Zillow is getting into the pre-marketing game.
The home search giant announced the launch of Zillow Preview, which will allow agents to upload homes to Zillow and Trulia before they are publicly marketed through the multiple listing service. Zillow is initially partnering on the new tool with major franchisors, including Keller Williams and REMAX, HomeServices of America and United Real Estate, along with white-label brokerage Side.
The announcement comes amid a larger industry push for options to market listings off the MLS. In February, Compass and Redfin announced a similar partnership, in which Compass’ exclusive inventory will appear exclusively on Redfin.
Zillow and its partners are positioning Zillow Preview as an antidote to private listings, which are generally only available to agents within the same brokerage as the listing agent.
“No one should have to obligate themselves to an agent from a specific brokerage just to know the full breadth of inventory available,” said Zillow CEO Jeremy Wacksman in a statement. “Zillow Preview shines a light on listings that might otherwise stay hidden, giving buyers open access to their options and sellers the broad exposure they deserve.”
Preview listings will receive elevated placement in Zillow search results, and interested buyers can connect with the listing agent or pre-schedule tours with another Zillow partner agent. Listing agents who connect with potential buyers from a preview listing won’t be charged.
Listing agents using Preview can also receive a bonus of 10 percent of the buyer agent’s total commission, paid by Zillow, if the pre-market listing results in a closed transaction through Zillow’s Preferred agent network, according to a spokesperson.
Agents can also opt to remove information, like price drop history and days on market, before their listings are syndicated through the MLS.
Private, but public
Zillow’s announcement is the latest in a series of strategic moves brokerages and home search platforms have made around inventory in the last few years.
Compass in 2024 unveiled a three-phase marketing strategy that involved first marketing listings exclusively within the brokerage, then publishing them on Compass.com before marketing them widely through the MLS.
In March 2025, the National Association of Realtors announced a change to its policy that previously required all listings to be submitted to the MLS within 24 hours of public marketing, instead allowing agents to publicly market listings without syndicating them for an amount of time to be determined by local MLSes.
Some brokerages followed suit with their own programs. Then in April 2025, Zillow announced a listing policy that threatened to ban listings that did not appear on Zillow within 24 hours of being publicly marketed. Compass sued Zillow over the policy two months later.
Compass’ deal for Anywhere Real Estate, which combined the two largest brokerages in the country by transaction volume, has added to industry concerns that the brokerage is seeking to keep its listings contained within its now much-larger ecosystem.
But Zillow still maintains a dominant position among consumers. An average of 235 million unique users visit the site each month, nearly two and a half times more than its next closest competitor, according to the company.
Its partnership with some of the country’s largest remaining brokerages speaks to those firms trying to find the fastest way to keep up with the competition.
“Over time, more sellers may expect their agents to use Coming Soon-type marketing to build that early momentum,” said Keller Williams CEO and president Chris Czarnecki. “That’s why we chose to roll this out with Zillow, the most visited consumer housing search portal in the country.”