For months I have opined on the subject of private listings and previews... basically where listing agents market a home first to a small group, usually their company. I don't think that kind of thing is in the seller's best interest!
I think the argument in favor is that sellers get privacy, exclusivity, a boutique experience... oh, and they should be free to choose how they want to market the home. We are Americans. Don't we love freedom? Who would argue against freedom? I just find that argument strange. We should also be free to shoot ourselves in the foot, yes? Kind of what I think private listings do; shoot the seller in the foot by underexposing the offering. To my way of thinking, if you sell to a smaller pool of buyers, you almost certainly leave money on the table. More competition among buyers produces better offers. THAT is free market capitalism. Can we agree that it is an efficient way to find the value of something? The data is consistent on it. And yet the pocket listing get dressed up as a seller benefit.
SB 6091 became law into law in March, and it felt good.
Our state — our little state — looked at the national conversation around private listings and went a different direction. Washington is only the second in the country to ban the practice outright...
There's an opt-out provision — sellers can choose to waive public marketing — but they have to sign a disclosure acknowledging that limiting their buyer pool may cost them money. That's a reasonable trade-off, and occasionally it makes sense (privacy concerns, medical situations, and the like). But pocket listings as a routine networking tool in Washington are history.
What this means for buyers: More inventory in the open market. If there are homes being quietly circulated right now, they'll need to hit the MLS by June. That's a genuine shift.
What this means for sellers: Broader exposure almost always produces better results. The data on this is pretty consistent — more competition among buyers tends to produce better offers. This law codifies what many agents have been advising all along.
Pocket listings were rarely the seller benefit they were made out to be. They served the listing agent's network. This law fixes that, and I'm not bothered about saying so.
If you have questions about how this affects a listing you're planning or a search you're already on, give us a call before June 11. The rules are changing, and it's worth understanding them before they do.
