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Compass vs. 9 MLSs: Real Estate Giants Unite Against Private Listings · Dishin' Dirt with Gary Pickren

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: If you're a real estate agent in South Carolina right now, you are probably feeling like things are moving really slow.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're not getting as many phone calls as you normally do.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe your buyers are all sitting on the sidelines.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've got some listings that just aren't moving quite as quickly as you think they should.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe you think there's just not much of anything really even happening in the real estate world right now.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: Well, folks, I could not disagree with you more.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Because while some of us have been waiting and hoping that the real estate market would change, and I count myself as amongst those hoping and waiting, the national real estate industry has practically caught on fire.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not exaggerating.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: In roughly the last 10 days, we've had four major national developments that could fundamentally change the way that we buy, sell, market, and finance real estate here in South Carolina.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Four developments that could actually and eventually affect your business, your clients, your commission, and potentially even your obligations under South Carolina real estate law.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: So let me tell you what has happened.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: First, President Donald Trump signed a new executive order aimed at making home ownership more affordable.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot more to this executive order than they're talking about in the headlines.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: We're talking about mortgage insurance, manufactured housing, refinancing costs, and even potential changes to how title insurance is handled on certain refinance transactions.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Secondly, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Corey Booker sent a letter to the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission asking for an investigation into three practices in the real estate industry.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: We are talking about undisclosed commission sharing arrangements involving online real estate platforms.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: We're talking about steering buyers toward affiliated mortgage lenders, and we're talking about private listing networks, how they may restrict competition and limit consumer access to homes.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Folks, when United States senators start asking the FTC to investigate things that we've been talking about and discussing here on this podcast, that's worth paying attention to.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: Third, six multiple listing services have joined together and filed a federal lawsuit against COMPASS.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Not one MLS or two MLSs, six MLSs into one lawsuit.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: And when you include the other MLS organizations that have publicly pushed back or taken legal action against COMPAS, we are talking about nine MLSs across this country that are now involved in this growing confrontation.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Robert Refkin has been aggressively challenging these MLS rules, particularly those governed private listings, and now these MLS organizations have said enough and they're fighting back and they're doing it in the legal system.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: Fourth, just today, four major real estate organizations announced an historic collaboration called Open Real Estate.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: Keller Williams, AGT, which is the parent company of EXP and NextHome, Home Services of America, Real Remax Group, which is Real and Remax.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: All of these companies have come together around a system that they say is intended to support broad listing distribution in an open real estate marketplace.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: So think about that for one minute.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Some of the biggest competitors in residential real estate are now cooperating together on an initiative that stands in sharp contrast to the growth of private listing networks.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Folks, something big is happening here.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: These four developments are not completely unrelated.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: They all touch on the same underlying question: who controls a real estate transaction?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Who controls access to the property information?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: Are consumers really being given choices, or are they simply being steered toward choices that makes the brokerage or platform more money?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: And who gets to make these rules?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: Is it the government?
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: Is it the MLS?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Is it the brokerage, or is it gonna be the consumers?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: Because those are enormous questions that we're gonna wrestle with here for the years to come.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: Now, there is so much happening here that there's absolutely no way I can do justice to all four of these stories in one episode.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: So here's what I'm gonna do.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Unless we have some major story break in real estate between now and Thanksgiving, and that's a real possibility, the way things have been going recently, I'm gonna dedicate the next three or four weeks all the way up to Thanksgiving.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna talk about the Trump executive order, what it actually does, what it doesn't do, and whether or not it's actually going to make housing more affordable.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna look at the letter from Senator Warren and Senator Booker, and we're gonna ask is the federal government finally beginning to pay attention to some of these business practices that have been hiding in plain sight in this industry for some time.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: And then we're gonna examine the growing battle overprofit listings, MLS cooperation, and who controls the housing inventory.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna connect all of this together and tell you what it means for real estate agents, real estate brokers, buyers, and sellers here in South Carolina.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: But today I want to start with what I believe may be the biggest battle of them all: compass versus the MLSs.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: This is no longer just a disagreement about how a brokerage markets a house.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: This is turning into a battle over the fundamental structure of the American real estate marketplace.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now, before we get into today's subject, I do need to make another quick public service announcement.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: If you listened last week, I say this with a smile because as many of you know, I recently did an entire podcast on my very first hate mail.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: And it actually wasn't hate mail, it was posted on lame ass Facebook.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: But apparently having an opinion about real estate practices that some of you might do here is somehow now a dangerous hobby.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: So before anybody starts typing out a four-page Facebook talking about how Gary Pickering's attacking their brokerage, let me make something very perfectly clear.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: Today we are talking about Compass and only Compass.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: Because as far as I'm aware, Compass doesn't currently operate a South Carolina brokerage office.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, I understand that Compass has been involved in the acquisition of the Anywhere real estate brand.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're an agent with Century 21 or ERA or COW Banker, Better Homes and Gardens, Sobey's International Real Estate Franchise, whatever, I'm not automatically talking about you or accusing your brokerage of doing anything wrong.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: Your franchise affiliation does not mean that you personally created Robert Refkin's private listing strategy.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: So please put down your keyboard, finish your coffee, and chill out.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so let's see if we can just make it through one episode without somebody accusing me of trying to destroy their company or talking about them, because I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about compass.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: But here's the serious part.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: If we can't have an honest discussion about business practices without somebody taking it as a personal attack on them or their business, we're never going to make this industry any better.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not interested in attacking your brokerage, which I'm not, or even attacking you, which I don't, because I want to see real estate agents be the best they can be.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: What I'm interested in is asking whether certain practices are good for the consumer, consistent with your legal obligation, and are healthy for the real estate marketplace.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: Those are questions that quite frankly every professional in our business ought to be willing to discuss and ask themselves.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: If you think I'm talking about you or your brokerage, the real question is why do you think that?
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: And since they haven't called any of your brokerages out by name other than Compass, of course, and guess what?
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: You ain't Compass.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: At the most, you're a franchise of a brokerage who is owned by anywhere, who is owned by Compass, whose CEO is Robert Refkin.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: We'll cover this and a whole lot more on this episode of Dish and Dirt.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: This is Dish and Dirt with Gary Pickering, South Carolina's only podcast dedicated to the real estate agent craft.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: And now the host of Dish and Dirt, Gary Pickering.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: Hey Greens, and welcome back, everyone, to another episode of Dish and Dirt.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your often opinionated but really wrong host, Gary Pickering, coming from the beautiful downtown Columbia, South Carolina offices of Blair, Kato, Pickering, Castlein, this, the last week of October 2026.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: So let's start with something that I think gets lost in this debate.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Compass is not simply arguing that a homeowner should have the right to sell a house privately.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, a homeowner can decide whether they want to put their home on the open market.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: There can be perfectly legitimate reasons for doing that or not doing that.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: The situations do exist.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: I've never argued otherwise.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, South Carolina Real Estate Commission has even acknowledged that limited public exposure may be appropriate under certain circumstances.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: But that's not really the fundamental issue here.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: The question is what happens when private marketing becomes a systematic business strategy for one of the major brokerages in the market?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: And what happens when that brokerage starts building an entire network around properties that aren't going to be made available to the broader marketplace?
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: And what happens when the brokerage becomes so large that access to its private inventory becomes a competitive advantage over every other brokerage in town?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Compass has promoted what it's calling this three-phase marketing strategy.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: The basic idea is the seller can market property privately within the brokerage, potentially move into a broader pre-marketing phase and ultimately list the property publicly, presumably on MLS.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: Compass argues that this approach gives the seller more control over their marketing pricing, privacy, and timing.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to be fair about their argument.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: There may be sellers who generally prefer to test the market before a full public launch.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: And there may be sellers who value privacy, and there may be sellers who believe the strategy offers them some type of benefit.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not suggesting that every private listing is automatically illegal or that every agent recommending one is automatically acting improperly.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: But I do have a serious question.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: When the primary objective of marketing real estate becomes controlling who gets to see the property rather than exposing it to the greatest number of qualified buyers.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: When did that happen?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: Because for most sellers, the purpose of hiring a real estate agent is to sell the property on the best terms reasonably available.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: And normally competition helps create that and accomplish that.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: More exposure creates more opportunities for qualified buyers to learn about the property.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: More qualified buyers can create more competition, and more competition can improve a seller's negotiating position.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now, that doesn't mean that every property needs to be exposed to every possible buyer in every circumstance.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're recommending a strategy that intentionally reduces the number of buyers who can see a property, I think you need to have a very good reason.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: And that reason needs to be connected to the seller's interest, not the broker's interest, not the listing agent's interest, not the broker's desire to capture both sides of the commission or to control the data, the seller's interest, because that's who the listing agent represents.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's where your fiduciary duty goes.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about something I think deserves a lot more attention.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: When a brokerage controls a large inventory of properties that aren't widely available to other brokerages, what happens?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: Well, buyers who own access to those properties may have an incentive to work with that brokerage.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: And if the brokerage can bring both the buyer and the seller together, it may be to capture more of the total commission revenue associated with the transaction.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm not saying every compass agent is trying to do that.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm certainly not saying that every transaction involving two agents from the same brokerage isn't proper.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's not true.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Listen to what I say before you start complaining at your weekly meetings or start listening to what somebody's telling you I say.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: But we all must recognize the financial incentive in doing so.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: Because financial incentives matter and they matter in the court of law.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: Is that automatically unlawful?
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Is that a potential for a conflict of interest?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: And that is why we need to distinguish between what is good for the brokerage and what is good for the client.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: They're not always the same thing.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: Think about it this way.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: Suppose I told you that I had developed a revolutionary new way to market your house.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: My new strategy was to make sure that fewer real estate agents knew your house was available for sale.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: Fewer buyers would have access to the listing, and I control who gets to see your house first.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I would explain that this all was designed to give you more flexibility.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: But wouldn't you have a few more questions to ask?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't you want to know whether the strategy might reduce the number of offers?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't you want to know whether it could affect your final sales price?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't you want to know whether I might make more money by keeping the transaction inside my own company?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: I certainly would ask those questions.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think you would too.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: And that's not being anti-COMPA or by some wild extension somehow being anti-anywhere or by five degrees of separation talking about your brokerage in Greenville or Columbia or anywhere else.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: See how I did that?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Anywhere else, anywhere?
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, that's me being pro-consumer.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: And if I'm being pro-consumer is wrong, then I'm wrong.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: To understand why this battle is so important, we need to remember what the MLS actually does.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: For decades, the multiple listing service has been one of the most important cooperative arrangements in American real estate.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's what separates us from the rest of the world.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: Think about what makes it so unusual.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: You have competing brokerage companies, companies that are trying to win over the same client, companies that compete for the same listing, buyers, agents, market shares, commissions, and so forth.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: And yet these competitors agree to cooperate by sharing information about properties that are available for sale.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: Why do they do that?
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: Because that cooperation is what makes the marketplace the most efficient.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: A small independent brokerage can compete with a national franchise.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: A buyer working with one company can learn about homes listed with another company.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: A seller doesn't have to hire the biggest broker in town simply to reach the largest pool of buyers.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: The common inventory helps create a marketplace in which companies compete based on the quality of their services rather than the exclusive control over information.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: Is the MLS perfect?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely not.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: MLS rules can be overly restrictive, they can be outdated.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Rules adopted by competing businesses absolutely deserve scrutiny when they affect competition.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: There is a difference between a rule that unnecessarily restricts competition and a rule that protects a cooperative system from being undermined by participants who want to receive the benefits of cooperation without providing the same benefits in return.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: And that brings us to the lawsuit.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: On October 21st, six multiple listing services joined together and filed a federal lawsuit against COMPAS.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: Those organizations are the Arizona Regional MLS, Bridge MLS, Canopy MLS, which is here in the Carolinas, Dorify MLS, Hive MLS, and Recolorado.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: This is a lawsuit that was filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: The MLSs are asking the court to determine that their cooperation rules are lawful under antitrust laws, and they're also seeking relief designed to protect those rules against threatening legal challenges from COMPAS.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: Now, why would six MLS organizations take the extraordinary step of filing a lawsuit against one of the largest brokerage companies in America?
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Why would they do that?
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: Because Compass has been challenging MLS rules that penalize agents for publicly marketing properties without submitting those listings to the MLS.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: Compass argues that sellers and their agents should have greater freedom to decide how properties are marketed.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: But COMPAS also argues that MLS organizations should not be able to impose fines or penalties merely because an agent publicly markets a property outside the MLS.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: But the MLS sees things quite differently.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: They argue that a brokerage shouldn't be allowed to take advantage of shared listing information contributed by its competitors while at the same time withholding some of its own publicly marketed listings from those same competitors.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: There's a term for that.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's called free riding.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: So let me explain what that means.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: Imagine that if every brokerage in Columbia, South Carolina, agrees to contribute its listings to a shared database.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: And every brokerage gets access to that same database.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Every brokerage can use that information to help its buyers.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Every brokerage can use that information to analyze the market.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: Every brokerage benefits.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: But then imagine one brokerage says, we still want to control access to all of our listings, but we still want the market information.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: We still want to use the system to help our buyers and to help our agents.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: But when we get a new listing, we want to reserve the right to market that property publicly through our own channels and without making it available to everybody else on our shared system.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: The other brokerages might reasonably ask, wait a minute, why should you get access to all of our inventory if you're not willing to provide the same access to yours?
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a central concern the MLSs are raising here.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's a legitimate question.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: Not necessarily a question that automatically decides the antitrust lawsuit, but a legitimate question because a cooperative marketplace depends on what?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: Cooperation.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: And if enough participants decide they want the benefits of the cooperation without the corresponding obligations, eventually the system just breaks down and we won't even have an MLS anymore.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now here's where I want to be very careful.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Just because I believe broad market exposure is generally better for consumers doesn't mean that Compass automatically loses its antitrust arguments.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: MLS organizations are made up of competing real estate professionals, and when competitors get together and establish rules governing how they compete, those rules can raise antitrust questions.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: The rule must be evaluated based on its actual operation, competitive effects, and the applicable federal and state law.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: But the opposite is also true.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: A rule doesn't become unlawful simply because one large brokerage doesn't like it.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: The MLSs are essentially arguing that their cooperation rules support competition because they prevent large brokerages from using exclusive access to listing information as a competitive weapon.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: COMPAS argues those same rules restrict competition by limiting alternative marketing strategies.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: So both sides are claiming to be defending competition.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: COMPASS is emphasizing the freedom of a brokerage and a seller to choose alternative marketing methods.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: And the MLSs are emphasizing the importance of shared information and reciprocal participation in an open marketplace.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: Ultimately, the courts are going to have to consider the relevant evidence and the legal standards.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: But these stakes are enormous because the outcome could influence how MLS organizations across the country structure and enforce their listing rules from here on out.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: And that includes MLS organizations right here in South Carolina.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: Now here's another important development.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: The six MLSs that file the lawsuit aren't the only organizations pushing back.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: California Regional MLS has also been in litigation with COMPASS.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: One key MLS has publicly rejected COMPAS's demand, and Unlock MLS in Texas has also pushed back.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: That brings us to at least nine MLS organizations that are publicly challenging COMPASS's position or taking legal action.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: All nine have not followed the same lawsuit, but the opposition is no longer isolated against COMPASS.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: And that's important because if this was simply a disagreement between COMPAS and one MLS, you might dismiss it as a local dispute.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: But when MLS organizations across multiple states begin resisting the same demands, we're dealing with something much larger.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: We're dealing with a national dispute over the structure of the real estate marketplace.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: And think about the significance of MLS organizations joining together in litigation.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: Litigation's expensive, federal antitrust litigation extremely expensive, and these organizations understand that they're taking on a major national brokerage with substantial resources.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yet they're willing to pursue this case.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: That tells me they believe the issue is important enough to justify a serious and expensive legal fight.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: And whether you agree with COMPAS or you agree with the MLSs, you ought to recognize that this is no longer a theoretical debate.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: This is now in federal court, and the outcome could truly affect the way that real estate is marketed throughout this entire country.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if this story ended with the lawsuits, we would already have a major topic for today's podcast.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: But then something happened this morning that made the story even stronger.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: Four major real estate organizations announced a new historic collaboration called Open Real Estate.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: And when I first saw this announcement, I thought, well, this is getting interesting.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: Because look who's involved Keller Williams, AG ⁇ T, Home Services of America, and Real Remax Group.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: These are companies that compete aggressively against one another.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: They compete for listings, they compete for buyers, they compete for market share.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: And now they're coming together around one common principle that the real estate marketplace should remain open and listing information should be broadly distributed.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: Their proposed platform is designed to work alongside existing MLS organizations and real estate portals.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: The idea is to make it easier for agents and brokerages to distribute listing information across participating platforms.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: The companies say they want to expand buyer opportunities, support informed seller decisions, protect listing data, and promote fair competition.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: The initiative is brand new.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: The announcement doesn't mean the platform is fully operational.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know how successful it will be, how many MLSs will participate in, how this technology will work in practice.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Those are some very important questions.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: But I think the announcement itself is very significant because for years, we've watched large real estate companies compete over who could build the biggest proprietary platform.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: Who can capture the most leads?
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: Who can control the most consumer traffic?
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: Who can keep buyers and sellers inside their ecosystem?
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: And now we've seen major competitors come together to support a very different approach, one that emphasizes broader access to property information.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: And although the announcement doesn't specifically identify COMPAS as their target, it's very difficult to ignore the context.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: The private listing debate has been growing.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: COMPASS has been challenging MLS rules.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: MLS organizations have been filing lawsuits, and now some of the largest brokerage organizations in the country are collaborating on an alternative built solely around open distribution.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Folks, you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to recognize that these developments are all connected.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this is where I want to bring the conversation home because South Carolina agents need to understand that this isn't just a fight happening in California, New York, or Arizona.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: We have our own legal and regulatory framework governing real estate brokerage activity.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: And in South Carolina, the South Carolina Real Estate Commission has already issued guidance addressing limited market exposure.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I've discussed this guidance on this podcast before, but it's worth revisiting in light of what's happening nationally today.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: The Commission's guidance emphasizes the importance of broad market exposure, informed seller decisions, fiduciary obligations, fair housing concerns, and appropriate brokerage supervision.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: It recognizes that limited market exposure may be appropriate in certain circumstances, but the central concern is that the decision should be made for the benefit of the seller with a genuine understanding of the consequences.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the key.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: The decision should not be driven by the brokerage's desire to capture more transactions internally or to control the data.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: It should not be driven by an agent's desire to avoid competing offers.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: And it should not be driven by an effort to limit access to a property for the benefit of a preferred group of buyers.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: Because in South Carolina, when you establish an agency relationship with the seller, you have a fiduci obligation.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: You owe duties of loyalty and obedience to lawful instructions, you owe confidentiality, you owe the client the care and diligence required by law.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: And those obligations don't Simply disappear because your brokerage has adopted a particular marketing strategy.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Now I want to emphasize another point.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: The Real Estate Commission's guidance is not itself a federal antitrust ruling.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: And we should not pretend that every private listing automatically violates South Carolina law.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: But the guidance does provide a very important framework for evaluating whether limited market exposure is consistent with the licensees obligations.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I think every broker in charge in South Carolina should be familiar with it because if this national battle results in more brokerages promoting private listing networks, these questions are going to become increasingly important.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: Now let's talk about the question that I think should concern every brokerage in South Carolina.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: What happens if COMPAS ultimately prevails in challenging the MLS cooperation rules?
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: And by prevails, I mean obtains a meaningful ruling limiting the ability of MLS organizations to penalize public marketing of listings outside their system?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the answer depends on exactly what the courts decide.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: A ruling against a particular MLS rule may not necessarily invalidate every MLS rule in America.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: And it certainly wouldn't eliminate state licensing laws, fiduciary obligations, or fair housing requirements.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: But a broad ruling could change the balance of power between the MLS organizations and large brokerages.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: Imagine a future where a brokerage can publicly advertise its listings while choosing not to submit them to the local MLS.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Now imagine if that brokerage has thousands of agents and a substantial percentage of the listings in a particular market.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: A brokerage could begin building a significant inventory that competing brokerages cannot access through the shared system.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: And once it has enough inventory, buyers may feel compelled to interact with the brokerage to see all the available properties.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: Other brokerages could face pressure to participate in a proprietary network.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: And over time, control of listing information could become a major competitive advantage.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: Now let's bring that hypothetical home to South Carolina.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: Suppose a national brokerage decides it wants to enter the Columbia, Greenville, Charleston, or Myrtle Beach market and introduce that business model.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: Suppose a local MLS has rules requiring publicly marketed listings to be shared with participating brokers.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: And suppose that national brokerage says, we don't agree with your rules.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: We want to publicly market our properties through our own channels and we want you to change your policies.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: What happens if the MLS refuses?
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, as we're seeing nationally, that dispute might end up in litigation.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: And here's why that matters.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: Because it isn't simply about whether one company likes a particular MLS rule, it's about whether a large national brokerage can use litigation and its market position to reshape the rules governing the local real estate marketplace.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: Even when the other participating brokers disagree with that approach.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: Now, majority agreement doesn't automatically make an MLS rule lawful.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: Antitrust laws still apply, but neither does the size of one brokerage automatically entitle it to dictate the rules to everyone else.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's the tension.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a tension that could very well become real here in South Carolina for South Carolina brokerages.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: Before I wrap up, I want to connect today's discussion to another one of those four major stories that I mentioned at the beginning.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: Because something happened in Washington that makes this whole debate even more interesting.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker sent a letter to the FTC chairman, Andrew Ferguson, asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate several practices in the residential real estate industry.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: And one of those practices is the growing use of private listing networks.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: The senators expressed concern that large brokerages may be restricting access to available homes in ways that benefit the brokerage while harming buyers, sellers, and competitors.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: A letter from two United States senators doesn't mean that FTC will determine that private listing networks are unlawful, but it does mean that this issue is receiving attention at the federal level.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: The senators also raised concern about commission sharing arrangements involving online real estate platforms, and they have also raised concerns about steering consumers toward affiliated mortgage lenders.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: The common thread running through all three concerns is the same.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: Are consumers receiving advice based on their best interest, or are they being directed toward choices that generate additional revenue for the companies controlling the transaction?
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's the question.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: And whether you agree with Senator Warren or Senator Booker politically, it's completely irrelevant.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: You can be a Republican, a Democrat, or an independent.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: The legal and ethical questions don't change depending on who asked them.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: Are consumers being properly informed?
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: Are financial conflicts being disclosed?
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: Are agents honoring their fiduciary obligations?
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: And is the marketplace operating in a way that promotes fair competition?
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: Those are legitimate questions regardless of your political affiliation.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to spend an entire episode examining that letter and the three practices that the senators identified.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think that every agent needs to understand how these business models operate, and I think the answers might surprise some people.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: So what does it all mean for the average South Carolina real estate agent?
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think there's several practical takeaways.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: First, understand your MLS rules.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: Don't assume that because a national brokerage is challenging the rule somewhere else, that the rule no longer applies to you.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't work that way.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: If your MLS requires certain listings to be submitted within a particular period after public marketing begins, you need to understand and follow those requirements.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: Secondly, understand the difference between a seller having a legitimate desire for privacy and a brokerage's preference for private marketing.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: They are not necessarily the same thing.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: Number three, if the seller wants limited market exposure, make sure that decision is genuinely informed.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: Explain the potential disadvantages.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: Explain the risk of reduced exposure and document the seller's instructions.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: Fourth, brokers in charge need to take this seriously.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: If your brokerage permits limited market exposure listings, you should have clear written policies addressing how those decisions are made, how they're reviewed, and how they're documented.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: See, I'm trying to help you here.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: You should not leave individual agents to improvise their own private listing systems without appropriate supervision.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: Because in South Carolina, you got a duty to supervise.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: Again, just trying to help you.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: And fifth, never forget who you represent.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: If you're a listing agent, you represent the seller.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: Your job is not to help your company build a proprietary listing network.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: Your job is to represent your seller's interests in accordance with the law and your agency obligations.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: Those goals sometimes align with your particular brokerage strategy, but when they don't, your fiduciary duties always come first.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: So let me tell you what concerns me most about the direction of the industry.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's not that COMPASS has developed a private listing strategy.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's not even that COMPAS is challenging MLS rules.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: Companies have the right to challenge rules that they believe are unlawful.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: And competition and innovation are very important.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: What concerns me the most is the possibility that we're moving toward a marketplace where access to housing information becomes increasingly dependent on which company controls a listing and who you know.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: Think about what that means.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: A buyer may not be able to learn about every available property through the agent that they've chosen to work with.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: A seller may be encouraged to limit exposure because doing so benefits the listing brokerage.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: Smaller companies may have difficulty competing with larger companies that control substantial proprietary inventory.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: And consumers may begin to face a fragmented marketplace where different companies control different pieces of available housing supply.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe some people believe that that's the future of the real estate.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe they believe proprietary networks will produce better results, better benefits.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not convinced.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's a very strong argument that the real estate marketplace works best when consumers have broad access to accurate information and brokerages compete based on the quality of the services they provide, not based on which company can keep the most listings behind its firewall.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I think we need to be extremely careful before abandoning a cooperative system that has helped agents and brokerages of all size compete for decades.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: Does the MLS system need to evolve?
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: Should outdated rules be reconsidered?
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_01: Of course they should.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: Should sellers have meaningful choices without a question.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: But we should not confuse innovation with restriction.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: And we should not automatically assume that a business model is good for consumers simply because one large company says it is.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: I want to leave you with a hypothetical.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: Imagine you're sitting across the kitchen table with a seller, and the seller says, I want to sell my house for the highest price I can reasonably get, on the best terms available, and I want it done within the next 60 days.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: Now imagine you have two marketing options.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: Option one is to expose the property broadly to qualified buyers and their agents through the MLS and other authorized marketing channels.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: Option two initially limits exposure to a smaller group of buyers that's associated only with your brokerage.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: And let's assume the seller has no special privacy or security concerns.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_01: Which option are you going to recommend?
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: But most importantly, why are you going to recommend it?
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you're recommending the second option, what evidence do you have that it's likely to serve the seller better?
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: Can you explain the risk?
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: Can you explain the potential benefits?
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: Can you explain the financial incentives your brokerage may have?
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: And can you demonstrate that your recommendation is built on the seller's interest rather than the company's business model?
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you can't answer those questions, then you need to reconsider your recommendation.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: And brokers, if your agents can't do it, you better be careful because you're going to face the trouble.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's not a compass issue.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's not an MLS issue.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's a fiduci duty issue.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's a supervision issue.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: And fiduci doesn't change just because the technology changed.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't change because your brokerage got bigger.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't change because your company comes up with a clever name for a new marketing program.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: Your client always comes first.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: Period.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: So let me bring this all together.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: In the span of just a few days, we have seen six MLS organizations file a federal lawsuit against COMPAS.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: We've seen at least nine MLS organizations publicly challenge COMPASS' position or take legal action.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: We've seen some of the largest brokerage organizations in America announce a new collaboration intended to support broad listing distribution.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: And we've seen United States senators calling the Federal Trade Commission to investigate private listing networks and other real estate business practices.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's an extraordinary amount of activity in a very short period of time.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't believe it's a coincidence that all of these developments are happening around the same time.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: The industry is struggling with a fundamental question.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: Who should control access to real estate information?
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I believe the answer to that question could help shape the future of our entire industry.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: Now I don't know how these lawsuits are going to turn out, but I do know this.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: South Carolina real estate agents need to be paying attention because what happens nationally has a way of eventually affecting what happens locally.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: And whether you're an independent agent, a broker in charge, or part of a national franchise, the consequences of these developments could reach your business.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: Do you believe a brokerage should be able to publicly market its listings without sharing those listings through the MLS?
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: Do you believe that private listing networks benefit sellers?
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: Or do you think they primarily benefit the companies that control the listing?
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: And here's the bigger question.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: If every major brokerage builds its own private listing network, will consumers be better off or worse off?
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'd love to hear your thoughts.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, even if you disagree with me, just remember if you decide to send me hate mail, there's always a really good chance it becomes material for another podcast.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm kidding, mostly.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: And that's all the time I have for my show today.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: Hope everybody enjoyed it.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: Please like us, share, subscribe, and come back for another episode of Dishender.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: Y'all have a great weekend.