The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as local, state and national Realtor associations, set forth certain fair housing and equal opportunity rules, as well as broader ethical guidelines, that every Realtor is required to follow. Jones says that in her experience, agents are quick to abandon these guidelines; though, the reasoning is unclear.

“Agents who ignore the guidelines are the reason I hate ‘Coming Soon’ signs as a buyer’s agent,” she says. “Some agents will keep signs like that up for weeks, which cause all kinds of problems for other agents and the clients they represent.”

Jones says that not only will clients pine after a property that’s been listed as “Coming Soon” for what she describes as “ages,” but when she or other members of her brokerage inquire about the status of the property, listing agents regularly respond with short, uninformative emails, saying things like “it’s not available” or “it will be on MLS when it’s for sale.”

“It creates a problem with buyers because it paints the impression of a pocket listing,” she says. “I won’t be able to give my client concrete information, so they’ll reach out to the listing agent directly.”

It’s not a matter of sabotage, or anything so sinister, but Jones says that there have been times where a listing agent will respond to an inquiry about a “Coming Soon” property, but at the same time will be giving her client all the information she couldn’t.

In theory, assuming all the involved parties follow the rules, Jones agrees with Zillow that “Coming Soon” listings offer a certain respite to buyers losing hope in a sparse market. However, the reality of how the listings have worked so far suggest they might be more trouble than they are worth.

What Zillow Has to Say

At Zillow, leadership is largely shirking off implications that its new feature will in any way damage the industry or misleads customers. To get the website’s perspective, we talked with Zillow representative Katie Curnutte, who shared her insights on the new “Coming Soon” listings.

“The practice of pre-marketing listings is not a new thing,” Curnutte says, “We really developed this tool for customers. Considering how competitive the market currently is, this gives them a chance to see what’s coming, get pre-approved and loop in their own agent.”

In response to comparing Zillow’s “Coming Soon” listings to the much more nefarious practice of pocket listings, Curnutte says that, if anything, the company is shining a light on what could have other wise turned into a problem.

“One of the reasons Zillow established this specific framework is because agents were already posting off-market listings to the site,” she says, adding that while it was a common practice, Zillow had no means of helping customer discern between what was on the market and what was just being advertised as a future option. Curnutte says the “Coming Soon” feature eliminates that issue, making listings more transparent and their status more apparent.

To make sure agents are not taking advantage of the system, Zillow has put in place time requirements for each listing. When an agent posts a new property to Zillow’s “Coming Soon” section, Curnutte says, they are required to include an “expected listing date,” which can’t exceed 60 days from the posting date, and check an agreement that states they are complying with all real estate licensing commission, MLS and local association of Realtors’ rules, as well as their brokerage’s rules.

If an agent’s listing doesn’t go on the market within 72 hours of its expected listing date, Zillow will automatically pull the listing from syndication. Curnutte admits that while the company doesn’t actively investigate whether agents are actually complying with local, state and national rules, Zillow does retain an “audit trail” of all “Coming Soon” listings.

“Should it come to our attention that an agent is not in compliance, we’ll remove the listing and be in contact with the agent, and his or her brokerage as appropriate, to ensure the issue is resolved,” she says.

What do you think? Will “Coming Soon” listings help or hurt real estate agents? Take our poll below, and voice additional opinions in the comments section:

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