Robert Reffkin said Wednesday that explicit cooperation creates a “negative perception” of listings and predicted that the polarizing anti-pocket listing rules will ultimately fail.
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Compass CEO Robert Reffkin argued Wednesday that the National Association of Realtors’ “clear cooperative policy” is “pro-homeowner” and ultimately destined to disappear.
Refkin made the comments during the company’s second-quarter earnings call with investors, where he spoke about plans to make its website a consumer destination with “more inventory than third-party websites.” The comments suggest Compass wants to enter the so-called portal wars more directly, and that it believes it can feature listings on its site that aren’t available anywhere else.
Those plans could hit a roadblock in the form of NAR’s clear cooperation policy, which was introduced in 2019 and requires brokers to submit property listings to local multiple listing services within 24 hours of a sale. The policy was intended to crack down on pocket listings and eliminate potential discrimination when certain property listings are only visible to a few agents and their clients.
Robert Reffkin
But Reffkin argued Wednesday that explicit cooperation would not benefit consumers.
“I think the apparent cooperation is detrimental to homeowners,” Reffkin said.
He further argued that forcing listings on the MLS would mean that “negative insights” such as days on market and lower prices would accompany those listings. Such negative insights could act as “value killers,” Reffkin added. That means consumers would be more likely to be unsure if their listings were worth it. do not have They don’t show up on the MLS, and Reffkin noted that in some countries, such as Australia, data points like the number of days on the market aren’t shown on the listings.
Conversely, Reffkin said, “private exclusives,” or properties sold outside the MLS, allow homeowners to “test the market” without losing out.
“You can test the market without having a negative outlook,” Reffkin said. “It’s a clear collaboration, but the problem is forcing a negative outlook on homeowners.”
As a result, Refkin believes the explicit partnership and “coercive mechanisms” of pushing every listing onto the MLS will eventually end. He added that in parts of California and Massachusetts, the MLS isn’t affiliated with NAR and isn’t bound by the explicit partnership, and in those places “things are working just fine.”
In a statement to Inman late Wednesday, Refkin also noted that “the Department of Justice has reopened its investigation into Clear Corporation, and the Top Agent Network (TAN) has reinstated its lawsuit alleging that Clear Corporation violates the antitrust laws.”
The lawsuit Refkin mentioned began in 2020 and was filed by TAN against NAR. The suit, which challenged apparent antitrust coordination, was dismissed by a federal district court in August 2021. However, an appeals court reinstated the case last year.
The Justice Department’s investigation has also been the subject of a legal battle between regulators and the NAR: In April, an appeals court ruled that the Justice Department could reopen its investigation, despite NAR’s objections.
Either way, Reffkin concluded his comments on the issue on Wednesday by saying that “the majority of the inventory will eventually end up in one place.” But in the future, he said, the process may not be as near-instantaneous as it is today.
“There’s a reason homeowners don’t want their property to be immediately public or listed on the MLS,” he added.
Update: This story has been updated after publication with additional comment from Reffkin and background information on the cases he mentioned.
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