Are We Being Sold Out? The Hidden Cost of “Free” Tools in Real Estate — by Vanessa Saunders
As Realtors, we rely on a myriad of tools to streamline transactions, manage showings, and keep up with an industry that is constantly evolving. Many of these tools, like ShowingTime and DotLoop, are even offered to us “free” by our MLS systems. But is anything in real estate truly free?
These platforms, owned by Zillow—a company that has evolved from a listing aggregator to a licensed brokerage—are deeply embedded in the real estate process. While many of us use these tools without a second thought, there’s an unsettling reality beneath the surface: the data we’re providing may not be working for us, but against us. When we schedule a showing or manage a transaction on these platforms, valuable information is being collected—data about our clients, market trends, pricing patterns, and behaviors.
Who benefits from this data?
Not us, the Realtors, who strive to create relationships and build trust. Instead, it’s being gathered by a brokerage that has increasingly positioned itself as a competitor.
Here’s the deeper question: Why are we being asked to participate in this? Our governing body, the National Association of Realtors (NAR), is meant to advocate for our best interests. But in allowing, and even promoting, tools owned by Zillow to become standard in our workflows, we are left vulnerable.
What’s more, we’re paying for the privilege—through our dues, our reliance on the MLS, and, most importantly, through the data that Zillow can use to undermine us. While the cost to us is hidden in plain sight, the value to companies like Zillow is clear. The data they collect shapes buyer and seller behavior, enhances their algorithms (Zestimates, anyone?), and empowers them to further infiltrate the transaction process. And in a world where control of information is power, it’s hard to shake the feeling that we, the Realtors, are being left with very little of either.
So why are we still using these tools? Why aren’t we, as an industry, asking more questions about the consequences of funneling our data into platforms owned by a direct competitor? Why has the NAR allowed this arrangement to become the norm?
It’s time to ask the hard questions: • Who really benefits from these “free” services? • What is the long-term impact on our ability to serve clients? • And why isn’t our governing body doing more to protect the people who pay their dues—us, the Realtors?
In an era where transparency and trust should be at the forefront, it feels like the very platforms we’re asked to rely on are eroding both. As Zillow grows, consolidating more control over the real estate market, we must question whether NAR’s role is to protect its members or to sell out our data for short-term convenience.
What do you think? Is this the beginning of a slippery slope, or have we already reached the bottom?
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One Response
Thank you Vanessa for asking the “hard” questions. I want to hear answers and solutions. It seems no one wants to stand up to the “powers that be,” or has a working alternative? Enter American Real Estate Association? Or will it take something else? Complaining about Zillow is a daily real estate agent occurrence, but it stops short at solutions. Real estate agents often complain about their cost of business but seemingly accept what may take effort to change. Or is there something we aren’t admitting that maybe they like having Zillow, Showing Tine and Dotloop? Or is change just too hard to bother with?