Should agents join the Google listing pilot, or sit it out?

A Google mobile listing pilot is live in eight markets and shows MLS listings at the top of mobile search with a request-a-tour button. Listings come from three MLSs and appear alongside a direct buyer action. HouseCanary, which owns ComeHome, is not positioned as a typical technology vendor; it operates as an AI-powered brokerage in some states and as ComeHome in most others. It also sells property data to major Wall Street buyers, mortgage lenders, and REIT operators. This means listing data can move from a competitor brokerage’s site into HouseCanary’s data warehouse and then onto Google. The concern is that free placement can later shift toward paid lead capture and priority placement.

"Listings flow in from three MLSs and show up at the top of Google mobile search with a Request a tour button for buyers. Here is the part my colleagues and the MLSs are missing. HouseCanary, which owns ComeHome, is not a tech vendor. On its own LinkedIn page, it calls itself an AI-powered national real estate brokerage and a 50-state brokerage. It is licensed as a brokerage in Kansas, New Mexico and South Carolina, and operates as ComeHome in most other states."

"It also runs a separate business selling property data to, in its own words, ten of the top buyers of residential loans on Wall Street, six of the top mortgage lenders and seven of the top single-family housing REIT operators. So, your listing flows through a competitor brokerage's website, into the data warehouse of a company that sells to Wall Street, and out onto Google. Remember Zillow's business model progression: Phase 1. We are going to help you get more eyes on your listings. Free placement. Agents signed up. Brokers fed listings. Free traffic looked great."

"Phase 2. We are where buyers start. Most consumers begin their search with us. Once Zillow became the default starting point, leverage moved. Phase 3. You want the leads on the listings you brought us? Pay us. You want priority placement? Pay us more. You want your name"

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