Bright MLS to Take on Zillow With Nestfully App Launch?

The largest multiple listing service (MLS) in the United States has launched its own property portal app to take on Zillow.

Bright MLS's Nestfully app has listings from nine MLSes and also lets agents communicate and share documents with clients. The app is free to use for members.

According to the full announcement, the app is "a trusted, fee-free ecosystem designed to help agents connect with all of their buyers and sellers, while also empowering agents to help their clients with insights, data and information they can only deliver through their MLS affiliation."

The launch announcement also says agents can see key details about listings including the number of views and shares, with further insights available for clients who are connected via the app, and direct message from the app.

Bright MLS previously launched a desktop site last year and currently has circa 140,000 listings on its search portal. The company says Nestfully is designed to cultivate client relationships, as opposed to matching Zillow for scale.

Amit Kulkarni, CMO at Bright MLS, said:

"Real estate isn't about 'your listing,' or 'your lead'—those are commodities. The real soul of real estate lies in the relationship agents build with their clients. Our aim with Nestfully is to help agents and brokers build relationships with their clients that last a lifetime, not just through a single purchase or sale cycle."

Brian Donnellan, CEO, commented:

"Nestfully isn't here to charge brokers, agents or consumers extra subscription fees, or extraneous referral fees. These are their clients, and their relationships—Nestfully is here to help them turn that single purchase or sale into a lifetime relationship with a client that comes back to them over and over again."

Nestfully recently announced a partnership with location intelligence data provider Local Logic.