What is a pre- or off-market listing?

Have you ever seen a home go under contract and in the description it says, “Sold before print?” That’s a pre-market listing. These listings are not available on any of the major real estate search websites and therefore are not publicly searchable. There are two primary ways pre-market listings are advertised in Chicago:

  1. Private Listing Network (PLN) – these listings are available to all Realtors in Chicago, but not viewable on Zillow or Realtor.com. Compass Coming Soon makes Compass-listed PLN homes searchable, but you still need to work with a Realtor who has MLS access to see PLN homes listed by other offices.
  2. Top Agent Network (TAN) – these listings are only available to the top 10% of Chicago Realtors. The top 10% of agents sell 9 out of 10 homes in a given market, research shows, and TAN allows these agents to network with one another. Geoff Zureikat, the principal broker and team lead of Z Chicago, is a proud member of TAN.

The benefit of seeing a pre-market listing is that you’re getting in the door before the vast majority of other buyers in Chicago. Some properties are listed on the PLN or TAN to drum up interest and then later go live on the MLS, which is then fed to the rest of the internet. The properties that sell on the private network would likely heed multiple offers had they been listed publicly.

Want access to pre-market listings that match your home search? Fill out the form below to give us an idea of what you’re looking for, or call us directly at 312-810-2295 for a quick consultation.