A new fight is heating up in the world of real estate listings, and CoStar Group is stepping into the ring with a new tool called Boost—a marketing feature on Homes.com aimed at supporting agents facing listing restrictions.
If you haven’t noticed, the portal wars are heating up over business models. Compass and Zillow have been at odds over the new “Delayed Marketing” policy while EXP has partnered with Zillow to feature all of their listings on the site.
Zillow and Redfin recently announced that they will no longer allow properties to appear on their platforms if they’ve been publicly marketed before being entered into the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This policy aligns with the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) Clear Cooperation Policy, which requires agents to share listings with the MLS before publicly marketing them. However, CoStar Group disagrees with the move.
During a recent interview with Inman News, CoStar CEO Andy Florance criticized the bans and said Boost will be offered for free to agents affected by Zillow and Redfin’s decision. He called the bans “a power play” that puts Zillow’s business interests ahead of agents and homeowners.
The ultimate question is, “Do Sellers truly understand how this delayed marketing works?” Arguments against delayed marketing include the question of whether the seller is truly seeing all of the interest in a property when it is not being widely marketed.
Off MLS Listings: What Real Estate Professionals Need to Know
For example, here in my market in the Raleigh, North Carolina area, Compass is marketing their “Compass Coming Soon.” The home is listed privately with Compass and the approximately 300 agents they have in the area. In comparison, there are over 12,000 agents in the local MLS. That means 11,700 agents that may have an interested buyer are not seeing this listing.
Opponents say that companies that do the delayed listings are doing so for their own benefit to try to get both the list side and buy side of the transaction. In some states, that would be a violation of the fiduciary responsibilities of listing agents and companies to do so.
In my market in Raleigh, it is being marketed as an opportunity to “test the list price” in the market.
What is Boost?
Boost is a feature that allows agents to promote a single listing without having to pay for a full membership. The one-time fee is $260, and once a listing is boosted, it gets top placement in Homes.com search results, includes a Matterport 3D virtual tour, and is retargeted across the internet—meaning potential buyers will see it again on popular sites like ESPN and The New York Times.
Boosted listings will stay at the top of search results until the property is sold. Florance described this tool as a low-risk way for agents to stand out during listing presentations. Agents only have to pay after they’ve won the listing and expect commission income.
Why It Matters
Zillow and Redfin’s policy changes mean that if a listing is promoted on social media or via email before it’s in the MLS, it could be removed from their websites. This could hurt an agent’s visibility, especially for sellers who want to get the word out fast.
Florance says Homes.com will not follow that path. In fact, he openly criticized Zillow, saying their ban is not about protecting consumers, but rather about making money by selling leads to other agents.
In an open letter to agents, he wrote, “Zillow is asserting that they — not NAR, not your brokerage, not you the listing agent, and not even the homeowner — should decide how a listing is marketed.”
The Bigger Picture
This battle highlights growing tension over how listings are shared and who controls that process. While the Clear Cooperation Policy was created to ensure fairness, some believe that big tech platforms are using it to tighten their grip on listing data and agent leads.
For agents and brokers, tools like Boost may offer new ways to stay competitive and maintain control over their marketing—even as the rules continue to shift.