Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) A trend getting some attention in real estate involves something called 'secret listings.' These are listings delayed from public marketing.
Peter Hunt, Chairman and CEO of Hunt Real Estate Corporation said this dates back to the proliferation of real estate web sites in the 1990's.
"If a seller says to us, I don't want my listing exposed to everybody. I want you to handle my listing and I want you to show it only to people that you think are capable of buying my house." He said it happens rarely. But people do say that.
It's attractive to sellers who don't want a sign in front of their house and it tends to involve the high end listings.
It's making headlines because two brokerages, Redfin and Zillow are banning listings that started as secret listings.
"These third party brokerages claim they have all of the listings. But they don't and they never really have," argued Hunt. "They're very much opposed to any restrictions on the input of listings."
It's known as a shadow market. Hunt said it's always been there and it's not going to go away anytime soon.
With economic uncertainty across the country right now, how is that likely to impact local real estate?
"We're seeing a lingering lock-in effect," said Hunt. "If you have a 3% mortgage, you're probably not going to want to give that up for a 7% mortgage. So there will be a chronic shortage of listings until these mortgages age out."