Why Zillow Might Be Hurting Your Home Sale & What You Can Do About It

• Zillow Restricts Listings •

Zillow plans to blacklist many San Diego homes from it’s popular home search platform, making it harder for your listing to get the visibility it needs to achieve the highest price. The new Zillow rules could exclude hundreds of San Diego real estate listings from appearing on the site if they are not posted to the MLS within 1 business day.

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Adapted from the article by our Compass Colleague, Allison Ziefert, REALTOR®, and her team at The Allison Ziefert Real Estate Group on Village Green NJ. Read the original post here.

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If you’re thinking about selling your home in San Diego, chances are you’ve considered listing it on a major real estate portal site like Zillow or Redfin. After all, millions of people browse those sites every month. But here’s the hard truth: when it comes to actually selling your home for the best price, listing portals aren’t always working in your favor.

Here’s how the new Zillow rules affect listing your home for sale and marketing your property, on your terms.

New Zillow Policy Threatens to Blacklist Hundreds of Listings

The new Zillow rules will blacklist hundreds of San Diego homes from its popular platform if they aren’t uploaded to the MLS within one day of being marketed.

Starting June 30th, listings that don’t comply will be excluded from Zillow, limiting your home marketing exposure. Zillow claims this policy promotes transparency. In reality, it controls how your listing is marketed. When your home appears on Zillow, they profit from Buyer inquiries by controlling who sees your listing and when, without your consent or considering your full marketing strategy.

Tools like Zestimates and price drop alerts are negative insights that can misrepresent your home value, affecting Buyer perception and weakening your listing credibility. Blocking all non-MLS listings is another way Zillow consolidates power, making it harder for your moving plans to stay flexible and keep control over your home sale. This new Zillow rule is part of the NAR® Clear Cooperation mandate that requires all listings to go public on MLS within 1 business day of marketing.

Why Zillow Has Different Priorities Than Yours 

Many don’t realize this, but Zillow trains its Premier Agents to redirect Buyers away from your property, even if it’s the one the Buyer originally inquired about. Their goal is simple: convert your home inquiry into a paying client, even if it means steering attention to another listing.

Meanwhile, your home might be sitting online, accumulating days on market and broadcasting price cuts that make Buyers wonder: “What’s wrong with it?”

Zillow Not Showing All Homes Anymore

Zillow wants everything posted on their platform so they can profit from selling Buyer contact info to agents who pay for leads. That means Zillow controls who sees your listing and who responds to aspiring Buyers. It also means Zillow is calling the shots, not you.

This isn’t about fighting for control. It’s about ensuring you, the seller, have the freedom to market your property as you see fit, whether that’s through a private, exclusive off-market listing or on public platforms like Zillow.

How Public Listings Can Undermine Your Home Value

Your unique home deserves better than being treated like just another listing on an aggregated MLS portal. When your house appears on Zillow and similar real estate listing portal sites, it’s immediately exposed to:

• Visible price drops and accumulating days on market can give the wrong impression, which can signal desperation, depending on the pace and rate of changes.

• Automated valuations that ignore your home’s unique geography and hidden benefits may undervalue your home and encourage discount or lowball Offer strategies.

• Negative insights like generalized climate risks or perceived walk scores can unduly alarm Buyers, without the full scope of state-mandated disclosures for a full perspective.

• Outdated or incorrect information based on flawed public records data that distorts your listing.

• Missed opportunities from Buyers who get diverted to uniformed agents who pay for leads, not your REALTOR® who knows your home best.

These platforms often treat your home like generic inventory instead of the thoughtfully curated product it really is, missing the unique story and local charm that make it shine in the San Diego real estate market.

Why REALTORS® Sell More Homes than Zillow

Despite all the heavy web traffic Zillow gets, only 3% of home sales closed with a Zillow agent. The rest mostly happen through relationships with trusted local REALTORS®: professionals who understand your neighborhood, your goals & timeline, and the mechanics of your move. Most local agents aren’t scouring listing aggregation sites to find homes for clients, we’re tapping into public records data off MLS and our own brokerage network.

In fact, Zillow’s own numbers show that in a record-breaking market, they only contributed to a mere fraction of sold real estate transactions. The takeaway? High portal views alone don’t always equal real results for every real estate listing. Relying solely on public MLS portals to market a unique home can generate a disappointing amount of window shoppers and tire-kickers.

How Pre-Marketing Power Maximizes Your Listing

These new Zillow rules may limit your options, but Compass gives you the full flexibility to navigate this shift on your terms. Some critics falsely claim that Compass is out to dominate both sides of the deal or wrongly suggest that Compass uses off-market listings to skirt fair housing laws. The truth is, Compass advocates for pre-marketing your home because only you should control how your property is advertised.

Our 3-Phased Marketing Strategy is a smarter, more strategic approach to selling, one that protects your home’s value every step of the way. Here’s how our three-step strategy empowers you to generate buzz before officially listing your home, creating more demand, and collecting early-stage feedback that might help drive up your sale price.

You can quietly test your price with other top REALTORS® without triggering public days on market or exposing your listing to early judgment. By validating your pricing privately through our brokerage network, you avoid costly days on market and unnecessary public pressure that could stigmatize your listing.

We help generate buzz and early demand through Compass-exclusive exposure, giving you a strategic edge before going live to the broader public. Only once we’ve validated interest and pricing do we launch your listing, ensuring it’s done on your terms and with a calculated approach.

The Bottom Line: Choice Over Control

With Zillow restricting many listings, it’s more important than ever to ensure your home gets the exposure it deserves. If you’re concerned about the risks of listing on Zillow in exchange for less control over your exposure, now’s the time to take charge and protect your options.

At Compass, we give you the flexibility to market your home on your terms and timeline, protecting your price and maximizing visibility without relying on Zillow’s limitations. Compass is the top real estate brokerage nationwide, and we’re here to help you sell your home with flexibility that fits your pace, preferences, and priorities. We’ve got you covered coast to coast with the best connections to top REALTORS® around the country in any market you are exploring. We are driven by earning great testimonials and referral business from happy clients.

Together with a proven strategy, we’ll make sure your listing stands out for maximum exposure and minimal risk for a smooth, profitable home sale. Take the first step and gain an advantage: Call Portia at 858.880.0195 or email portia.green@compass.com to start mapping out a smart, successful home sale with a plan tailored to your goals.

Sources: 

https://www.nar.realtor/about-nar/policies/mls-clear-cooperation-policy

https://www.zillow.com/premier-agent/listing-access-standards/

https://www.zillow.com/premier-agent/agents-know-listing-access-standards/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/home/2025/05/29/real-estate-listings-new-gossip/

https://www.mikedp.com/articles/2025/6/2/zillows-opening-moves-in-the-exclusive-inventory-battle

https://www.newsweek.com/zillow-will-stop-showing-some-home-listings-next-month-what-know-2058314

https://www.businessinsider.com/is-my-zestimate-accurate-home-prices-obsession-zillow-algorithm-homeowner-2024-12

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/zillow-to-block-listings-that-violate-new-rules-here-s-what-gets-you-banned-for-life/ar-AA1FWVup

https://villagegreennj.com/home-garden/realtor-allison-ziefert-discusses-why-zillow-might-be-hurting-your-home-sale-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/

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