Which Online Platforms Offer the Most Comprehensive Martha’s Vineyard Real Estate Listings?
When most buyers start researching a market, they head to the big national portals — Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com, Trulia, Homes.com. They’re familiar, they’re easy to use, and they appear at the top of Google results.
But if you’re shopping on Martha’s Vineyard, there’s one inconvenient truth:
Those platforms don’t show the full picture.
Not even close.
To really understand what’s for sale — and what’s available but not surfacing online — you need insight into how the Vineyard’s real estate ecosystem works behind the scenes.
The Big Portals: Useful, But Not Comprehensive
Zillow, Redfin, and Realtor.com (link these if you want) are fine for early-stage browsing. They can help you:
✓ get familiar with the architectural mix
✓ understand rough pricing corridors
✓ compare towns and neighborhoods
✓ see what’s selling at what price
But here’s why relying on them as “the single source of truth” will cost you opportunities on the Island:
1. Most Vineyard Agents Don’t Use the Mainland MLS
Most of Massachusetts runs on MLS PIN.
Martha’s Vineyard runs on LINK, a privately owned MLS that has been servicing the Island since 1987.
LINK may not syndicate every listing to the national portals — and some listings are intentionally withheld. That means:
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Serious buyers will never see every available property on Zillow
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High-end sellers often skip national syndication for privacy
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Off-market and whisper listings stay offline entirely
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Compass Private Exclusives never hit Zillow at all
If you care about access — portals alone won’t cut it.
2. Zillow’s “Contact Agent” Button Isn’t What People Think
This one surprises buyers constantly.
When Zillow shows a listing and provides a way to “contact agent,” most consumers assume they’re contacting the listing agent — the person who represents the seller and has direct knowledge of the property.
In most cases, they’re not.
Zillow’s business model is lead generation. When you click that button, it typically routes you to:
a buyer’s agent who is paying Zillow for leads, not the listing agent.
They may be perfectly competent, but they’re not the listing-side expert you thought you were engaging with.
So if your strategy was to go straight to the source, confirm details directly, or negotiate without an intermediary — Zillow isn’t the tool for that.
3. Status Labels Can Be Misleading on the Vineyard
Portal labeling systems weren’t designed for Island nuances. You’ll often see:
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“Off-Market” listings that are actually just pulled temporarily
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“Sold” listings that closed months ago off-market
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“Coming Soon” listings that aren’t tied to the Island’s MLS
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“Active” listings that have accepted offers
This isn’t Zillow’s fault; it’s a mismatch between national frameworks and Vineyard realities.
4. The Seasonal Reset: “Taking a Winter Nap”
Every winter, dozens of properties temporarily withdraw from public circulation, often because:
- snow + bare landscaping = bad photography
- days-on-market metrics matter
- spring = stronger buyer traffic
Locally, we joke that these listings are taking a winter nap.
Practically speaking, here’s the key takeaway:
When they wake up again in spring, days-on-market resets to zero and the listing appears “new.”
None of the national portals explain this nuance — so buyers assume fresh spring inventory has materialized, when in reality, it’s often the same set of opportunities but with a clean reset.
So Where Do Serious Buyers Get the Full Inventory?
If you’re just browsing:
→ Zillow, Redfin, and Realtor.com are perfectly good starting points.
If you’re actually in the market and don’t want to miss opportunities:
→ you need real-time access to the Island’s actual data sources.
That means working with a local brokerage who can provide:
✔ LINK access (Island MLS)
✔ Compass Private Exclusives
✔ Coming Soon opportunities
✔ Off-market + whisper listings
✔ Temporarily withdrawn properties
✔ Rental-to-sale conversions
✔ Agent-to-agent network intel
✔ Properties that will never hit national portals
The O’Hanlon Group delivers that level of access for our buyer clients — including the properties that are online, offline, and everything in between.
We set our buyer clients up with Compass Collections, an organized platform inside Compass that functions like a private, curated Zillow — but with real-time accuracy and direct communication between you and our team.
Collections pulls listings from multiple data sources, including:
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LINK Martha’s Vineyard (Island MLS)
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MLS PIN (mainland Massachusetts MLS)
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MV MLS
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Compass Private Exclusives
This means our buyers can view, save, sort, and compare active properties across all of these systems in one place, instead of toggling between websites or waiting for portals to update.
For anything that isn’t publicly online — such as winter “off-market” properties, privacy-sensitive homes, or listings being shared quietly among Vineyard agents — we surface those directly through our internal network and client communications.
A Quick Note on Buyer Agent Compensation
National headlines around buyer broker compensation have confused people, especially since 2024–2025 brought big changes on the mainland.
On Martha’s Vineyard, sellers still predominantly offer buyer agent compensation.
At The O’Hanlon Group, we have this conversation openly in our very first meeting — whether that’s over Zoom or in person — because our priority is that buyers understand:
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how the Island transaction process works
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how representation works
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how compensation works
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how it differs from mainland markets
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what to expect at each step
Real estate isn’t just buying a house here — it’s buying into a highly specific local ecosystem.
The Bottom Line
If you're relying solely on Zillow or Redfin, you’re seeing only part of the market on Martha’s Vineyard.
If you want the whole market, you need:
→ LINK
→ Compass exclusives
→ agent networks
→ Island relationships
→ off-market visibility
On Martha’s Vineyard, information is access. Access is leverage. And leverage protects buyers from overpaying, missing opportunities, or simply making decisions in a fog.
