Are “Comp Only” Listings Ethical?

[Ryan Jones]

There is a small, historic area of town where I live with a lot of real estate activity handled by one firm - a legacy father, son duo. They commonly handle off market sales in this area. Which is fine.

Then, when they're on one side of a traditional sale and they want to justify either their clients offer or the list price in this small, historic part of town, they post the off market deals retroactively with the listing description as "comp only" to MLS and all the websites (Zillow, Redfin, etc).

I know this because I was a buyer represented by the son on a house that eventually fell through post inspection. To justify the contract price (post bidding war) he posted a “comp only” deal so the appraiser could use it as a comp.

Are they influencing a micro market? Is this ethical?