StreetEasy's sales fee worries brokers

New York City-based rental platform, StreetEasy can't seem to add a fee without defending itself against criticism. This time, the listing portal’s new program has struck a chord among Premier Agents, a company that Zillow Group can thank a good chunk of its revenue for.

In unveiling a paid program for sales listings, StreetEasy gave brokers a route to bypass Premier Agents who may otherwise be displayed alongside those listings. If the initiative, dubbed Agent Spotlight, gets enough buy-in from brokers with exclusives, Premier Agents said it threatens to dilute the value of the lead-generation program. Agents said they may be forced to reconsider their spending on the product.

“They’re solving a problem by creating another avenue of income for themselves,” said Beth Gittleman, head of sales and development at Bohemia Realty Group. “This is a Band-aid.”

When it launches in February, Agent Spotlight will cost agents $333 per sales listing per month. Brokers can participate only if they manually enter listing data. To facilitate that, StreetEasy also rolled out a new back-end listing platform called “Listing Tools.” After Zillow announced the change, several residential brokerages called it a form of “blackmail.”

It’s also been a cause for concern among some Premier Agents. By creating a way to cut Premier Agents out of the equation, it could reduce the amount of leads they receive. At Bohemia, Gittleman said agents can individually opt to use Premier Agent — and this change means they will have to temper their expectations for the advertising program.

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