Zillow releases state-specific short-term touring agreements
With just over two weeks to go until the National Association of Real Estate Agents (NAR) commission-lawsuit settlement agreement requires agents to have a signed buyer representation agreement before taking a client on a home visit, Zillow has released 24 state-specific versions of the travel agreement it released about three months ago.
According to Zillow, the state-specific agreements cover 80% of the national debt Real-time tour connections from Premier Agent.
“Zillow is not required to offer consumer-facing agreements in light of the proposed NAR settlement, but we have the opportunity to provide the industry with tools to meet these requirements in a way that puts consumers first place,” said Errol Samuelson, head of industry. development officer Zillow Groupwrote in a blog post on Thursday.
“While we recognize that the form of this agreement will vary by state, we call on the industry to enter into a non-exclusive, limited-term agreement for the initial tours conducted by an agent with a potential buyer.”
Zillow Premier Agents have the choice to opt in or out of the tour agreement, but for those who choose to use it, the agreement becomes an automated part of their tour workflow. If a buyer requests a tour with a Premier Agent under the agreement, he or she will receive a notification asking them to sign the seven-day tour agreement before touring the property with the agent.
Zillow said consumers will also receive information about what the agreement covers, why it is needed and what choices they have after touring the home with the Premier Agent. If a consumer decides to continue their homebuying journey with the Zillow Premier Agent after the seven-day contract has expired, the tour workflow will prompt them to sign a longer-term agreement that outlines what they can expect from their agent and how the agent will be. compensated.
The state-specific tour agreements are only available to Zillow Premier Agents in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Southern Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. Agents without Premier status and agents in other states can still access the original version of Zillow’s tour agreement.
After launching its touring deal in April, Zillow came under fire Virginia real estate agentswho called out the agreement because it may not have met the requirements of Virginia state law.
At the time, Zillow said it was only testing the original travel deal in markets where it met local rules, but that it wanted to expand the service to other markets once it could ensure the deal met state-specific rules.
