Windermere and Compass spar over Clear Cooperation 

Two major brokerage players took to social media this past week to reaffirm their positions on Clear Cooperation and private listings, but the messages also highlighted the oftentimes contentious — and even personal — nature of the arguments. 

Although NAR announced its decision on the CCP on Mar. 25, opting to keep it in place while adding a "complementary" policy that offers additional flexibility, the debate appears to be far from over. 

What happened: Over the weekend, Compass CEO Robert Reffkin congratulated Washington-based Compass agents for landing the brokerage's first private listings in the state. In one of the Instagram posts, Reffkin framed the listings as a breakthrough for Compass and a positive for sellers, but he had harsh words for two local real estate powerhouses.

Reffkin specifically called out Northwest Multiple Listing Service — a 35,000-member MLS that covers most of Washington state — and Windermere Real Estate, the largest regional brokerage in the western U.S., for enforcing what he described as "self-interested" and overly restrictive policies regarding private listings.

"In one of the most sophisticated markets in the country, with so many business and technology leaders, I don't know how Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS), a brokerage-owned trade group controlled by Windermere (Windermere has 6 of 16 board seats while no other brokerage has more than 1), has been able to enforce a restrictive rule that blocked every Washington State homeowner from marketing homes outside of its system," Reffkin wrote.

He went on to say that "100% of listings must go through NWMLS … that's the definition of a monopoly," and the MLS's rules are "designed to keep it this way by making sure no alternative listing systems can compete."

Windermere responds: Seattle-based Windermere jumped into the debate with a response from its president, OB Jacobi, who appeared to address Compass without directly naming the brokerage company. Jacobi also reiterated his brokerage's support for Clear Cooperation and concern over the recent industry push into private listings. 

"There's a large national real estate company whose leadership is making a lot of noise about their opposition to Clear Cooperation, suggesting it's collusive and anticompetitive. We would argue the exact opposite," the post reads. 

Jacobi argues that the unnamed brokerage's appeal for private listings is rooted in an effort to "keep listings off the open market so that they can double-end deals and boost profits," adding that hoarding inventory is "only good for one party: the large real estate brokerage."

Similar to other major brokerage players, notably eXp and Anywhere, Jacobi saber-rattles and suggests that Windermere — due to its scale and scope in the Seattle area — would be most likely to benefit from a private listings rush, but argues that the brokerage remains "staunchly opposed to removing listings from the public eye." 

Reffkin fires back: Reffkin was quick to comment on Windermere's post: "The crux of the arguments I agree with are clear: Homeowners are the ones who own their homes, not the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS), and if the homeowner and their agent make a decision that they don't want to list it on any particular site for any particular reason, they ought to have a right to do that. It's as straightforward as that," Reffkin wrote in a reply to Jacobi's appeal. 

But he then upped the ante in a separate post, calling out Jacobi and taunting Windermere's relationship with NWMLS. If Jacobi feels so strongly about supporting Clear Cooperation, Reffkin asked, "will you commit Windermere's six NWMLS board seats to vote in favor of adopting Clear Cooperation?"

What Compass had to say: When asked for clarification on the dispute over private listings in Washington, a Compass rep shared a statement over email, saying "Washington state has the most restrictive pre-marketing policy in the nation. It is the only state where homeowners and their real estate agents are prohibited from offering Coming Soon or Exclusives listings — basic marketing tools available to home sellers in every other U.S. market."

NWMLS "has indicated that it would follow CCP if its members did," the rep continued, but no vote has been scheduled "despite growing support," including "a public endorsement from Windermere President OB Jacobi this week." 

Windermere declined to comment on this story; NWMLS did not respond to a request for comment.