Access to Information
We believe consumers and real estate agents have the right to easy and free access to all available real estate information.
Real Estate Rights for Consumers
Consumers deserve transparent, fair and equal opportunities in residential real estate and we are committed to reducing obstacles and improving the homebuying, homeselling, and renting experience. This starts by advocating for marketplace principles to govern the operations and interactions within the real estate industry, making it more equitable and modern to help more and more people get home.
Independent Representation
We believe buyers and sellers deserve to work with an agent who is committed to their best interests and only represents them.
Fair & Transparent Compensation
We believe buyers and sellers deserve transparency regarding agent fees and their right to negotiate them.
Zillow has been working to transform the real estate experience since 2006.
Advocating for consumers is core to who we are and why we exist. We were the first to put an estimated value over every roof in America, bringing home values out of the dark with the Zestimate®. We offer innovative products and support public policies to make homeownership more accessible. We champion changes to increase ease, affordability, and security within real estate:
Ease
Zillow compiles and synthesizes publicly available information from thousands of different sources so consumers can access home values and listings across the U.S. on one online platform — for free.
Affordability
Too many consumers are burdened by financial challenges, a lack of housing inventory, and barriers due to discriminatory practices. Our products, research, and policy advocacy focus on creating a more accessible and equitable marketplace.
Security
Zillow is committed to enabling a safe and secure consumer experience throughout the real estate process. We are committed to responsible and ethical use of data, AI, and algorithms, as well as combating fraudulent real estate practices — all in service of making home shopping more secure.
There is more to do – and we need your help.
We want to elevate industry standards by further opening up access to information, shedding light on industry practices that hurt the consumer experience, and advocating for consumer-first policies and regulations. Here are a few ways we're working to help more people get home easily, securely, and affordably.
How Multiple Listing Services (MLSs) Can Help Consumers
Having a free and fair marketplace is critical to the real estate ecosystem in our country. Multiple listing services (MLSs) can facilitate this openness and transparency, by providing buyers and their agents equitable access to all listings and allowing sellers and their agents to understand the market and reach the broadest audience of buyers. The U.S. residential real estate market is one of the most transparent in the world, in large part because MLSs provide data to all their participants. We want to support the MLS system by driving improvements that modernize antiquated industry rules and benefit consumers and the agents MLSs serve.
For example, Zillow supports:
Removal of the 'no-commingling' rule, which prevents home shoppers from viewing all available listings in one seamless search experience online. The current rule, which comes from the National Association of Realtors and is adopted by most MLSs, requires that any listing not entered into the MLS first (I.e.: new construction, auction, for sale by owner (FSBO) and rental listings) be separated from all other MLS listings in a market, making it cumbersome for consumers and putting these listings at a disadvantage.
The prohibition of exclusive private listing networks and office exclusive listings, which are anti-consumer because they hide access to a subset of the listings in a given market from broad consumer audiences.
The real estate industry is a critical, dynamic part of the U.S. economy, which is why it's so important that it keep evolving. We believe MLSs can provide value because they help make the market work and we want to partner with them to ensure consumer needs remain the top priority.
Zillow's Path Forward
Together with consumers, agents, brokers, and housing providers, we're promoting reforms to simplify and streamline the process to help get more people home.
Finding a new home can be complex. Since our founding in 2006, we've empowered consumers to better understand and navigate the purchase process.
At Zillow, we believe that home should be more than just a dream. Our purpose is to make home a reality for more and more people. Therefore, we are committed to improving the experience, whether you are buying, selling, renting or financing.
