The phrase “seller choice” is the go-to buzzword whenever the topic of private listings comes up.
Not everyone is sold on the idea. In fact, eXp CEO Leo Pareja describes the “seller choice” argument as “beautiful bullshit marketing speak.” And he backs that up with the experience gained from his own conversations with sellers and global real estate leaders.
Pareja went even further when he joined the Porch Swing Podcast last week, saying private listings violate the listing agent’s fiduciary duty and could collapse the U.S. real estate market.
Here’s what he said, plus what agents in other countries think of the system U.S. agents are walking away from.
What Seller Choice Looks Like at the Kitchen Table
Pareja spent 15 years selling real estate before he became CEO. During that time, he said he rarely had requests for secrecy from sellers.
“I think the statement seller choice is beautiful bullshit marketing speak, right? I’ve sat at the kitchen table for 15 years of my life. I’ve put people in cars. No one’s saying, ‘Hey, Lindsay, I want you to sell my house, but keep it a secret. Don’t tell anybody.’”
He did mention a rare exception involving 4 or 5 government employees, out of roughly 4,000 clients, who asked him to keep the sale quiet. So, he believes a mechanism should exist for those rare cases, but presenting it as something agents should recommend to all sellers is a step too far.
Why Seller Choice Ignores Fiduciary Duty and Threatens the Market
Pareja ties this straight back to fiduciary duty, the promise every licensed agent makes to put a client’s interests first.
In most cases, the goal is to get your seller’s home in front of as many potential buyers as possible. Listing privately to “test the market” doesn’t make sense unless the seller needs privacy and wants to target a small group of select buyers.
Those sellers represent a very small minority. For most, “testing the market” only makes sense when you’re testing the whole market. Another word for that is “listing.”
Porch Swing host George Laughton pointed to where the phrase “seller choice” breaks down for him.
“What I keep telling my team is, you know, seller choice doesn’t always equal seller best interest.”
After all, as Pareja added, seller choice is not an absolute to protect:
“There’s a lot of things we don’t have a choice in. You have a car but you have to go the speed limit… Just because you want to do something doesn’t mean you get to do it however the hell you want to do it.”
Another caveat with listing homes off-market is its impact on the housing market:
“The concept of ‘Let’s try it off the market before we put it on the market’ only works if people put it on the market. And what I keep telling everybody is if we all just try off market, there is no market. [It] literally disappears.”
Pareja also spoke on his public campaign against the private listing trend:
“I’ve been loud about it for two years. I’m tired of talking about it, but I’m not going to stop because it’s hurting people.”
The Listing System Europe Wishes It Had
Pareja said the listing system agents in the US and Canada rely on does not exist in most other countries.
“I don’t think most people appreciate that the North American US and Canada form of real estate is unique. Like Japan doesn’t have it. You know, highly organized, sophisticated, more expensive markets than us don’t have what we have.”
He framed the industry’s current direction as giving up an advantage other markets never had in the first place.
“I feel like we are hellbent on destroying it for no apparent reason. And it’s gonna really hurt a lot of people.”
Pareja spent part of his summer touring eXp’s markets in the UK, France, and Portugal with his family. eXp is the top brokerage in the UK by listings taken and listings sold. Agents across those markets lament the lack, in their countries, of a steady inventory pipeline like the one the US listing system creates.
Co-host Justin Benson recalled a memorable phone conversation with a REMAX leader in Portugal reacting to the private listing trend:
“She opens up the call like, what the hell are you guys doing over there? You guys are idiots. Can you explain to me why you guys are even considering that?”
Pareja nodded and added this, based on his conversations with real estate leaders outside the U.S. and Canada:
“They are quite upset and confused. They’re like, ‘Why would you ruin such a beautiful thing?’”
Pareja’s argument ultimately comes down to one test agents can run themselves. Before recommending a client go off market, weigh it against fiduciary duty instead of marketing language: “Is this truly what is best for my client?”
Yes, the system should include exceptions for the tiny subset of sellers for whom private listings make sense. But based on what Pareja and others have seen, making private exclusive marketing part of the normal home selling process risks ruining a good thing for buyers and sellers alike.
Agents in Europe are fighting for the exact system US agents already have. Keep that in mind the next time seller choice comes up in a listing conversation.
