Boston condo for sale broker: Why I’m against private real estate listings

Boston Condos for Sale and Apartments for Rent

Boston condo for sale broker: Why I’m against private real estate listings

As a Boston condo for sale broker for over 25 years, I think private listing networks (PLN’s) is one biggest shift in the Boston condo for sale market. Why? I feel they ultimately harm sellers, buyers and the real estate market in general by hindering price discovery by limiting exposure. Private listings enable large brokerages to prioritize their own profits over the client’s best interest. Think about it. How does the client benefit by limiting market exposure? Hiding the listing somewhere inside their website. Let’s dive deeper into this

How it Impacts on Clients (Sellers and Buyers)

As I stated above, sellers who use large brokerage that place your property as a private listing. miss out on the potential for the highest possible price because their property is not exposed to the entire Boston condo for sale market.

For Sellers: Seller’s risk significant “seller’s remorse” because they will never know what a live, dynamic market would have offered. Zillow research supports this, indicating sellers using off-MLS listings collectively lost over $1 billion in 2023 and 2024.
For Buyers: Private listings contribute to the national inventory crunch by hoarding listings within a single brokerage, making it harder for Boston condo buyers to see all available homes and creating an inefficient market for finding a downtown Boston condo for sale.

Impacts on Real Estate Agents and the Market

Private Boston condo for sale listings also creates a conflict between a real estate agent’s fiduciary duty to their client and the brokerage’s financial gain.

Fiduciary Duty: Agents are obligated to do what is right for their clients, which means ensuring maximum market exposure. Marketing a property only internally is a disservice to the seller.
Price Discovery: Price discovery is essential for a fair market, as it allows all potential buyers to consider a property in real time. Private condo for sale listings creates artificial markets and gimmicks that circumvent this process.
Market Transparency: Without a centralized, transparent system like the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), the real estate market becomes inefficient and fractured, similar to less organized international markets.

Boston condo for sale market and the bottom line

As a Boston real estate professional, I standby to prioritize transparency, collaboration, and integrity over short-term gains derived from exclusive networks. This stance is in alignment with recent actions by other industry players, as Zillow and Redfin implemented policies in May 2025 to ban properties that are publicly marketed off the MLS from appearing on their platforms.