Compass is pushing their MLS-Off listings

Compass, which has been touting the growing popularity of its private exclusives, recently brought its inventory push in-house, offering agents and their clients a marketing incentive to begin their listings off the MLS.

The brokerage offered a $100 social media campaign for every listing an agent has that begins as a Compass private exclusive and moves to a Compass “coming soon,” according to an email to agents from Compass CEO Robert Reffkin obtained by The Real Deal.

In a blog post last month, Zillow CEO Jeremy Wacksman wrote that the use of private listings is “designed to benefit a participating brokerage’s own bottom line as an attempt to ‘double dip’ on commissions from both sides of the transaction within their brokerage.”

The campaign will help agents in “winning more listings, getting more buyer leads, boosting visibility of your listing page on Google, helping sell your listing faster, and securing more signed Buyer Representation Agreements,” Reffkin wrote in the email.

The incentive program, which began on Feb. 1 and runs through the end of May, comes amid debate in the industry over the value of private listings. Independent brokerages, listing services and aggregators have dug their heels in about the value of listing homes publicly, while Reffkin has been trumpeting the need for consumer choice in how they list their home.

The National Association of Realtors’ Clear Cooperation Policy restricts how Compass can market listings off-MLS, something Reffkin has repeatedly criticized. More recently, he has been pushing the popularity of private exclusive listings and “coming soon” listings as evidence that consumers want the ability to freely list off the MLS.

But the internal incentives to keep listings from going directly on the MLS calls into question how enthusiastic consumers are to list their homes as private exclusives and opens the brokerage to criticism that keeping listings off the MLS helps, more than anybody, itself and its shareholders.

The inventory play

Compass’ strategy around building its off-MLS listings has come as part of a larger push to build its inventory and compete not just with brokerages, but listing services and aggregators.

The company has recently been promoting its “3-Phased Marketing Strategy,” which entails moving sellers’ listings through a funnel from private exclusives to only being available on compass.com as a “coming soon,” to finally being on the MLS.

“Our goal is to make it clear that Compass agents and Compass.com have more inventory than third-party sites, sending a strong signal to buyers that if you aren’t working with Compass agents or aren’t searching Compass, you are not seeing all the inventory,” Reffkin said on earning calls last year.

The other benefit for Compass — aside from potentially attracting clients and agents who don’t want to miss out on homes that are listed off the MLS — is that the company is more likely to co-broke a deal when only Compass agents can see private exclusive listings.

“You always want to give a listing maximum exposure and have all eyes on it,” Brown Harris Stevens CEO Bess Freedman said. “It’s not for some greater good, like he’s trying to help the world. He’s trying to get as much money as he can.”

In a blog post last month, Zillow CEO Jeremy Wacksman wrote that the use of private listings is “designed to benefit a participating brokerage’s own bottom line as an attempt to ‘double dip’ on commissions from both sides of the transaction within their brokerage.”

“At Compass, we co-broke with everyone,” Reffkin said in a press release earlier this week noting that agents from other brokerage.