During last week’s Compass v. Zillow court hearing, surveys and research were presented to support each side’s position on the relative merits of exclusive listings versus broad exposure.
Why it matters: Evidence can be presented in such a way to tell whatever story you want – and in this case, digging deeper shows that the data and associated conclusions are not as straightforward as each side would have you believe.
Dig in: During the hearing, a Zillow consumer survey on private listing networks was shown as evidence, and despite the intended result, raised more questions than it answered – especially when you consider the inverse of the results.
For instance: 52 percent of respondents said one of the most important factors when choosing an agent is that agent’s ability to get their home in front of the largest pool of interested buyers – meaning that broad exposure was not among the most important factors for 48 percent of people.
In the same survey, 45 percent of respondents said one of the most important factors was the promise of getting the highest sale price – with the inverse suggesting that 55 percent of people did not consider getting the best price as one of the most important factors when choosing an agent.
Even though the question is about choosing an agent, the results suggest a diverse range of seller motivations.
Read More: Logical Fallacies, Seller Motives, and Private Exclusives — Mike DelPrete
