00:00:09
Good afternoon, and welcome to the Deerwood Realty Show. I’m John Schink, founder and managing broker of Deerwood Realty in St. Louis, Missouri.

Today, I want to talk about a growing narrative in the real estate business: that sellers should list their home on a private network first instead of the MLS. The argument is that the MLS is somehow flawed or harmful, but quite frankly, I think that idea is garbage.

There was an article written by Zillow—yes, they have their own motives, but they also did some research worth discussing. The article, titled “Off-MLS Home Sellers Left More Than $1 Billion on the Table,” claims that over the past few years, sellers who did not list on the MLS lost out on billions collectively. According to Zillow’s research, a typical home not listed on the MLS sold for nearly $5,000 less—a median loss of 1.5%. In some places, like California, the loss was more than $30,000.

00:02:00
Now, I’m not saying every single one of Zillow’s numbers is 100% accurate, but there’s a point to be made here. When you don’t put your house on the MLS, you are severely limiting exposure. Less visibility means fewer buyers. Fewer buyers mean less competition—and that often means a lower sales price.

So why are some brokerages encouraging private listings? Frankly, because it benefits them. If a broker convinces a seller to list in their private network, they can potentially double-dip—represent both the buyer and the seller—and keep the whole commission in-house. That’s not about helping the seller; that’s about maximizing the brokerage's profits.

I’ve seen this firsthand during my time working with investors. They loved off-market deals because it meant the seller didn’t know what the property was truly worth. That’s how people get taken advantage of.

00:05:00
One argument against the MLS is the visibility of “days on market.” People worry that if a house doesn’t sell quickly, it’ll hurt the final sales price. That’s true to some extent—but the bigger problem is usually mispricing. If your house sits on the market for six months, that’s a pricing issue, not a platform issue.

According to the same study, the financial hit is even worse for lower-priced homes—those sellers are losing the most, percentage-wise. Ironically, these are the people who can least afford to lose money. Zillow found that in the lowest price tier, the median loss was 3.1%.

00:07:00
And let’s not forget about buyers. If you’re a buyer stuck with a brokerage’s private network, you might not even be aware of homes listed publicly on the MLS. That’s a problem. It creates a market where only a select few have access, and that’s not good for competition or for fair housing.

The methodology Zillow used to identify these pocket listings was pretty clever. They looked for listings marked pending or sold almost immediately—homes that were never really “listed” for public view. In many cases, these were sales where the buyer and seller were both represented by agents from the same office. That’s a clear conflict of interest.

00:09:00
So what’s my recommendation as a broker? List your home on the MLS. Every single time. No question about it. The MLS gives your property maximum exposure, and in this market, the best offer often comes quickly—sometimes even during the first weekend. That’s when serious buyers are ready to act, and that’s when you’re likely to get top dollar.

Some agents will try to pitch private networks as a tool for price discovery over time. In my opinion, it’s all nonsense. Private listings are a loophole. They open the door to discrimination and violate the spirit—if not the letter—of fair housing laws. I hope the federal government steps in to investigate and prosecute where necessary.

00:11:00
With that said, I’ll wrap it up here. Thanks for watching, thanks for listening, and I’ll catch you on the next episode of the Deerwood Realty Show.