As private listings draw mounting scrutiny from brokerages, portals and state lawmakers, Windermere Real Estate is rolling out an optional addendum aimed at giving buyers more visibility into a home’s pre-MLS history.
The Seattle-based brokerage said Thursday it will make the form available at no cost to agents and brokerages nationwide, positioning the addendum as a practical tool for buyer agents navigating a market where some homes may be marketed privately, repriced or otherwise tested before appearing in the MLS.
The form asks sellers to represent that a property has not been publicly or privately marketed during a defined pre-listing period and that there were no asking-price reductions during that time. Sellers can accept, reject or modify the language, but Windermere says the request itself is intended to help buyers determine whether a home’s public listing history tells the full story.
In practical terms, Windermere is trying to operationalize its transparency argument — giving buyer agents a form they can include in offers rather than simply weighing in on the broader private-listing fight.
“It’s all about transparency and consumer protection,” Lucy Wood, Windermere’s regional director of Western Washington and Oregon, told Inman. “The purpose of this form is to bring to light that these pre-marketing and private listings are out there, and for the buyer to be curious about what that might mean for that home.”
Lucy Wood
A tool for buyer agents
The addendum arrives as the real estate industry continues to witness the rise of private listing networks, office exclusives and other pre-marketing strategies that critics say can fragment listing data and obscure information buyers have historically relied on when evaluating homes.
Buyers and their agents have long utilized data points such as days on market, price history and prior marketing activity to help assess a home’s value and shape an offer strategy. But as more brokerages experiment with pre-marketing, Windermere says some of that information may not be visible to buyers by the time a property appears publicly.
Wood said a buyer agent could use the form to explain that some homes may be privately marketed before reaching the MLS, leaving buyers without important context that could affect their offer strategy.
“There are days on market that might be hidden from you, and there might be price adjustments that are hidden from you,” Wood said. “So if we include this form in our offer, it’s asking the seller” to disclose whether the home was pre-marketed or repriced before it appeared on the MLS.
Wood said that a seller’s refusal to make that representation could give buyers useful information.
“If they just strike it and take it out of the offer, then the buyer can do with that what they want,” Wood said. “But at least they have the information that potentially that home was pre-listed or pre-marketed in some way, and they can be curious and seek more information.”
A screenshot of Windermere’s newly released addendum.
Not just about Compass
Compass, the nation’s largest brokerage by sales volume, has been among the most prominent defenders of private exclusives and pre-marketing strategies, arguing that they give sellers more control over how their homes are marketed while allowing them to test price, preserve privacy and avoid public days on market or price cuts — what some Compass execs have described as “negative insights.”
Meanwhile, Windermere has been one of the industry’s most vocal critics of private listing networks, arguing that homes should generally be exposed to the open market and that listing information should not be scattered across closed platforms available only to certain agents or buyers. But Wood said Windermere’s addendum should not be read as a response to one company.
“It’s not about Compass,” Wood said. “It’s about transparency in the industry, and it’s about making sure the consumer is aware that they can ask these questions and seek more information.”
Washington’s new law raises the stakes
The company’s addendum also lands as Washington’s new public-marketing law takes effect Thursday, placing Windermere’s home state near the center of the national debate over private listings.
The law, signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson in March, bars brokers from marketing residential listings to a limited or exclusive group of buyers or brokers unless the property is also concurrently marketed to the general public and all other brokers. The law includes an exception when limited marketing is reasonably necessary to protect the health or safety of the property owner or occupant.
The Washington law does not ban private listings outright, but supporters have described it as a consumer-protection measure meant to prevent brokers from using closed marketing channels while withholding listings from the broader market. Windermere President OB Jacobi praised the law after it was signed, writing in an Inman opinion piece that Washington had “drawn the line” on private listings and that other states should follow.
Wood said the addendum reflects a similar philosophy, but applies it at the transaction level by giving buyer agents a usable form that could surface questions about pre-listing activity during the offer process. It is also an effort to get ahead of lawmakers, regulators and courts by offering an industry-led response to transparency concerns before more rules are imposed, Wood suggested.
“Windermere chose to act proactively on this one. Rather than waiting for regulatory action, which is something we do see as inevitable, because of our size, we have a platform, and we take a responsibility to set a standard that others can follow,” Wood said.
Similar to other brokerages that have previously “open-sourced” buyer agency and other forms, Windermere’s addendum will be available to any licensed agent or brokerage that wants to use it, Wood said. The company said the form is being provided as a courtesy and should not be treated as legal advice. Agents and brokerages remain responsible for determining whether the form is appropriate for a particular transaction and whether it complies with applicable laws and rules.
For Windermere, the larger point is that buyers should know whether a home’s public listing record reflects its full marketing history before making one of the largest financial decisions of their lives.
“We really do think it’s going to bring more consumer protection and more transparency to the industry,” Wood said.
