Secret Property Listings Will Be Removed from Zillow and Trulia Starting in May

April 16, 2025 TruthUSA

Most home sellers believe it’s important for their listings to be publicly viewable for free, whereas many celebrities tend to value privacy over money.

Beginning next month, Zillow and its subsidiary Trulia will no longer allow privately listed properties to appear on their websites.

A statement on the Zillow website indicates that any listing that is publicly marketed to any buyer must also be published on a local multiple-listing service (MLS).

“We believe a listing available online anywhere consumers can see it must be online everywhere listings are displayed,” it states.

The new standards are based on the “Clear Cooperation Policy” from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), which states that within one business day of marketing a property to the public, the listing broker must also submit the listing to the local MLS.

“It’s simple: sellers want exposure, and buyers deserve access,“ Errol Samuelson, chief industry development officer at Zillow, said in the statement. ”When all buyers don’t have the same access to home listings—and are forced to navigate barriers, possible bias and incomplete inventory—it undermines consumer trust and weakens the market.”

There are rare occasions when sellers have legitimate reasons for keeping their listings private, such as safety or another personal reason, and those listings will never receive public marketing on Zillow.

On that front, NAR recently updated its “Delayed Marketing Exempt Listings” policy that allows a seller to sign a disclosure that waives or delays public marketing through syndication. During this period, the property can be listed on an MLS, where the property will be available to be viewed by other Realtors and MLS subscribers so they can inform their clients about the property.

Anne Russell, president of the Greater Los Angeles Realtors, told The Epoch Times she is happy that Zillow is aligning with the NAR in this matter because it’s important that properties are available for all potential buyers, including those on the delayed listings.

“A lot of celebrities don’t want the general public knowing that they’re selling their homes, so this new NAR ruling allows us to list these properties in a special area of our MLS, where all of our realtors and MLS participants can access them,” she said. “This way, they can still tell potential buyer clients about those listings.”

Russell said that in many cases, celebrities will choose to keep their names and addresses off the listings and just mention the area where the property is located. Potential buyers interested in these ultra-high-end properties, often listed for $10 million or more, may need to show proof that they can purchase the estate prior to viewing it.

“This could be a letter from their bank, indicating they have the funds necessary for purchase,” Russell said.

This policy prevents people who may not be qualified to buy the home from just coming in to look at it.

“It’s purely an economic threshold, especially when you’re dealing with sellers who are very selective about who is viewing their homes,” Russell said. “We also advise these sellers to put personal photos away and make sure they’re not at home when potential buyers come to view the home.”

Russell noted that the NAR’s new policy opens up exclusive listings to all realtors and prevents the practice of making these high-end listings available to only a select number of real estate agents dealing with multimillion-dollar listings.

“This was discriminatory, plus the more agents who can see these properties, the more potential buyers they can bring in and more competition may lead to higher prices for the seller,” she said.

Still, said Russell, some celebrity clients value privacy over money and may want to forgo the highest price for a quiet sale.

Dan Gervais, team leader at The Gervais Group–Keller Williams Realty, in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, told The Epoch Times that it occasionally deals with celebrities, but most have no issue with listing their properties on the local MLS.

“There was one person several years ago who didn’t want their property listed because they didn’t want their neighbors to know,” he said.

Gervais agrees with Zillow’s decision, as listings on both the MLS and external feeds put more eyes on properties for sale.

“The best thing I can do for a seller is to put the listing on the open market and let every possible buyer see it,” he said. “That way, they can get the most exposure and the best possible offer.”

Making listings available to all realtors and MLS subscribers is just as important, Gervais said.

“If someone requests privacy, they may not be getting the best deal out there,” he said. “We should always do whatever is best for our clients.”

A Zillow/Harris poll of more than 2,000 Americans taken early this year found that 81 percent of respondents believe it’s important for their home listing to be publicly viewable for free.

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