Zillow Preview:
What Sellers Should Know

Zillow Preview is a way to publicly introduce your home to buyers before it officially goes active on the market.

Your home appears on Zillow and Trulia, giving buyers early visibility, maximizing your exposure to the largest online audience of active home shoppers in the country, and allowing you and your agent to see how buyers are responding before your home is fully live in the MLS. It will also appear on the listing brokerage's and agent's own website.

Zillow Preview gives your home a head start.

You gain early exposure to the largest public online audience of active home shoppers in the country. During the Preview period, your listing receives prioritized placement in search and saved-home alerts, helping more buyers discover it sooner.

You can also work with your agent to determine what listing details you are ready to share during the Preview period. Because the listing is publicly visible and generates engagement signals like views, saves, shares and tour requests, you and your agent can use real-time buyer response to refine your pricing and strategy before the listing goes fully active.

No. Zillow Preview adds broad exposure — it does not limit future visibility.

When your home goes fully active in the MLS, it can be marketed according to your agent’s standard process and local MLS rules.

No. Zillow Preview listings are publicly visible. Buyers do not need to work with a specific brokerage or agent to see your home.

With Zillow Preview, buyers can request tours in advance so they’re scheduled for on or after the listing's go‑live date.

How offers are handled during the Preview period depends on you and your agent's marketing strategy and local market rules. Your agent should guide you on the appropriate approach based on your goals and local requirements.

No. Buyers do not receive special pricing or special access. The benefit of Zillow Preview is broader visibility, which can increase competition and help ensure the right buyer sees your home at the right time.

If your agent receives any potential compensation beyond what is included in your listing agreement, your agent is required to disclose it to you.

The Zillow Preview seller disclosure explains that if a buyer connects with an agent through Zillow and ends up purchasing your home, Zillow may pay your agent a fee. This payment comes from Zillow, not from you, and it does not change your agent’s duty to act in your best interest.

The purpose of the disclosure is transparency.

No. Your listing agent has a responsibility to act in your best interest and present all offers fairly, regardless of where a buyer comes from.

Zillow Preview does not change or intercede with that obligation.

Decisions about selling your home are between you and your listing agent, based on the terms of your listing agreement.

No. Zillow Preview is optional. It is simply an additional pre-marketing tool you and your agent can choose to use to gain broad exposure for your home before it goes active for sale.

No. Zillow Preview is available only through agents at brokerages that have partnered with Zillow for this program.

Zillow Preview is currently available only through agents at brokerages that have partnered with Zillow on this program.

If public exposure is important to you, you can talk with your agent about whether their brokerage participates in Zillow Preview and whether it fits your selling strategy. If they don’t currently have access, they can reach out to Zillow to learn more about joining the program.

Zillow Preview is designed to give sellers broader visibility from day one — so it’s absolutely reasonable to ask your agent how they plan to maximize exposure for your home.

Not at this time. Zillow Preview is not live today in the NYC market though StreetEasy is exploring a dedicated-to-NYC offering.