What Are Private Listing Networks & How Do They Impact The Housing Market?

Most real estate agents work for brokerages, which connect sellers with buyers and buyers with sellers.

In a given city or region, brokerages usually share their listings through online databases called multiple listing services (MLS). Think of these like bulletin boards — which is what they originally were back in the early 1900s.

Today, sites like Zillow and Redfin aggregate listings from various MLSs, so you don’t have to go through a realtor to see all the options in your area.