Editor’s note: This is part two of a two-part story examining the impact of the Redfin-Compass deal. Read part one here. “Real estate isn’t a transaction. It’s a process.” Those words, from Compass CEO Robert Reffkin on the company’s recent earnings call, were in response to a question about how Compass agents can communicate value…
Editor’s note: This is part one of a two-part story examining the impact of the Redfin-Compass deal. Look for part two in the coming days. “The future is bright. Look forward to building it with you.” Those words, from Compass CEO Robert Reffkin to Rocket Companies CEO Varun Krishna, have a little bit of subtext.…
The COURT REPORT is RISMedia’s weekly look at current and upcoming lawsuits, investigations and other legal developments around real estate. Four days of testimony set battle lines in Zillow-Compass showdown With top executives, brokers and a mob of journalists packing a high-rise federal courtroom in Manhattan last week, the public got its first glimpse of…
With Compass and Zillow locked into a high-stakes fight over listing restrictions and market power, company executives testified in federal court for the third day yesterday as Compass leadership addressed the specifics of its private listing-focused strategy, from alleged harm to its business from the Zillow rules, to how it communicated with agents. The trial—officially…
NEW YORK CITY–As the afternoon session of the Compass-Zillow preliminary injunction hearing got underway in courtroom 14C at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse in downtown Manhattan on Nov. 18, with Judge Jeannette Vargas presiding, the intensity from the morning session continued with Compass CEO Robert Reffkin on the stand. Throughout the day, attorney Bonnie…
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…
When Zillow announced its new rules restricting certain private listings, one MLS was quickly thrown into the spotlight—Midwest Real Estate Data, or MRED, in the Chicago region. That’s because for almost a decade, MRED has hosted an internal private listing service—properties shared within the MLS, but not necessarily to anyone else. While Zillow didn’t immediately…
Ahead of the Nov. 18 hearing over its legal challenge to Zillow’s new listing rules, Compass filed a supplemental brief against the portal, accusing it of weaponizing its dominance in the home portal market to crush competition and force home sellers and agents to list properties on its platform first. In the pre-hearing brief submitted…
Compass’s acquisition of Anywhere could end up having a major impact on its lawsuit against Zillow, as the portal giant is seeking to determine if Compass contradicted its assertions about the value of private listings through the proposed mega-merger. A joint letter filed by the two companies to U.S. District Judge Jeannette A. Vargas in…