What Is a Pocket Listing and Why Would a Seller Use One?

How pocket listings work

A pocket listing is an agreement between a real estate agent and the seller to market a home through private connections rather than publicly advertise it.

The key distinction is that a pocket listing does not appear on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), which is the local or regional database that cooperating real estate brokers use to share data and information about properties for sale.

You also won’t see a for-sale sign in the yard of the home, or hear local media gush over the luxury property’s massive square footage or amazing backyard pool.

Rather, information about the listing is kept within a brokerage and shared on an individual basis with clients who may be interested.

How MLS listings compare to pocket listings

In an open market sale, an agent uses the local or regional MLS to distribute information about a new listing to the market — including its square footage, number of beds and baths, listing photos, and a description of the property. These details are then syndicated across major real estate websites for consumers to browse through.

The U.S. has over 500 MLSs, listing more than 80% of homes sold nationwide, according to the Real Estate Standards Organization. Pocket listings are rare because, without the MLS, a home isn’t likely to be seen by many people, which can hinder a home’s ability to sell or cause it to sell at a lower price.

Are there any alternatives to pocket listings?

Rather than do a pocket listing, sellers who prioritize privacy could opt to get a cash offer on their home from a direct buyer. Investors and house-buying companies typically prefer to buy homes off-market, streamlining the process. If this option appeals to you, consider requesting a cash offer from HomeLight’s Simple Sale platform, which allows sellers to skip repairs, home prep, and staging, and avoid showings entirely.

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Are pocket listings legal?

Pocket listings are not illegal, but the National Association of Realtors (NAR) — the largest trade organization in the country — does have a policy on how its nearly 1.5 million Realtor® members can accommodate off-market listings if a seller requests one.

Understanding the MLS Clear Cooperation Policy

In November 2019, the NAR adopted the Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP), which directly impacts pocket listings. Under NAR’s pocket listing policy, which took effect on January 1, 2020, listing agents and brokers must submit a listing to the MLS within one day of marketing a property to the public. That includes any promotion or advertisement, such as flyers, yard signs, or brokerage website displays.

NAR’s Board of Directors adopted this policy to avoid “misuse of various limited exposure marketing tactics” with such listings. The MLS requirement is intended to encourage cooperation among agents for the benefit of the consumer.

The policy is also aimed at curbing pocket listings that would be in the self-interest of the real estate agent alone. Pocket listings, in addition to reducing visibility of the property, can make it more likely that an agent would represent both buyer and seller, increasing their commission cut.

Are there exceptions?

Say Beyonce and Jay-Z are selling their $88 million mega-mansion in Bel Air. If these celebs treated their real estate listing like everyone else’s, they’d end up fielding a lot of financially unqualified and starstruck looky-loos who just want to wander their crib and take selfies.

But it’s not just the rich and famous who might want this privacy. Think about prosecutors or judges who try tough cases, politicians, or other public figures who want to remain anonymous in their personal lives.

Wilcox, who is a team leader in her office, said one of her agents recently withheld a listing from the MLS because the sellers owned a daycare business. They were concerned that parents who knew publicly that their house was for sale would worry they were leaving the area and would take their business elsewhere.

In any of these situations, a seller might opt for a pocket listing. So, how does that work under NAR’s policy?

What’s a ‘by the book’ pocket listing?

In the case of a pocket listing, a seller must first express to their agent that they do not want the listing disseminated by the MLS. The agent must then still file that listing with the organization and include a signed certification from the seller indicating that they are refusing MLS services.

The listing is then considered an “office exclusive,” which is an exception to the Clear Cooperation Policy. The listing agent can share information about the listing with members of the brokerage and through one-to-one promotion between these members and their clients who may be interested in the pocket listing. Agents and brokers who go against NAR policy may face fines.

You’re just marketing to a much smaller community of people. It’s really narrowing your buyer pool, and you’re less apt to get top dollar for your property than people seem to be getting these days. You’re probably leaving money on the table.

Pocket listings vs. private listings vs. office exclusives

Though often used interchangeably, these terms refer to distinct listing types:

• Pocket Listing: A listing that is not entered into the MLS and marketed discreetly by the listing agent.
• Private Listing: Often used to describe off-market properties marketed within select networks or private groups — sometimes overlapping with “pocket” listings.
• Office Exclusive: A listing shared only among agents within the same brokerage, permitted under the Clear Cooperation Policy as long as no public marketing occurs.

Recent updates on pocket listings

NAR’s Multiple Listing Options for Sellers

In recent years, pocket listings have drawn both scrutiny and strategic interest. Following the initial introduction of the Clear Cooperation Policy in 2020, NAR announced in March 2025 that, “after months of deliberation and input from a wide range of stakeholders,” there will be a new MLS policy statement working alongside the Clear Cooperation Policy “to give brokers the flexibility to meet the needs of selling clients while also supporting fair housing by providing buyers and their agents with equal access to MLS property information.”

The Multiple Listing Options for Sellers policy statement introduces a new listing category called “delayed marketing exempt listings.” According to NAR’s statement, these listings are filed with the MLS and can be accessed by other MLS participants and subscribers to share with their clients and consumers. However, the MLS and other participants and subscribers will delay the display and marketing of the listing to the public. There is no limit to the length of the delayed marketing window.

Compass vs Zillow

In April 2025, Zillow banned private listings, effective May 1, 2025. Zillow’s listing access standards do not allow listings that are publicly marketed but not entered into the MLS and are inaccessible via IDX or VOW within one business day.

Zillow and the Zillow-owned Trulia will allow the following:

• True office exclusives, provided that:
  • Homeowners sign a disclosure directing the agent not to place the listing in the MLS
  • The listing is shared only within the listing brokerage or through private communication between agents and their individual clients
  • The listing is not marketed publicly in any way, including on brokerage websites, advertisements, or a private listing network that promotes to consumers.

• Coming soon listings that are entered into the MLS within one business day and have been made available to all MLS participants via IDX or VOW.
• A sneak peek of a listing on social media or in an email newsletter to buyers, as long as it does not involve details such as the price, address, or any call to action that might approximate a listing, such as an invitation to tour the home or a callout to receive the link to the listing via a direct message.
• Listings placed on the MLS where the seller chose to opt out of internet display, which means the home is shared with MLS participants but will not be published anywhere online.

Compass, one of the leading real estate companies in the country, said in February that pre-marketed listings were associated with 2.9% higher prices last year. Compass promotes “Compass Private Exclusives,” which agents share with their colleagues and buyers discreetly.

Compass founder and CEO Robert Reffkin argued that real estate companies have a right to keep listings among themselves for a longer period of time — a stance that has been highly publicized as Compass and Zillow battle it out in court and on social media. Compass views Zillow’s ban on privately marketed listings as “an anti-competitive restraint of trade.”

Meanwhile, a study from Bright MLS says nearly 90% of office exclusives transition to standard MLS listings before being sold, and that there is no price advantage to listing a house as an office exclusive. The study also said pre-marketed office exclusive listings tend to take longer to sell.

Different takes on pocket listings

Redfin also announced a ban on pocket listings on April 14, which was set to take effect in September. “Because we believe that all buyers should be able to see all listings, Redfin.com will not publish any listings that have been publicly marketed before being shared with all real estate websites via the MLS,” Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman said in April.

However, Redfin has decided to freeze its private listing ban.

Meanwhile, Homes.com CEO Andy Florance urges real estate portals to “remain neutral.”

Why pocket listings are usually inadvisable

Much like advertising a job opening, the more people who know your property is for sale, the better. These are some of the risks when you list off-market:

Limited visibility and reach for the property

Staying off the MLS keeps thousands of agents and their clients from viewing your property and making an offer.

“You’re just marketing to a much smaller community of people,” Wilcox says. “It’s really narrowing your buyer pool, and you’re less apt to get top dollar for your property than people seem to be getting these days. You’re probably leaving money on the table.

Possibility of underselling

While there’s no centralized national data about homes sold that aren’t marketed publicly, individual reports show that more exposure and visibility equal better prices. A study of over 10 million transactions found that homes marketed through the MLS sell for more.

May encourage dual agency

On average, the commission for real estate agents nationwide is about 3%, typically calculated as a percentage of a property’s sale price. For a transaction involving a listing agent and a buyer’s agent, that puts the total commission on the sale at around 5% to 6%.

Although the seller covers the listing agent’s 3% commission, which is deducted from the proceeds at closing, the listing agent does not keep the entire amount. Typically, the listing agent shares a portion with their sponsoring broker. The buyer’s agent, who receives a similar 3% commission for bringing a buyer to the table, shares a portion with their respective sponsoring broker.

An agent who markets a property solely to their private network may have a better chance of keeping the full 5% to 6% commission, but that also might compromise their ability to negotiate on a seller’s behalf.

Potential for fair housing violations

Pocket listings, by nature, limit visibility. But this limited access can have broader consequences, particularly in relation to housing equity. Critics argue that when listings are not made public, it reduces the ability of historically marginalized or underrepresented groups to compete in the marketplace.

NAR says it enacted the Clear Cooperation Policy in part to provide equal access to all available properties, which promotes fair housing, as required by the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

Fair housing advocates have warned that pocket listings may reinforce systemic biases in real estate by privileging insider networks. Sellers should consider whether restricting exposure is worth the potential for fewer offers — and whether it aligns with inclusive market practices. Buyers, especially first-time or minority buyers, may also face greater challenges in gaining access to these listings.

Personal and private marketing can create racial barriers in the housing market, say researchers such as University of New Mexico sociologist Elizabeth Korver-Glenn, author of Race Brokers: Housing Markets and Segregation in 21st Century Urban America (Oxford University Press, 2021).

Skews local market data

The transparency of shared data is a valuable resource for pricing homes. Lesley Walker, former deputy general counsel at the NAR, has said that keeping listings off the MLS “limits the available information about the market and makes it difficult for other agents, buyers, and sellers to determine values of nearby properties, and for appraisers trying to determine the current market value of a particular property.”

Does a pocket listing ever work to sell your home?

Privacy is a top reason why Wilcox and other agents say sellers ask about off-market, exclusive, or pocket listings.

Some sellers have changing family or financial circumstances, health issues, or own valuables such as art or antique furnishings that they don’t want someone scoping out online.

Others may express “legitimate concerns” about privacy or legal issues when selling property, such as having a restraining order against someone or going through bankruptcy proceedings.

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Other instances where a private listing might work for you include:

You already know your buyer

You might not need to list your home if a friend or neighbor has already approached you with a direct offer, but be sure to have a real estate attorney and a tax professional review everything before you sign. If you’re looking for someone to mediate between you and a loved one to avoid issues, a real estate agent can still serve a critical role as transaction coordinator, likely for a reduced commission rate.

You want to ‘test the waters’ on price

Wilcox spoke with one seller who wanted to see what their house would fetch without putting it on the MLS, thinking that if they adjusted the price later, no one would know about it. But based on the guidelines of SmartMLS — which Wilcox is a member of as a local Realtor — the property still would show a price reduction and time on market dated back to the listing agreement.

An agent’s comparative market analysis, or CMA, which evaluates your home against comparable sales and makes dollar adjustments based on competitive differences, is a better way to arrive at a listing price without messing with your time on market. Wilcox says she and her client opted not to do the pocket listing, and the property sold readily once it went on the MLS.

Your home is in the upper pricing echelon for your market

Sellers of luxury homes are often drawn to the privacy a pocket listing can provide. A high price tag — or high-profile seller — can draw unwanted attention to the property, such as media coverage or buyers who aren’t serious about making an offer. In this case, an approach that allows the listing agent to market the home to a select pool of buyers, collect feedback, and find a buyer through targeted exposure can be appealing.

Pocket listings: Approach with caution

Although they’re not illegal, off-market listings can be more complicated than they’re worth for most sellers. Given recent changes on various real estate platforms, you may find your marketing options severely limited. If you fit into a category of seller for whom a pocket listing does make sense, ask your real estate agent about their experience with these kinds of sales, Wilcox suggests. How will they reach out to find buyers?

Also, while a pocket listing offers privacy, it’s not a ticket to avoiding sale preparations. Even if you’re selling to a private network, you’ll likely need to stage the home and make necessary repairs, as you would with any other listing.

Wilcox recently worked with “extremely private” sellers in the greater Hartford, Connecticut, area who asked her to keep their three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath home off the MLS. “They just did not feel that they wanted everybody viewing their home online; they only wanted very serious buyers,” she says.

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Through her personal and brokerage network, she was able to show the property to a handful of interested people, who “didn’t feel any sense of urgency.” Once she listed the property on the MLS after 30 days, “it immediately got showings,” she says. “We ended up getting more than one offer on it,” resulting in a contract.

“People think, ‘Oh, I don’t want to prepare [my house] to the point that we have to have photos taken, or have an open house,’” Wilcox says. “But you kind of have to prepare your home anyway if you want the highest and best price.”

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