In a court filing in federal court in Washington on Sunday, May 17, Northwest MLS (NWMLS) is accusing mega-brokerage Compass of promising, then failing to produce documents, datasets and communications in a lawsuit over private listing rules, as both parties have accused each other of anti-competitive practices. The lawsuit, filed by Compass a little over…
Above, Josh Jarboe, broker/owner of REMAX Empire Buyers in Kentucky Joe Hayden, in his recent op-ed, criticizes brokerages for innovating outside the MLS while simultaneously admitting sellers deserve choice and flexibility. You can’t have both. The market is evolving, and some brokers are uncomfortable because they can no longer control where consumers search, market and…
Redfin has launched what it is calling Redfin Early Access, a new search category featuring homes “buyers won’t find on other major real estate sites,” which include both Compass Coming Soon listings through a previously announced partnership as well as properties listed through the company’s brokerage. According to a release from the portal, the category…
Compass remains in headlines this week as CEO Robert Reffkin addressed the industry’s “shifting stance on phased marketing” in the company’s recent Q1 2026 earnings call, as the brokerage touts new synergies and business growth from its recent acquisitions. Speaking to investors, Reffkin said that he and other Compass executives are “pleased to see several…
Chicago-based MLS Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) maintains a private listing network, which it has consistently defended even against pressure from other industry power players such as Zillow. Now, MRED’s private listing network is expanding outside Illinois, following an announcement on April 24 that the MLS is partnering with Compass to take its whole platform…
Agents have long done some version of pre-marketing—reaching out to their networks, posting on social, circulating a “Coming Soon” to their database. But what hasn’t existed, until now, is a way to make those listings publicly visible: open to every buyer and searchable by anyone. Zillow Preview changes that. Rather than keeping pre-market listings behind…
Compass is pushing back hard against the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS), arguing in a new court filing that its 3-Phased Marketing (3PM) strategy fully complies with Washington state’s incoming public marketing law—and that NWMLS’s counterclaims against the brokerage should be thrown out entirely. In a motion to dismiss filed April 23 in the U.S.…
A little over a week after Zillow sought to clarify its discussions with Chicago-based Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) over restrictions on private listings, the MLS appears to be digging in, as this week MRED CEO Rebecca Jensen sent an emotional open letter to members defending its private listing network against a “one-size-fits-all model.” With…
FirstTeam® has announced that it has joined Zillow Preview, the portal’s new way to bring pre-market home listings into the open, earlier in the listing process. As part of the platform, Zillow stated that FirstTeam®’s 2,300 sales agents in California, Arizona, Idaho, and Washington can now publicly pre-market their listings on Zillow and Trulia before…
“I can prove anything by statistics except the truth.” That witticism, attributed to 19th century British orator and statesman George Canning, highlights something that remains extremely relevant today in the information age. While we have nearly unlimited access to data and analysis, they aren’t always—or perhaps often—leading us closer to the answers we seek. Case…
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