Where Are They Now? Unlisted is Opening the Doors to Off-Market Homes

Founder and CEO Katie Hill

Historically, less than 5% of homes in the U.S. are listed for sale at any given time. Combine that with the well-documented housing shortage and record-high costs of purchasing a home, and it’s easy to see why in late 2023 Bloomberg columnist Conor Sen said that the housing market is “completely broken.”

Whether you agree with that or not, simple economics dictates that when supply is low and demand is high, costs will increase. So what if instead of only 5% of the market being accessible, it was 100%?

That’s the idea behind Unlisted, a software platform dedicated entirely to off-market properties, which has created a searchable property profile for every home in the U.S., not just homes listed for sale.

Most homes appear online as listings – profiles created by real estate agents when the home was last sold. This often means the information was from the previous homeowner, and that the data is owned by the multiple listing service (MLS), a network of local agent- and broker-owned databases that sells the data to national platforms like Zillow and Homes.com. 

Unlisted flips the script. Homeowners can claim, edit, and enhance their property profile, giving them control over how their home appears online outside of a selling process. They can also indicate their willingness to move, allowing them to deter or attract buyers as desired.

“Until now, homeowners had almost no control over the way their homes are presented online, but it matters,” explains Katie Hill, founder and CEO of Unlisted, MBA ’13. “For the first time, Unlisted provides homeowners with a digital property asset that complements their physical property asset.” 

For buyers, the home search is no longer limited to what’s publicly listed. With Unlisted, buyers can enter specific criteria and discover every home that meets their needs – on or off the market. The platform ranks results based on how well a home fits the buyer’s preferences and how likely it is to sell, using both predictive modeling and homeowner self-reporting. Buyers can also enter a specific property address to learn more about it and find out if the homeowner might be open to selling.

Buyers can then use the platform to craft a personalized note expressing interest in a home. Unlisted delivers it to the homeowner along with a unique access code, allowing both parties to connect through a secure chat platform. This setup enables open communication without exchanging phone numbers or personal information upfront, ensuring privacy while facilitating meaningful conversations about potential sales.

“We’re a soft landing spot that allows both buyers and homeowners to explore the possibility of a transaction,” said Hill. 

“You don’t want to create your LinkedIn profile the day you need a new job, so why create a listing the day you want to sell your home?,” Hill asked. “When you are ready to sell, you have valuable information about the marketability of your specific home, which is better than comps. Best case scenario, you have a lead list of motivated and qualified buyers before you’ve even had to lift a finger cleaning out the basement!”

Real estate agents also use the platform to find off-market properties for buyer clients who can’t find what they’re looking for on the MLS.

“Finding an off-market property for a buyer client is the ultimate agent boon,” said Hill. “We love creating win-win-wins.”

While Unlisted now manages over 100 million property profiles, the idea started with just one home.

“My daughters love to swim in the summer,” said Hill. “During the pandemic, all of the public pools were closed, but I discovered my neighbor had a little pool in his backyard.”

Already considering downsizing but wanting to stay close because of the proximity to good schools, Hill thought the neighbor’s house would be a great fit for her family. The only problem was that it wasn’t for sale.

A few weeks later, the neighbor was cutting his grass and Hill decided to go over and start a conversation about her interest in their home.

“I was fully expecting to be shut down, but when I expressed my interest, his face lit up,” said Hill. “He told me he was just starting to think about retirement and about selling their home.”

While they weren’t ready to sell just yet, they said they would be open to it in a few years. The two agreed that when it was time to sell, Hill would be given the right of first refusal on the home.

“That was a lightbulb moment for me,” said Hill. “Instead of a for sale sign suddenly popping up in their front yard, forcing me to scramble to make an offer on this home I’ve loved for years, I put myself in a great position when the home becomes available. That’s when I started thinking that people should have more conversations about their property plans.”

With a background in tech startups, Hill thought her idea warranted a website or app. She worked with a development team to build out a minimum viable product and tested it in her hometown to see how people would respond. 

Hill created a flywheel business model with agents, buyers, and homeowners that allows the company to generate revenue while adding users and data.

“We call it a ‘cool start’ not cold start because we have a few advantages. First, agents are important early adopters, which gets our flywheel turning. Second, buyers are often sellers, so one user boosts both sides of the network. We also have enough data, mixed with the power of AI, to make property profiles meaningful even if the homeowner hasn’t claimed it yet. And now we have key strategic media partners and investors at Hearst. It’s still not easy, but we’re really excited about our momentum.” 

Unlisted was first funded via angel investors in 2022, the same year Hill applied to be a part of the Alumni New Venture Challenge and took first place.

The company continues to receive recognition and capital. Last April, it took first place in Pitch HearstLab New York, HearstLab’s pitch competition for early-stage, women-led startups, and received a $100,000 equity investment. The company previously received a $45,000 grant from the state of Ohio’s Entrepreneurial Services Provider Program and won $65,000 in non-dilutive funding from the University of Dayton’s pitch competition. Hill herself has also been recognized, being named a Female Founder to Watch by American Inno.

At the end of 2024, it announced that it raised $2.25 million in seed funding led by HearstLab with additional investment from VC 414 and StageNext Fund. Unlisted is also engaged in a strategic partnership with Hearst Newspapers and expanded relationships with top luxury agents in cities coast to coast. The company has sent more than 2,000 packages on behalf of potential buyers to homeowners of unlisted properties, representing over $3 billion in home value and garnering response valued at $160M in private sales pipeline. The number of private home sales as a result of connections on the platform continues to grow with an average sale value of $1.2M. Unlisted is not a brokerage and does not take commissions; the company generates revenue from buyers and buyers’ agents who connect with off-market homeowners through the platform. 

With a solid, established base and new investment, the company is looking to continue its growth. The team is expanding and focusing on new product rollouts, adding new users especially buyers and homeowners, growing sales and revenue, and investing back into both tech and marketing.

// Where Are They Now? is a column featuring past program participants, investment recipients, and others who have worked closely with the Polsky Center.

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