Realtor.com CEO Advocates for Transparency and Affordability in Real Estate

Realtor.com CEO Damian Eales urges the real estate industry to prioritize housing affordability and transparency over exclusive listings. He pledges $1M to an ad campaign and calls for MLSs to adopt 'coming soon' policies, warning against hiding information and promoting collaboration for positive change.

Throughout an appearance at the 2026 T3 Sixty Leadership Top, Eales directly pledged $1 million to launch an advertising project aimed at developing more homes– and contacted other industry directors to join him.

Realtor.com’s very own pre-market collaboration with eXp Real estate is not a special one, unlike the Compass-Redfin offer, Eales kept in mind– indicating listings can be distributed to rival websites if they agree to the well established terms.

Addressing Housing Affordability and Transparency

MLSs need to “certainly” established policies, Eales said– “it’s a ‘participating,’ it’s not an ‘uncooperative'”– however he included his discussion with Property News that he desires MLSs to reply to the expanding call for pre-marketing by establishing their own coming-soon policies– if they do not already have them.

The realty industry is not “broken” as others have claimed, according to Realtor.com CEO Damian Eales– however it does need to concentrate a lot more on the real estate affordability dilemma and much less on exclusive listings and pre-marketing.

The Role of MLS and Coming Soon Policies

“Organizations like HUD are putting a very close lens on the degree to which people are starting to hide details,” Eales said. “We must not be concealing info from individuals that are about to make one of the most crucial purchase of their life. And fairly truthfully– if individuals don’t locate it on Redfin, they’re going to go elsewhere.”

Far, the launch of AI tools like ChatGPT has not led to a decline in real estate website traffic, Eales said. It’s still vital for companies to accept AI designs as they come to be extra common– after all, that’s “where the eyeballs are.”

Embracing AI and Collaborative Industry Change

Realty specialists must commemorate the ease of access of details that the MLS has created as opposed to bashing the sector, Eales suggested. By hiding noting information from buyers, he advised, the industry might be establishing itself up for future litigation.

If the industry rather “joined forces” and concentrated its power, power and impact on the real estate supply dilemma, “I believe that we would certainly be celebrated as a power of excellent change, instead of the power for regressive adjustment,” he claimed.

“Organizations like HUD are putting a really close lens on the level to which people are starting to conceal details,” Eales said. “We should not be hiding details from people who are concerning to make the most crucial acquisition of their life. And rather honestly– if people do not locate it on Redfin, they’re going to go somewhere else.”

Focusing on the Housing Supply Dilemma

The market should be pleased that consumers largely listen to their agent, he stated. Agents have to uphold their fiduciary responsibilities to their clients– which, he recommended, typically indicates advertising and marketing to the widest feasible audience.

Considering that Damian Eales started leading the listings portal virtually three years earlier, Realtor.com has focused on supporting Realtors and rediscovering its setting as a leader for positive market modification, he told property executives at the T3 Sixty Management Summit on April 23.

“I look at Zillow and Rocket/Redfin and they’re significantly shutting their ecosystem to come to be that one-stop shop, to take the benefit of the MLS and afterwards direct all of business, all of the worth chain with that solitary business,” he said.