagine what the real estate landscape would look like if every brokerage did this — if we all kept our listings in house, limited to our own clients. Buyers wouldn’t be able to see every property that is for sale. In the best case, they would have to visit multiple portals to get a complete picture. In the worst case, they would literally only have access to listings that their agent’s brokerage has listed. Sellers’ listings would only be visible to a small subset of interested buyers. Fewer buyers, less competition, lower final sales price.

So . . . if you are selling a property, don’t be taken in by a very enthusiastic agent who bounces into your living room with a slick presentation and vague promises of “exclusivity.” Call ME, or an agent like me. One whose first goal is to sell your house, to sell it for the highest price the market will bear, and who will put your interests above any other throughout the transaction.

Because when it comes to finding a buyer, more is indeed more.

*All statistics from the Ricky Carruth Podcast, 7/2/25