Pre-marketing deals shift power in real estate by controlling early access to homes

The listing agent whose property initiated the buyer relationship receives 10% of the buyer agent’s commission under Zillow Preview.

That shift — a slice of the buyer agent’s commission flowing back to the listing agent who sparked initial interest — is a structural change in how real estate compensation works, made possible by Zillow’s new Preview program. Unlike traditional models where lead referrals are one-way and uncompensated, this arrangement rewards the listing side for generating early demand, even when the eventual buyer is represented by a different agent.

Zillow Preview launched in mid-March with 58 brokerages in exclusive partnerships, including Keller Williams, RE/MAX, and SERHANT. These firms agreed to withhold their coming soon listings from other portals. Listings appear only with seller consent and must follow local MLS rules — meaning if an MLS restricts pre-MLS advertising to 24 hours, that’s the maximum preview window allowed.

When a listing transitions from Preview to active status, its engagement data — saves, views, tour requests — carries over. So does the days-on-market count. The listing retains continuity, making it appear as though it had been on the market longer than it has in the traditional sense.

Consumers can contact the listing agent directly or schedule a tour. If they choose the latter, they’re connected to a Zillow partner agent. Should that agent close the sale, Zillow takes only 25% of the buyer agent’s commission instead of its standard 35%. The remaining 10% goes to the original listing agent — the one whose property drew the buyer in.

That reallocation is not charity. It’s an incentive engineered to pull brokerages into Zillow’s ecosystem. By compensating the listing agent for demand generation, Zillow turns early access into a revenue opportunity — one that only exists because many MLSs don’t syndicate coming soon listings through IDX feeds.

Compass took a different path. Its late-February deal with Rocket-Redfin gives Compass listings prime placement on Redfin with no days on market or price history displayed. Leads go first to the listing agent, then to Compass’s internal network if unclaimed. There’s no time limit on how long a listing can stay in pre-marketing, as long as the seller agrees.

And there’s a mortgage hook: homes listed by Compass and closed through Rocket-Redfin qualify for up to $6,000 in closing cost savings via Rocket’s preferred pricing bundle. That ties agent behavior to lender preference — another closed loop.

eXp Realty, the largest brokerage by transaction volume, opted for non-exclusive deals. Starting April 15, its coming soon listings will appear on Realtor.com, Homes.com, and ComeHome.com — Google’s real estate partner in select markets. Any portal can join, on equal terms, provided sellers consent and MLS rules allow.

Leo Pareja, eXp’s CEO, said these arrangements exist only because most MLSs don’t include coming soon listings in their syndicated feeds. “If all the MLSs would just include the coming soon status listings in their IDX feeds and syndicate it to all the portals, then this would be a non-issue,” Pareja said. “None of us would have to figure out how to do it ourselves.”

Until that changes, brokerages and portals will keep building private pipelines to control when and how buyers see homes — and who profits from first contact.