Agents withhold listings from public websites

Search engines are growing in popularity as the initial stage in the home research process producing the same search results for small upstart companies as large established ones. Given this fact, real estate agents are becoming more protective of where their listings appear, which begs the question who benefits from this action? Do the home sellers listed with these agents know their listing information is being withheld from public websites, robbing their home of its potential market exposure? Not wanting other agents or companies to profit from a listing is not a good enough reason to exclude listing information from websites other than your own. This fact has been masked behind the facade of concern for the customer and their privacy. It seems like common sense indicates the more people that know the home is for sale the better chance there is of it selling. So isn’t it a duty of an agent to provide the maximum marketing exposure possible for all listings in order to benefit the client in selling their home? Moreover, agents are also now trying to regulate the type of listings that can appear on public websites in an effort to limit the effect flat fee MLS companies and discounters have on market share. As flat fee MLS and discount brokerages grow in popularity it will be interesting to see the changes in the industry.