Compass and Zillow profit from listing data that agents actually create through property inspections and seller relationships. MLS organizations protect data quality through volunteer standards, but real-estate platforms treat it as a commodity to monetize, raising the question of who really owns the information that fuels the market.
I don't like it, but it's legal. And I'm not saying that there's not amazing agents over there. I'm just telling you Compass is trying to make money and Zillow is trying to make money. And in the process, they're going to weigh down the self-policing volunteer-driven organizations that are doing their best to bring a professionalism into this. And so then the question becomes, at the end of the day on this, whose data is it? Is it the seller of the home? Do they own the data? Or is it the agent who walked in the house, earned the trust, got the listing agreement signed, and then put the data in the system? Although the agreement is not with the agent, the agreement is with the brokerage. So the brokerage is in charge of the listing, but the agent is in charge of the data cuz they're the boots on the ground. But it's the seller's house. Well, the buyer's relying on that data. Zillow's relying on that data. And in every MLS, our bylaws and our regulations are basically built to say, Geico, garbage in, garbage out. And the quality of that data has to do with the agent who has the boots on the ground.
