Let me ask you, America’s real estate professionals, one question. Do you want Zillow to be the defining marketplace for homes in this country?
That’s the real question buried inside the response Zillow economist Mischa Fisher wrote to my recent Inman op-ed. Understand what he’s quietly asking you to accept.
Throughout his article, Fisher effectively labels any home not posted on Zillow a “private listing.” A home marketed through social media, email, a brokerage’s own website, a coming-soon campaign, or a dozen other proven channels becomes, in Zillow’s view, “private.” Hidden. Kept from the public.
In a nutshell, his position is this: If your listing is not on Zillow, it’s hidden. It’s private. That is categorically false. And it is the foundation his entire argument rests on.
That is a bold presumption none of us voted for: that Zillow is the defining public marketplace and that a home counts as “public” only if it lands there within 24 hours of being marketed anywhere else, under a Zillow policy that can ban a listing from the site for good.
Who decided that? Not homesellers. Not homebuyers. They don’t hire Zillow. They hire us. They want the judgment of a real estate professional, not a portal. Zillow is a vendor. A tool. It’s not the government, and it’s not our trade association.
The moment we accept that off-Zillow means hidden, we have handed a third-party vendor the power to dictate how every home in America gets marketed and how every homebuyer in America gets monetized.
The word ‘private’
I have said this for years in my training, my writing and from every stage I’ve stood on. The word “private” is being weaponized. It is being used as a synonym for “hidden from buyers,” and that is simply not what marketing a home away from the portals means.
So here is my advice to every brokerage and agent reading this. Strike the word “private” from your marketing vocabulary.
I understand how it crept in. It sounds exclusive. Buyers want to feel like insiders, first through the door, seeing something the crowd can’t. That instinct is real, and it sells. But that same word is now being turned against us, used by Zillow and those aligned with it to paint a professional marketing choice as something sneaky.
This didn’t happen overnight. The flexibility agents once had in what we could show in our photos and write in our descriptions has been stripped away to fit others’ business models, Zillow’s included. They use our listings, for free, for their own profit.
And “rules” have been carefully designed to enhance that profit. For example, Zillow won’t allow the listing agent’s name, number or brokerage to appear in photos or descriptive copy, so buyers are more likely to assume its “contact agent” button reaches the agent who knows the home.
Most don’t realize they’re being routed to whoever paid for the lead, someone who may have never set foot in the property.
And Fisher, on behalf of Zillow, lectures us about transparency.
The least transparent model in the industry
One of Fisher’s core arguments is transparency. He calls listings kept off the major portals, notably Zillow, “an information asymmetry machine,” a setup that supposedly favors the more-informed side, the seller, at the buyer’s expense.
I don’t disagree that transparency matters. What I can’t square is how Zillow gets to crown itself the champion of it.
Look at what Zillow shows buyers:
- Days on market
- Every price cut
- Offer guides that coach buyers to bid below asking and estimate the odds a seller will accept
Every one of those tools arms the buyer against the seller.
Now look at what the seller gets in return. Nothing.
- How long has this buyer been shopping?
- How many offers have they already made?
- How many sellers turned them down for coming in too low?
Zillow shows sellers none of it.
That is not transparency. That is a one-way mirror. And the company holding it up is the same one diverting buyers to lead-paying agents instead of the professionals who know the home. If anyone has built an information asymmetry machine, it is Zillow.
Who’s really adding the cost
Fisher also reaches for the affordability crisis, suggesting we make housing “feel more scarce” while families struggle to buy.
The affordability crisis is real. It deserves its own article. But it is not the fault of America’s homesellers, and a seller’s right to pursue the best possible price does not disappear because buyers face high interest rates, too few new homes and years of rapid price appreciation on the homes that do exist.
Is Zillow’s real message that sellers should price lower and market in ways that hand buyers the advantage? It already does plenty of that for them.
So, ask yourself who is really adding cost here. Zillow inserts itself between buyer and seller, then routes that buyer to an agent who paid Zillow for the introduction, an agent who typically charges that buyer thousands in commission to see and purchase the home.
Zillow earns hundreds of millions, by some measures billions, on those referral arrangements. That money comes straight out of the cost of buying a home.
A company that profits by planting a paid toll booth between buyers and sellers is in no position to lecture our industry about affordability.
What to remember
Fisher closes by telling readers to remember “Who’s driving, and who’s getting run over.” I’d ask America’s real estate professionals to take his advice and really think about that. Because Zillow wants to be the one driving, with the power to decide who gets run over.
It’s one thing to say you stand for transparency, for affordability, for the consumer. It’s another thing to be it.
Zillow says it. Zillow isn’t it.
So I’ll leave you with the only question that matters: Who do you want at the wheel?
Greg Hague is an attorney, 50-year real estate veteran, and the founder of 72SOLD (an Inc. 5000 fastest-growing company). Ranked the No. 1 agent in his state and No. 19 nationally by Realtor Magazine, he was recently appointed Director of Home Sales Strategy for Compass International Holdings, helping 100,000+ Century 21 agents grow their market share and better serve America’s homesellers.
]]>Stop calling marketing materials “data,” Darryl Davis writes. Zillow’s study is a position. Compass’s survey responses are a position. Your CMA, with your local comps, on this home, is data.
Last month, Zillow gave the industry a number. The portal released a study claiming sellers who listed privately lost a combined $1.36 billion over three years, and that off-MLS listings sold for 1.3 percent less than listings marketed on the open market.
The study landed two days after Zillow’s federal antitrust lawsuit against Compass and MRED, and one day before Compass CEO Robert Reffkin took to LinkedIn with a counterattack of his own.
This is the moment the fight stopped being about lawyers and started being about your next listing conversation.
Context
On May 12, Zillow filed a Sherman Act case in Northern Illinois alleging that MRED, the Chicago-area MLS, and Compass had coordinated to use MRED’s rule-making power to force Zillow to display Compass private listings nationwide, or lose access to its Chicago feed. A Compass spokesperson said Zillow was “punishing agents” for following their clients’ wishes, and that “Compass believes homeowners should have the right to decide how to market their homes.”
Two days after the filing, Zillow followed with a study. One day later, a survey. The study put a dollar amount on the seller’s choice to go private: $1.36 billion lost over three years, and another $1.49 billion lost when one brokerage represented both sides of the deal.
The survey put a percentage on the seller’s preference: 61 percent said broad online exposure produces better results than a private network, and 85 percent said they want an agent who can pre-market their home to the broadest online audience.
Reffkin pushed back. On LinkedIn, he revived an internal Zillow strategy document and said it highlights Zillow’s plan “to sue a brokerage in order to keep agents and homesellers from marketing outside of Zillow.”
So now we have two narratives, two dollar figures, two surveys and two CEOs talking past each other. And one agent. You.
Analysis
Let’s be fair to both sides.
Zillow’s methodology has weaknesses worth naming. The study used the Zestimate as its benchmark for what a home “should” have sold for. The Zestimate has been criticized for years as directionally useful but not surgically accurate. Comparing a Zestimate to a sale price and calling the gap a “loss” is a useful framing, not a settled fact.
Let’s be fair in the other direction. Real estate has been telling sellers for a century that more exposure produces better outcomes. Auction theory backs that up. Common sense backs it up.
If you put a home in front of every qualified buyer in your market, the price moves up. If you put it in front of a smaller group, you accept less competition. The directional truth in Zillow’s $1.4 billion number is uncomfortable for the private listing argument because, on average, the math has to bend that way.
Both things can be true. The study is overstated, and the underlying logic is sound. That is the honest read.
When two large companies put a dollar figure on your client’s decision, the only person in the room who can do the math honestly for that specific home is you. Don’t outsource that conversation to a corporate study or a corporate spokesperson.
Compass’s “seller choice” framing isn’t wrong. Sellers do have the right to decide. Some have genuine reasons to go private. A homeowner in a contentious divorce. A trust sale. A property with a sensitive tenant. A listing that has been through one bad round and needs a discreet reposition. These are real situations. They are also a small minority.
The honest question isn’t whether a seller has the right to choose. They do. The honest question is whether the agent explained what the choice will likely cost. On Zillow’s data, the average cost is roughly 1.3 percent. On a $750,000 home, that is about $9,750. On a $1.5 million home, $19,500. Those numbers belong in your seller’s hands before they sign anything.
A seller’s right to choose is only real if the agent explains what the choice costs in their specific numbers, not in industry averages. Coach, don’t close. Serve, don’t sell.
Roughly 55 percent of Compass listings flow through private exclusive or coming-soon pathways, according to its own shareholders’ report last year. That means more than half of all their sellers are choosing a private listing, knowing they are risking losing money on their house.
Really? Do you believe that? The internal data inside one of the loudest brokerages tells a quieter story than its press releases.
What agents should do
Run the math on your last 10 sold listings. Ask yourself two questions.
- Was the home priced and marketed for maximum exposure?
- Would 1.3 percent more on average have moved the seller’s net?
If the answer is yes, you already know what the right conversation looks like.
Build a short, plain-language one-pager that walks a seller through three options: broad exposure on Day One, delayed marketing under the National Association of Realtors carveout and private exclusive. Show what each pathway looks like in their actual price range. Quote their home, not the industry.
Document your recommendation in writing. Whatever the seller chooses, put the trade-off in the listing agreement and the file. The lawyers will spend the next two years arguing about who said what. Your file should be boring.
Stop calling either side’s marketing materials “data.” Zillow’s study is a position. Compass’s survey responses are a position. Your CMA, with your local comps, on this home, is data.
Closing
This week, the fight is corporate. The lawsuit, the studies, the LinkedIn posts. Next week, the fight is on your listing appointment.
A seller is going to ask what all of this means for their home. The answer isn’t a side. The answer is a math conversation, an honest one, that ends with a seller who understands exactly what choice they are making and what it costs.
That’s the work. That has always been the work.
Mark Cenci, broker-owner of ERA Martin & Associates in Chillicothe, Ohio, has spent more than three decades building a people-first brokerage grounded in adaptability, consistency and long-term thinking.
In 2025, his leadership was recognized as the ERA Gene Francis Memorial Award for Top All-Around Company, the highest honor within the ERA network. I recently sat down with Mark to talk about how early discipline, intentional growth and deep respect for people shaped his career, and why those same principles matter more than ever in today’s market.
Q&A with Mark Cenci
Alex: How did you get into real estate?
Mark: My path started early. When I was 12, my stepfather, who was the broker-owner of our company, asked what I wanted to do when I grew up. I told him I wanted to get into real estate. He didn’t dismiss it. Instead, he treated it like a real commitment.
That meant summers in the office, after-school work and learning every part of the business by doing whatever needed to be done. By the time I was old enough to get licensed, I already understood how the operation worked — not just sales, but responsibility.
I took my real estate classes between my junior and senior year of high school so I could hit the ground running. Eight days after turning 18, I passed my exam and became an agent.
From there, I was intentional about the next step. In Ohio, becoming a broker requires education and experience, so I enrolled in college immediately after high school and worked full-time in real estate while completing my coursework. By age 20, I earned my broker’s license.
Looking back, that early discipline and structure taught me something critical: Success in this business isn’t about speed, it’s about preparation.
Alex: ERA Martin & Associates was established in 1989. When did you step into leadership?
Mark: I attended college from 1995 to 1999, working out of our Chillicothe office. In 1997, we expanded into Athens, where my school of located. I managed that Athens office for two years, which gave me hands-on leadership experience early on.
When I returned to Chillicothe in 1999, I took on a broader leadership role across the company. That transition taught me the difference between managing transactions and leading people, and how much more complex the second one is.
Alex: Did you have a mentor?
Mark: Absolutely. My stepfather, Wayne Martin, was my mentor from Day One. We worked side by side from the start of my career until his passing in 2013.
What he instilled in me wasn’t just how to run a brokerage, but how to treat people, with respect, consistency and accountability. Those lessons still guide how I lead today.
Alex: How did you grow the company to nine offices and 135 agents?
Mark: Growth was never accidental. We paid attention to opportunities and acted when the timing made sense. But growth was never about chasing size for its own sake.
Our goal was to build a company that could deliver real value — training, support and stability — to agents and clients alike. Growth allows you to reinvest in people, technology and leadership. When you focus on improving the experience for everyone connected to your organization, scale becomes a byproduct, not the objective.
Alex: What’s been the most impactful or surprising change in your 30-year career?
Mark: The biggest surprise has been seeing the long-term results of consistent effort. In real estate, you don’t always see immediate returns. Decisions you make today might now show their full impact for years.
That perspective keeps me grounded. I don’t take our success for granted.
As for industry change, I’ve learned to expect it. Real estate is defined by evolution. If you’re surprised by change, you’re probably not paying attention.
Alex: The past few years have been disruptive. How did you achieve double-digit growth?
Mark: By staying alert and being willing to adjust. I’ve seen companies struggle because they keep repeating what once worked without questioning whether it still fits the current market.
You don’t abandon your foundation, but you do refine it. We listened closely to agents and consumers, watched behavior patterns and adjusted our approach in real time. Growth came from responsiveness, not rigidity.
Alex: What’s your guiding principle as a broker-owner?
Mark: Adaptability is everything. One of my favorite quotes is from Charles Darwin: “It is not the strongest or the most intelligent that survives, but the one most adaptable to change.”
Beyond that, I believe leadership starts with how you treat people. We’re a people-first business. When you lead with care, loyalty and respect, performance follows.
Alex: What advice would you give someone entering the business today?
Mark: This career demands effort, patience and consistency. It’s not a short-term play, but for those willing to commit, it’s incredibly rewarding.
A hardworking agent paired with the right company, one that invests in them, can build something truly sustainable.
Alex: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Mark: It’s more of a truth than advice: All that mankind knows about anything is but a single grain of sand on a beach that leads to infinity.
It reminds me that you don’t have to be perfect at everything. You just have to show up every day focused on being the best version of yourself and keep improving.
Mark Cenci’s story reflects what the ERA Gene Francis Memorial Award for Top All-Around Company stands for: leadership built over time, grounded in service, adaptability and an unwavering belief in people.
In an industry often distracted by short-term wins and constant noise, his approach is a reminder that sustainable success still comes from fundamentals — preparation, consistency and treating real estate as a true profession.
At a moment when change feels relentless, Cenci’s career proves that those who lead with clarity and care don’t just endure disruption; they grow through it.
Alex Vidal is the president of ERA Real Estate.
If you pop over to Andrew Jevin’s Instagram profile, you’ll see some of Los Angeles’ most beautiful properties, often nestled up in the hills, well above the hustle, glam and spotlight of the sprawling city that started as a quaint Spanish farming community in 1781.
Andrew Jevin
However, between the picture-perfect photographs and film-trailer-worthy listing videos, the Compass agent often gives his 30,000 followers an intimate look into his life: A video explaining his revamped wellness routine as a 45-year-old who’s embracing aging, a carousel showing his go-to orders at his favorite LA haunts and a post explaining the imposter syndrome that lingers, despite the success.
“Most people know I’m a real estate agent; there’s no question about that,” he told Inman. “I throw that in, but people are more invested in my personal life. I think by being my authentic self, I’m able to connect with people better.”
Ahead of his appearance as a speaker at Inman Connect San Diego, Jevin, a certified life coach, said he’s dedicated to helping agents and others, including a social media-shy journalist (see below), embrace the “cringe” and build a wider community that expands their personal and professional horizons.
“We have to get over what I call ‘Cringe Mountain,’” he said. “Everybody, we have this stuff in our heads. We care too much about what people think about us.”
The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Inman: What are you most excited about for this year’s conference?
Jevin: What I love so much about going to Inman [Connect] is that I get to meet agents from all over the country. I love being a Compass agent, but we’re always just in our Compass bubble, which just keeps getting bigger, but what’s so special about Inman is that it opens up your exposure [and] visibility to all these agents from all over the country, especially in places that Compass is not. It’s great for referrals, and it’s great for growth and networking.
Yeah, definitely. I mean, that’s my favorite thing about going to our conferences, even though, as a writer, we’re kind of always scurrying in the back with our laptops. Let’s talk about your session. What can our readers expect?
It’s something about social media. I just don’t know what the session is called, yet. [Ed. note: It’s called “Hands-on: Top agents’ winning social media strategies for 2026.”]
Last year, my coworkers and I worked on a social media series featuring brokers who have excelled at building strong online brands through authenticity. What’s been your approach to being yourself online? How have you avoided the temptation to simply fall into what’s trending?
I’ve been doing it for 12 years now. I’ve always leaned into showing my lifestyle, just my life in Los Angeles. The restaurants I go to, and the neighborhoods that I’m in: That’s what people care about. They care about where I’m going to eat or where I’m getting my chicken Caesar wrap on a particular day, because I’m obsessed with chicken Caesar wraps.
Most people know I’m a real estate agent; there’s no question about that. I throw that in, but people are more invested in my personal life. One time, when my wallet was stolen and I lost my passport, people were so invested in how I was going to get back home. I think by being my authentic self, I’m able to connect with people better.
That makes sense. I tend to be more private, so there’s a lot I don’t share about myself online. I mean, I’ve realized over time how many people who follow me don’t know I’m a journalist. Do you ever feel the need to pull back on what you share? Or create boundaries between yourself and your followers?
As a real estate agent, visibility is very important. I don’t have the luxury of people not knowing what I do. As a salesperson — I don’t love that word, but it is what I do — part of that is being visible. It’s marketing. It’s marketing the house, and it’s marketing yourself. So, there’s not much that’s private.
And I’ve learned that for me personally, the more public I am, the more I share, the more connections I make, and the more I make people feel seen, the more business happens because I’m attracting the right people. Your vibe attracts your tribe, so the more I show what my vibe is, the more I’m attracting those people.
There’s not really much that I don’t share. I don’t really share negative stuff, though. I don’t really share my opinion negatively, but that’s also just not my aura or my energy. I’m a hype man — I like to hype things up, and I like to hype businesses up, small businesses, specifically, here in Los Angeles.
I understand that. I’m working on being more visible online, so I’ll have to put your advice to use.
Start with a series, like a journal, leading up to Inman Connect San Diego. Make it a visibility challenge.
I’ll take you up on that.
People are rooting for you. Everybody, we have this stuff in our heads. We care too much about what people think about us. There might be someone who says, ‘All of a sudden, she’s making Reels. Who does she think she is?’ But we have to get over what I call ‘Cringe Mountain.’ We have to remember that the negativity that people give is on them at the end of the day.
It gets easier once you start doing it more. It’s like a muscle. I don’t always love the day-to-day of being an agent, but I love this part of it.
How does your experience as a life coach inform how you approach real estate? I saw that you studied under Jay Shetty.
Yeah, that’s a good question. I started helping real estate agents with social media about six or seven years ago because I built my business on it, and then people started coming to me and asking me to speak at events or create an online course.
But when I’m working with agents, we’re not really talking about social media tactics. We’re going deeper. What are the internal hurdles keeping you from showing up as your true, authentic self?
I was going to become a therapist, but that was too much schooling. I started listening to Jay Shetty and he spoke at a Compass retreat one year, and that inspired me to get my life coach certification.
The biggest thing I learned that I was able to bring into real estate is that, for so long, I was not a good,listener. I would listen, but to be reactive, to immediately come up with a solution. So, even with clients now, I tell myself, ‘Andrew, stop. Just listen.’ You realize they tell you everything that they’re feeling, or even that they don’t even know that they feel, by just listening.
So, I think for me, being a coach really helped me listen more.
With so much information readily available online, the sales pitch for creating a luxury listing’s value proposition, one that’s centered on the story and the lifestyle, has never been stronger, new Inman contributor Fritts Causby writes.
The chance to make an impression lasts a split second, and when it comes to justifying a home’s price, the history and lifestyle a property offers has more of an impact than the lot size or amenities.
There are a surprisingly large number of trophy homes available, and it’s fairly easy to list the features of a sprawling manse with a “sparkling” pool, a “stunning” designer kitchen and “breathtaking” views.
What makes a home truly collector-quality is the provenance and the lifestyle that conveys with it. When it’s time to search for a trophy home that is actually unique and worthy of attention, the number of listings shrinks drastically.
Marketing professionals at luxury-oriented brokerages understand that the story can generate the notion of scarcity and thus, a higher price point.
There’s a reason why brokerages like Sotheby’s and Christie’s publish glossy magazines. Targeting luxury buyers, sellers and agents is usually the goal; however, agents working in every segment of the market can benefit from the idea that history, lifestyle and atmosphere can be a difference-maker.
1. Provenance is a pricing lever, not a footnote
Most people do not know who designed their house. A select few have the luxury to care about the architect or provenance, but attention from this group can have a dramatic, outsized impact on a brokerage owner’s bottom line.
A Harry Gesner in Malibu, a John Lautner in Palm Springs, a Richard Neutra in Silver Lake or a Ray Kappe in Pacific Palisades will fetch a higher sale price compared to a larger home that is more generic. In addition, one listing of this caliber can make an agent’s entire career, as it is practically guaranteed to garner more attention from the media, future clients and colleagues.
2. The story is what matters
People are interested to hear about Crocodile Dundee’s former home, the residence I wrote about that was owned by Anthony Kiedis, the one where the writer of Footloose spent more than 40 years and collaborated with countless other stars, the oceanfront ranch that is adjacent to Brad Pitt’s house or Frank Sinatra’s desert retreat.
Fame is not a requirement for storytelling, however. For a custom “neo-Caribbean” I wrote about for Wrightsville Beach Magazine, the story centered on a variety of differentiating factors.
The wine room, for example, is illuminated by a chandelier made of crushed glass bottles that were consumed at the groundbreaking party. Similarly, the “barmoire” the owners had custom built always sparks conversation.
The details originated from conversations with the architect, the interior designer and the owners. Agents who are willing to do the research or find a person who can present the information get listings that other agents cannot match.
3. AI is great for making lists
Any model can pull the comps and list the details. Learning why an interior designer flew to New York three times on furniture runs and translating that into language a buyer actually cares about is an area where the technology lags.
Significantly, as the technology evolves, more listing copy will be generated automatically. This means that more attention will go to listing copy that reads like a human was in the room. Agents who write well or hire writers will have the potential to carve out a competitive advantage.
4. Sellers want narratives
A buyer can always skim the bullets. A seller writing a check for 2.5 percent of a transaction priced at $8 million may logically wonder about the agent’s value proposition.
A magazine-quality article is something a seller may send to their friends, and it’s a tangible item of value that shows the agent cared about their home. The flipside is that a careless description detracts from the agent’s reputation.
High-end sellers often have educated, high-earning friends. A strong narrative may not guarantee a referral, but a bad one is a reliable means of ensuring those clients never call you again.
5. Lifestyle is location with reporting
Any agent can mention the ZIP code and the school district. A writer explains what the location actually delivers: a dock that puts the owner on the water at dawn, a neighborhood where the annual Christmas tree was planted by the family three doors down, a sunset-facing porch that inspired the architect.
The facts are the same. What changes is whether an effort was made to create a compelling argument about those facts.
6. Good property writing is also the next listing
Can AI infuse a narrative with a cocktail of compelling puns that make the reader want to ingest further details about a property? Who knows, but consider the copy I wrote about the Villa Maggio compound where Frank Sinatra was personally instrumental in the design and build:
“There are many cool features, but one of the more unique would have to be the secret passage between two of the bedrooms. If the walls could talk, what stories would they tell? Wide overhanging eaves add to the cool factor, as they provide shade…”
That kind of “brilliance” keeps working after the sale closes, transforming into social content, newsletter material and proof of the effort. The brokerages that run their own magazines have already figured this out. The story of a house and its lifestyle serves as marketing for the next one.
7. The math works out
For a listing priced at $10 million, spending $1,000 on a writer amounts to a tiny fraction of the sale price. On a trophy home, an engaging description brings a higher price. That is not a marketing expense. That is underwriting the transaction.
Of course, the details still matter, and a buyer isn’t going to move forward without the key factors that impact the property.
However, with so much information readily available online, the sales pitch for creating a value proposition that is centered on the story and the lifestyle has never been stronger. It is a differentiator that discerning buyers and sellers respect, one the agents and brokerages who are positioned at the top of the market already understand.
Over two decades, Fritts Causby has written property descriptions and articles around commercial and luxury residential properties. Get connected on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Canopy MLS CEO Anne Marie DeCatsye does not see her organization’s latest expansion as an effort to create a national MLS — but she does see it as a sign that the traditional geography of the MLS business is under pressure.
In a conversation with Inman, DeCatsye said brokerages have become national and mega-regional businesses, while many MLSs remain tied to geographic boundaries that consumers and brokers increasingly do not recognize.
“Consumers don’t see borders with respect to data, so it’s sort of outdated for MLSs to box themselves into a territory,” DeCatsye said.
Her comments came after the Charlotte-based Canopy MLS announced this week that licensed real estate professionals and brokerages from across the country would be able to join its platform. The MLS also said brokerages would be allowed to submit listings through approved third-party or proprietary systems, a move Canopy said would allow firms to better leverage their existing technology investments while maintaining standards for accuracy, compliance and data integrity.
In its announcement, Canopy stressed that the moves were “not intended to create a national MLS or favor any particular brokerage, technology provider, or business model.” Rather, the MLS framed the changes as part of a broader effort to give brokers more flexibility while preserving the MLS as a cooperative marketplace.
For DeCatsye, the larger issue is not whether Canopy or other MLSs are “going national,” but whether MLSs can remain useful to brokers whose businesses no longer fit neatly inside local MLS boundaries.
“Brokers have gone national or mega-regional,” DeCatsye said. “The brokerage industry has completely changed and MLSs are just now realizing, well, we probably need to accommodate that in a way we haven’t been.”
‘The brokers are fed up’
Canopy’s announcement comes amid a flurry of MLS activity and industry debate over private listings, delayed marketing, broker technology and MLS consolidation.
In recent weeks, MRED, Realtracs and Bright MLS have all announced moves that expand access, listing networks or broker-facing services beyond traditional market boundaries. Those moves have drawn attention in part because they involve Compass, which has spent much of the past year pushing MLSs to give sellers and brokers more control over how listings are marketed before reaching the broader public marketplace.
Canopy’s announcement did not specifically mention Compass, but it used familiar framing — broker choice, seller choice, flexibility and proprietary systems — that overlaps with the industry’s broader fight over private listings and MLS rules. DeCatsye said Canopy’s move should be understood less as a reaction to Compass and more as a response to long-running broker frustrations with MLS fragmentation.
Large brokerages increasingly operate across markets, while even regional firms may need to belong to multiple MLSs with different listing-input systems, data feeds, contracts and rules. Canopy, DeCatsye noted, is an owner of MLS Grid, which was created in part to address broker pain points around fragmented data feeds and inconsistent contracts.
But she said those efforts have not solved every problem.
“I’ve got to believe the brokers are frustrated, because it didn’t solve all their pain points,” DeCatsye said.
She added that she has a difficult time understanding why some MLSs would resist responding to broker needs.
“I really have a hard time getting my head around MLSs bucking the brokers on what they need, and I’m getting the sense that they are, and the brokers are fed up,” DeCatsye said.
That frustration, she added, is partly why Canopy decided to make clear that brokers outside its traditional service area could join the platform if they find value in doing so.
Canopy MLS serves more than 22,000 subscribers across parts of North Carolina and South Carolina, but DeCatsye said broker and consumer behavior no longer stops neatly at MLS borders. She pointed to North Carolina’s mountain markets, where she said five MLSs serve a region where consumers are unlikely to understand or care about the boundaries between different territories.
“I don’t think consumers really see borders in the North Carolina mountains,” DeCatsye said. “I don’t think we’re doing the brokers any justice, even local brokers, who aren’t national, by having to have them be part of that many MLSs.”
A narrower view of seller choice
Still, DeCatsye pushed back on the idea that Canopy is embracing a broad shift away from public listing exposure.
Canopy’s announcement included support for “meaningful seller choice” and recognized that some sellers may have valid reasons to limit the marketing of their homes, including privacy, security or unique personal circumstances. But the MLS also said sellers should understand that broad marketplace exposure “typically provides the greatest opportunity” to attract qualified buyers, maximize competition and achieve the best possible outcome.
That is a meaningful distinction at a moment when Compass and other private-listing advocates have framed seller choice as a challenge to traditional MLS distribution rules. DeCatsye said the industry debate has placed too much attention on office exclusives, pocket listings and limited-exposure options.
“I agree that the emphasis is in the wrong place,” DeCatsye said, adding that the focus on limited and office-exclusive listings has been “blown out of proportion” by the trade media. Canopy, she said, believes some sellers may have valid reasons to limit exposure. But she said those cases should not become the norm.
“There’s going to be sellers with valid reasons to have limited exposure of their listings,” DeCatsye said. “But we strongly believe that the broader marketplace exposure is going to be the best opportunity to get qualified buyers and sell at the highest price and get the most eyeballs on it.”
The risk, she said, is that consumers become confused about whether limited exposure is actually in their best interest.
“It would be valid for some sellers,” DeCatsye said. “It shouldn’t be a reason for all sellers.”
‘Tweaking it,’ not changing the architecture
Canopy’s latest announcement builds on listing-option changes the MLS began rolling out last year.
The MLS previously declined to adopt the National Association of Realtors’ delayed marketing exempt listings category and instead moved forward with its own listing options, including Limited Exposure and Firm Exclusive listing categories. Those options allow some listings to be withheld from public feeds or limited to agents within the same firm.
Canopy has also modified its Coming Soon-No Show status to suppress price history in certain circumstances. The changes place Canopy inside a broader industry debate over whether limited-exposure listings, suppressed price history and paused days-on-market calculations give sellers valuable flexibility or impact market transparency and advantage firms with larger internal networks.
DeCatsye rejected the idea that Canopy — and others instituting similar measures — are changing the entire architecture of the MLS system around a relatively small share of sellers who may prioritize privacy or want limited exposure. Instead, she said, Canopy is making narrower adjustments for specific situations while preserving broad exposure as the norm.
“I would call it tweaking it,” DeCatsye said. “Slightly modifying it.”
Office exclusives and pocket listings, she noted, have existed for years and Canopy’s approach, she argued, is to create controlled options inside the MLS rather than ignore those practices or push them outside the system entirely.
“We’re just trying to not necessarily preserve the status quo, but make some accommodations where some business models have changed,” DeCatsye said.
Canopy’s goal, she added, is to give sellers options while balancing the needs of buyer agents and preserving access to listing information “to the greatest extent possible.”
Compass did not direct the move, CEO says
Canopy’s announcement came after MRED, Realtracs and Bright MLS each announced new initiatives involving Compass, raising the question of whether Canopy’s move was also shaped by the brokerage giant’s push for more flexibility around listings and MLS participation.
DeCatsye said Compass’ recent moves with other MLSs were part of the broader industry conversation Canopy was watching. But she said Compass did not direct Canopy’s decision.
She acknowledged receiving outreach from Compass CEO Robert Reffkin last year, as many other MLS leaders did, and said she regularly speaks with large broker-owners, including Compass. But she said Canopy had already been examining its own listing policies and would make decisions based on its own market and subscribers.
“I can tell you, last summer I got the same email everybody else got from Robert Reffkin, and my response was, we’re already looking into this, and we’ll do what’s best for Canopy,” DeCatsye said. “I’m not going to be directed by one firm. And Canopy’s not going to be directed by one firm.”
That distinction was important to Canopy’s board, she said, because the board includes representatives from large firms, small firms, outlying counties, franchises and national firms.
“It was very important to our board of directors that we make the statement that we’re not aligning with one broker,” DeCatsye said.
Consolidation pressure will remain
The same forces pushing Canopy to open itself beyond its traditional borders could also accelerate consolidation among MLSs, DeCatsye said.
She stopped short of calling for one national MLS and said Canopy is not trying to become one. But she said the current map of hundreds of MLSs does not always match how brokers, brokerages or consumers experience the market.
“A natural progression in the consolidation moment we’re seeing with the brokerages should be a natural progression of consolidation of the MLSs,” DeCatsye said.
DeCatsye has previously said the industry should not have one national MLS. She reiterated that view, but said there should be fewer MLSs than exist today. Still, she said MLS consolidation is not happening quickly enough.
The future she described is not necessarily one national MLS, but a more competitive MLS landscape.
“I’m hopeful that this sends a signal that MLSs need to be, in a sense, competing on at least mega-regional, if not on a national level, with each other,” DeCatsye said.
Defending the MLS
But DeCatsye’s call for MLSs to adapt was also a defense of the MLS itself. Her concern is not that MLSs should become less central to the industry, but that they need to become more responsive to brokers before brokers look for other ways to solve their own problems.
That means giving brokers more flexibility around technology, listing input and seller options, she said, while still preserving the cooperative marketplace that gives buyers and sellers access to reliable listing information.
At times, DeCatsye said, agents do not fully understand that role.
“There’s a certain responsibility they have to step back and understand the bigger picture of why the MLS was created, why it exists, who it protects from a consumer protection standpoint,” DeCatsye said.
The challenge now, DeCatsye suggested, is figuring out how that cooperative model should evolve at a time when brokerages, technology platforms and consumer behavior have all moved beyond traditional local boundaries.
She also said the industry is at a “crossroads” over who should lead MLS policy — NAR or the Council of MLSs — and said policy should not be driven primarily by fear of litigation.
“NAR is walking a tightrope too,” DeCatsye said, adding that she has some sympathy for the organization’s position because it is risk-averse in a litigious environment. “My standpoint is that policy should not be made out of fear of being sued or not sued.”
Canopy, she said, is willing to make policy decisions it believes are right for brokers and consumers, even if that means accepting legal risk.
“If we are doing the right thing and we can justify what we’re doing, it’s best for all of our firms,” DeCatsye said. “If we get sued, we deal with it then.”
]]>Every Friday, we round up the most popular, most read, most critical stories of the week to give you a quick catchup on the big headlines you might have missed in the hustle and bustle of the workweek. Here’s this week’s Top 5 as chosen by our readers.
P.S. Don’t miss The Download, our weekly column that breaks down one of the week’s top stories and equips you with what you’ll need to meet next Monday head-on.
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A top Federal Reserve official is sounding the alarm on inflation — and Friday’s jobs report may have just turned up the volume.
A top Federal Reserve official is sounding the alarm on inflation, and the latest jobs report may have just turned up the volume.
The U.S. economy added 172,000 jobs in May, bolstering the case for a rate hike that Dallas Federal Reserve President and CEO Lorie Logan first raised Wednesday in prepared remarks at the University of Texas at El Paso. The national unemployment rate held at 4.3 percent for the third consecutive month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Logan is a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, the body that sets the Fed’s interest rate policy.
Lorie Logan
“I am increasingly concerned that higher interest rates could be necessary later this year to fully restore price stability and appropriately balance both sides of the Fed’s dual mandate,” Logan said.
Logan said inflation has run close to 4 percent over the past 12 months and appears to be trending toward the mid-2s rather than all the way back to the Fed’s 2 percent target, driven by tariff increases, oil price shocks from the Iran war and other factors.
She said economic conditions, including first-quarter S&P 500 corporate earnings growth of more than 25 percent and continued AI investment, suggest monetary policy is not doing enough to slow growth.
“These conditions indicate that monetary policy is not restraining the economy,” Logan said.
Leisure and hospitality led May hiring gains with 70,000 new jobs, followed by local government at 55,000 and healthcare at 35,000, according to the BLS report. Financial services shed 22,000 jobs.
Logan was one of three FOMC members who dissented at the Fed’s April meeting, arguing the central bank should signal that a rate increase was as likely as a cut. Her remarks and Friday’s jobs data come two weeks before new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh helms his first FOMC meeting.
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]]>A backyard garden can return nothing at resale, or it can be the detail that closes the deal.
As food prices are projected to rise 2 to 2.5 percent in 2026, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a growing number of homeowners are reaching for a trowel in response.
Longevity researchers say the instinct is sound; gardening is among the few daily habits shared by people who live past 100 in every Blue Zone ever studied.
But for real estate agents, the question of whether a garden helps or hurts a sale rarely has a clean answer. The data suggests it depends on what kind of garden, how it’s maintained and how an agent frames it to potential buyers.
What outdoor investment actually returns
The clearest numbers agents have come from the 2023 Remodeling Impact Report: Outdoor Features, produced jointly by the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Landscape Professionals.
Standard lawn care — the least expensive of 11 outdoor projects surveyed — returned 217 percent of its cost at resale, as estimated by Realtors. Landscape maintenance returned 104 percent. An overall landscape upgrade returned 100 percent.
Ninety-two percent of Realtors in the report said they recommend improving curb appeal before listing, with landscape maintenance and standard lawn care among the top-recommended projects by a wide margin.
Buyer demand for that outdoor investment is real and growing. In a survey conducted for Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, 76 percent of affiliated agents said outdoor living extensions — patios, porches and balconies — are the most requested feature among buyers.
Thirty-eight percent of buyers in the same survey ranked outdoor space as a top priority, and 71 percent said outdoor spaces that extend living areas are among the features most likely to make them fall in love with a home.
The gap between what buyers want and what pays back at the closing table frames the core conversation agents should be having with seller clients: The outdoor investments that feel the most rewarding are frequently not the ones that perform best at resale.
When a garden is an asset — and when it isn’t
A well-maintained raised bed or herb garden reads as a lifestyle amenity. An overgrown vegetable plot or a labor-intensive perennial border reads as a liability and likely a list of weekend commitments the buyer didn’t ask for. The NAR/NALP report found that elaborate gardens requiring significant maintenance can give buyers pause, regardless of how much care the seller has invested in them.
Shelton Wilder
The BHGRE survey reinforces that modern, low-maintenance landscaping, like neatly mulched beds, native greenery and drip irrigation, is ranked just behind styled outdoor rooms in what buyers respond to at the curb. The signal buyers want is that a home looks beautiful without demanding constant upkeep.
“Home gardens can absolutely help attract a certain buyer pool, especially in markets like Los Angeles, where indoor-outdoor living is such a big part of the lifestyle,” Shelton Wilder, CEO of The Shelton Wilder Group at Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California, told Inman.
“Buyers love the idea of fresh herbs, citrus trees, or a beautiful raised garden bed, but I always tell sellers not to overspend on it.”
Wilder said the front of the home remains the most reliable place to put money before a sale.
“First impressions matter, and clean landscaping, greenery and a welcoming entry can make a huge difference in how buyers feel when they first arrive at a property.”
For buyers, existing garden infrastructure like raised beds, compost systems and established fruit trees can represent real value. Properties with those features already in place may save buyers thousands in setup costs, a consideration worth raising with clients whose lifestyle aligns with the space.
Lifestyle demand at the luxury end
At higher price points, the garden conversation has moved well beyond curb appeal.
Jack Richardson
“Outdoor space has evolved from being a ‘nice to have’ into a strong value driver, particularly in the luxury end of the market,” said Jack Richardson, principal of The Richardson Team at SERHANT. “Buyers today are evaluating the entire lifestyle experience of a property, not just the interior square footage or stone choices.”
Richardson points to a quality of outdoor investment that sets it apart from most interior renovations. “Thoughtful landscaping is one of the few investments you can make into a home that actually scales in value over time,” he said. “Unlike many renovations that depreciate the moment they’re completed, mature trees, layered plantings, privacy hedging, and well-designed outdoor living spaces tend to become more valuable and more difficult — expensive — to replicate as the property ages.”
On the listing side, Richardson said garden spaces are reaching buyers who would not have ranked them as a priority before. “The best exterior spaces create a sense of permanence, privacy and serenity that’s increasingly hard to find.”
The Blue Zones connection
The appetite for that serenity may be grounded in something older than real estate trends.
Researchers studying Blue Zones — the five regions where people live past 100 at the highest rates in the world — have identified gardening as a consistent feature of daily life in each one.
The regions, identified by journalist Dan Buettner in partnership with National Geographic and the National Institute on Aging, span Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece; and Loma Linda, California.
What those communities share is not structured exercise but movement built into the fabric of everyday life, with walking, manual tasks and gardening among them. Centenarians in these regions tend gardens into their 80s, 90s and beyond.
Research cited by the Blue Zones Institute finds that home gardening is associated with levels of happiness comparable to walking or biking, and that participants consistently ranked gardening among the most meaningful activities in their daily lives.
The mental health and movement case
That finding is supported by a growing body of peer-reviewed research reaching well beyond Blue Zones populations.
A University of Florida study published in the journal PLOS ONE found that twice-weekly gardening sessions lowered stress, anxiety and depression in healthy women who had never gardened before. A 2024 umbrella review and meta-analysis published in Systematic Reviews, drawing on decades of research across populations, found that gardening was associated with improvements in a range of mental health outcomes, including reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety, lower stress and improved cognitive function.
Michigan State University research found that gardening boosted confidence, self-esteem and sense of purpose, and that those benefits deepened when people gardened alongside others.
For agents working with clients who are weighing aging-in-place options or looking for homes that support an active lifestyle without high-impact movement demands, the garden’s functional role could be worth bringing up as part of the conversation.
What agents should know before advising clients
The data points to a few practical distinctions.
For sellers, the financial return is clearest in the fundamentals: Lawn maintenance, clean landscaping and a welcoming entry. Elaborate vegetable gardens or high-maintenance plantings are worth simplifying before listing, or framing with intent. The goal is to let a buyer see the lifestyle potential without projecting labor costs.
For buyers, the question is whether the garden aligns with how the client actually wants to live, and whether the lifestyle benefits are part of what they are weighing in a home decision. The BHGRE survey found that outdoor living extensions ranked No. 1 on the buyer-approved layout wish list, above flex rooms, smart storage and dual primary suites — a signal that outdoor space is no longer a secondary consideration.
“We’re consistently hearing demand for outdoor living areas, gardens, pools and properties that feel like private retreats,” Richardson said. “There’s also growing appreciation for landscaping that provides both beauty and functionality — shade and privacy.”
As food costs rise and buyers increasingly weigh wellness alongside square footage, the garden conversation is becoming a more standard part of what agents are expected to know.