With just over two weeks to go until the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) commission lawsuit settlement agreement will require agents to have a signed buyer representation agreement prior to taking a client on a home tour, Zillow has released 24 state-specific versions of the touring agreement it released roughly three months ago.
According to Zillow, the state-specific agreements cover 80% of its Premier Agent real-time touring connections.
“Zillow is not required to offer consumer-facing agreements in light of the proposed NAR settlement, but we have an opportunity to provide tools for the industry to fulfill these requirements in a way that puts the consumer first,” Errol Samuelson, the chief industry development officer at Zillow Group, wrote in a blog post on Thursday.
“While we recognize the form of this agreement will vary by state, we’re calling on the industry to adopt a non-exclusive, limited-duration agreement for the initial tours conducted by an agent with a prospective buyer.”
Zillow Premier Agents will have the choice to opt in or out of the touring agreement, but for those who choose to use them, the agreement will become an automated part of their touring workflow. If a buyer requests a tour from a Premier Agent using the agreement, they will get a notification asking them to sign the seven-day touring agreement before looking at the property with the agent.
Zillow said that consumers will also receive information on what the agreement pertains to, why it is required and what choices they have once they have toured 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 expires, the touring 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 touring 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, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. Agents without Premier status and those in other states still have access to the original version of Zillow’s touring agreement.
After launching its touring agreement in April, Zillow came under fire from Virginia Realtors, who called out the agreement for possibly not being in compliance with the requirements of Virginia state law.
At the time, Zillow said it was only piloting the original touring agreement in markets where it complied with local rules, but it was looking to expand the service to other markets once it could make sure the agreement complied with state-specific rules.