The future of MLS? It's Zillow, says Compass CEO 

BOSTON — Compass CEO Robert Reffkin has been vocal in his opposition to NAR's Clear Cooperation Policy, which requires properties to be listed on the MLS within a day of being publicly marketed.

Which may be why people packed the conference room at NAR NXT on Friday, buzzing with more anticipation than one might expect for a conversation about the future of multiple listing services.

The panel was packed too: Reffkin was joined by the CEOs of the nation's two largest MLSs — Art Carter of CRMLS and Brian Donnellan of Bright MLS, who moderated the session — Errol Samuelson, Zillow's chief industry development officer; and Kymber Lovett-Menkiti, co-owner and president of Keller Williams Capital Properties, a KW regional director and board member of Bright MLS.

Reffkin did not hold back when offering his vision of where the MLS is headed: "My view is that Zillow is going to be the MLS. It's only a matter of time."

And the crowd, which had burst into spontaneous applause at several points in the discussion, instead just murmured.

"What, no clap for that?" Reffkin said.

Samuelson, who had multiple applause lines, embodied the home search portal's evolution from outsider to insider on a panel at NAR's biggest event. It was an evolution that Donnellan remarked on, as did Reffkin — who also commented on Zillow's rise to dominance, which he characterized as a self-inflicted wound on the industry.

Samuelson, for his part, reiterated Zillow's support for the "incredibly pro-consumer" MLS system, a "two-sided marketplace with equal access to information." Zillow once operated without MLS data, getting listings information directly from brokers. That's not the future they're looking toward, Samuelson told Real Estate News after the panel.

"The best agents win on skill, not information asymmetry," Samuelson said during the panel, to loud applause.

The future of MLS: Cooperation, competition, consolidation

MLSs were "built on cooperation and compensation," said Donnellan. With offers of compensation removed from the MLS per NAR's deal to settle commissions lawsuits, can "we live with just one C?"

The answer was a resounding yes. "Data is more than enough to make an MLS worth it," said Lovett-Menkiti. "Brokers need information."

"And my job is to provide it," chimed in Carter.

"The MLS is the biggest gift that the brokerage community has ever given the consumer and we need to double down on the cooperation aspect of that in order for our brokerages to really thrive," Carter said. " And I think the multiple listing service is the one place that can bring all that information together, and where brokers work together."

Samuelson took it a step further: "I'd like to see every MLS do a data share with every other MLS, then brokers have a choice."

Carter didn't skip a beat in replying, and got his own round of applause. "Brokerages should compete on service and price. MLSs should compete on service and price. They shouldn't compete on whether or not I have the listing content for all of California. I should be able to have the listing content for all of California. Let me go out and service the brokerage community, and the best MLS will win at the end of the day."

Reffkin, meanwhile, said he supports a strong MLS but argued that data should be offered in a more controlled way, saying information about days on market and price drops are "killers of value."

"If buyers get that information, sellers should know more about buyers," he said, like how long they've been searching for a house and how many offers they've made.

More power to the sellers

Reffkin's theme was that sellers should have more control over their experience.

"I think we're not treating the homeowners as clients," he said, yet MLSs only exist because of seller listings. And homeowners deserve an environment with more options for how their information is shared. He resisted the urge to mention Clear Cooperation by name, but referred obliquely to the implications of its end. "I think competition for homeowners will ultimately give them better experience and more options."

Reffkin also expressed frustration with listing agent attribution, or the lack of it.

"That attribution is something we fight for," Carter said. "I think it is the multiple listing services  that should be defending the listing agent on the listing, and that is something that we at the CLS level actively do."

After the panel was over, and after Reffkin held court with agents and other audience members who had gathered for photos to capture the event, Real Estate News asked Reffkin about his crusade against Clear Cooperation. He says it's about sellers' rights. But for a company that is leaning in to the idea of private listings, it could also be seen as self-serving.

Reffkin's answer: "I think the concept that we're debating, of whether or not homeowners have a choice, is beyond me."