Downtown Boston Real Estate Compass takes another swing at Zillow and Redfin
Boston Condos for Sale and Apartments for Rent
Downtown Boston Real Estate Compass takes another swing at Zillow and Redfin
When activist investor and corporate raider Carl Icahn wanted a change of direction in a company he owns shares in, he does so through a flurry of shareholder letters, proxy filings and board seat power grabs.
While Compass CEO Robert Reffkin is not a shareholder in the National Association of Realtors, he and his more than 30,000 agents are dues-paying members of the trade group, and the outspoken executive has in recent months taken a similar tack to trying to mold the future shape of the organization.
And Reffkin’s open letters have come in the form of social media posts.
“Was NAR’s Clear Cooperation Policy really designed to protect the consumer, or was it designed to protect the annual agent membership dues paid to NAR and the MLSs they control?” Reffkin asked the caption accompanying a photo posted to Instagram of NAR’s empty boardroom.
War of words with Zillow
The post was the latest in an escalating war of words between Compass and an increasingly mobilized opposition group that now includes certain smaller brokerages, MLSes, aggregators like Zillow and hybrid listing platform-brokerages like Redfin.
One of the most heated public spats that has played out on social media between Compass and Washington-based Northwest MLS spilled over into policy.
In March, Reffkin wrote in an Instagram post that “[t]here are ~600 MLSs in the United States, and Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) is the ONLY MLS in the country that has until now prevented homesellers from utilizing Compass Private Exclusives to protect them from the risk of days on market and price drop history.”
But NWMLS this week struck back, shutting off its IDX feed to Compass, which is how the brokerages share listing information between each other and display it on third-party websites.
Reffkin has also been working behind the scenes, imploring MLSes to adopt policies and ease restrictions on private and coming soon listings.
The fight over VOW feeds comes as Reffkin — and his company’s marketing strategy that relies on listings marketed off the MLS — now also faces pushback from Zillow, which announced its own new policy banning listings that have been publicly marketed without being submitted to the MLS within 24 hours.
Downtown Boston condo market
Though it’s unclear how receptive MLSes will be to disavowing established NAR policy, Reffkin has not taken his foot off the pedal in his drive to end CCP.
Updated: Boston Real Estate Blog 2025
Peace be with you
Ford Realty Inc., Boston Real Estate for Sale
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Updated: Boston Real Estate 2025
Ford Realty Beacon Hill – Condo for Sale Office
Boston condos for sale – Ford Realty Inc
Updated: Boston Condos for Sale Blog 2025
Byline – John Ford Boston Beacon Hill Condo Broker 137 Charles St. Boston, MA 02114
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Downtown Boston Real Estate Compass takes another swing at Zillow and Redfin
Boston Condos for Sale and Apartments for Rent
National real estate brokerage Compass has made another move that places it in even greater direct competition with Seattle-based digital brokerage giants Redfin and Zillow.
In an arms race of integration, the three firms have sought to consolidate the homebuying process within their companies, going well beyond digital home searches and brokerage services. Zillow and Redfin, for instance, both have mortgage-lending divisions and subsidiaries that offer digital closing services.
Compass announced Monday it will acquire Seattle-based Modus, a technology startup that aims to simplify the process of closing on a home, for an undisclosed amount this month. Modus offers digital title and escrow services.
