Compass launches client portal amid private listings push 

In the post-settlement world where agents are expected to prove their value, Compass has introduced a new client-facing portal that it says will streamline the transaction process for buyers and sellers while also helping its agents build more business. 

The new portal is being introduced as Compass continues to push agents and consumers toward its private listings channel — betting on a future where the hotly contested Clear Cooperation Policy is repealed. 

An all-in-one interface for buyers and sellers

According to Rory Golod, Compass' president of growth and communications, the portal — dubbed Compass One — is "the first of its kind" in the industry, allowing an agent and client to work together through the entire transaction. The brokerage has also called the product, which it developed fully in-house, "the #1 most requested piece of technology" for agents and clients. Compass built it out in phases, Golod said, starting with the agent tools and then creating Compass One.

"It's interesting that in other advisory businesses — whether it's banking, accounting or other businesses — you log into a portal," he explained to Real Estate News. "If you work with a private wealth manager, you go to their portal, you see all your assets, your communications, and your documents."

The platform offers a detailed timeline of the buying and selling process along with the expected timing for each step. Service providers such as mortgage brokers or inspectors "live in here too," Golod said.

Pushing private listings, helping sellers avoid 'negative insights'

But bringing the client, agent and other professionals together isn't the only thing the new platform does. It also integrates the company's "3-phase marketing strategy" where agents are encouraged to pitch sellers on the Compass Private Exclusives channel first and the Compass Coming Soon channel second before going to the open market. The company formally launched this strategy last November. 

"Taking a listing and just throwing it on the MLS and aggregators on the first day you launch it without getting any feedback from the market, understanding if you're priced right, understanding what the demand is and building up interest — you're not serving your clients' best interests," Golod explained.

Currently, Compass has about 5,500 Private Exclusive listings, a spokesperson said.

One of the first tasks for sellers and their agents in the One Compass portal is to discuss the Compass Private Exclusives channel. Golod said the push toward private listings puts regular home sellers on the same footing as "homebuilders, celebrities and ultra-high-net worth clients" who often sell their homes off the MLS, and it helps sellers avoid "negative insights that hurt their value" such as days on market and price reductions. 

Buyers working with Compass agents will be able to browse coming soon listings on the brokerage's homepage or via their Compass One portal, and they will also have access to the company's exclusive properties via their agent, Golod explained. "If you're not working with Compass, you're missing the market," he said.

Preparing for a future with or without Clear Cooperation

Compass founder and CEO Robert Reffkin has become one of the leading voices calling for the repeal of NAR's Clear Cooperation Policy — a rule that requires agents to add a listing on the MLS one business day after publicly marketing it — and the company appears to be betting on a future where the rule is repealed. 

"We know that Clear Cooperation is over. It's just a matter of time," Golod said. "This product is not so much preparing people for that, but giving buyers and sellers actual software that they will use, that's delightful, that's easy and makes the experience great."

While leaders of brokerage competitors such as Anywhere and eXp have previously claimed to be in the best position to compete in a post-CCP business environment, Compass is already aligning their brokerage strategy to focus on private listings. 

But is it all just an effort to bolster transaction sides or double-end deals? And what is Compass' position on dual agency?

"It's not something we track; it's not something we encourage. Candidly, it's something that we're not focused on at all, because that's not our business," Golod explained. "As a brokerage, you're asking: 'Am I creating an environment where the best agents want to come here and stay here because I'm creating value for them?' At the end of the day that's what we're focused on."