Windermere exec slams Compass over 'dirty' tactics 

Like many of today's leaders in the residential real estate industry, Windermere Co-President OB Jacobi comes from a family legacy in the brokerage space. While the business has grown and changed over the decades, Jacobi sees history potentially repeating itself — and a new threat to agents and consumers — with pre-marketing and office exclusive listings. 

Washington-based Windermere maintains a dominant presence in the Seattle area — a region Compass has been pushing into in recent weeks. In the process of launching office exclusives in Seattle, Compass CEO Robert Reffkin has also targeted Windermere and Northwest MLS.

During a discussion with Real Estate News, Jacobi shared his thoughts on pre-marketing and private listings, his commitment to DEI efforts and the increasingly "dirty" fight for the competitive Seattle market. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What was your take on NAR's handling of Clear Cooperation and its decision to create a companion pre-marketing policy?

I don't get it. You know, the National Association of Realtors keeps stepping in it. Why did they change the rules? Was it under a threat from Robert Reffkin that he was going to sue them — because the seller should have a choice? So all of a sudden, they made this other rule change? I wasn't privy to the conversations. I think if they would have left it at having to list on the MLS within 24 hours, that would be great.

Would you support a period of pre-marketing if NWMLS was open to changing its rules?

There are rules in place at almost every MLS that allow for non-disclosed names and addresses. The question is, what is the reality of pre-marketing? Is it privacy? Or is the real concern days on market? Why do you need to list a property to your company first for a period of time? Is it that the seller gets better representation? Is it that the sellers are exposed to more people who are interested in the house?

The only reasoning behind it is to double end the deal. So if that's really the motive, why are we doing that? How is that good for the seller? If you said there's a delayed marketing period where it only gets listed to agents and that days on market don't start for five days, that changes the real data point for a buyer who needs that info to make an informed decision. It's all fraught with problems, and I think the right answer is to put the listing in the MLS within 24 hours.

How do you respond to the claim that, since Windermere has six seats on the NWMLS board, collusion is happening?

That's complete BS. We completely reject that conversation. It's pretty interesting to me that Compass had a board member that resigned a couple of weeks ago, and then Robert went on to attack the Northwest MLS board, and then attacked Windermere for supposedly controlling the board. 

I would wonder why Robert didn't try and work with the MLS to change the rules that he wanted changed, rather than threatening lawsuits and then saying it's Windermere's collusion on the board that's creating these rules. It's ridiculous. It's just not right.

Have you ever spoken to Robert Reffkin or interacted with him prior to Compass' pre-marketing push in Seattle?

He sent me two texts in my life, and they were to invite me to a breakfast in Seattle a number of months ago. The conversation was about Clear Cooperation, and he pitched to me exactly what he's saying out there in the world. And I didn't respond other than just saying, 'Oh, that's pretty interesting, Robert.' He never bothered to call me up or say anything after that.

Why is Compass going so hard in Seattle? Do you feel like it's 'game on,' or do you feel like it's fighting dirty?

I think competition is healthy and good, but I feel like it is dirty right now. But in the spirit of competition, I'll say that we're gonna kick their ass and we're going to do it without a private listing network. [Reffkin] can do it. That's good for him.

I think it's terrible. I think it's bad for sellers. I think it's bad for buyers. I think it only benefits Compass' bottom line, and I can't believe he's using it as a snow job on us saying it's seller choice. He's stating that sellers make more money. That doesn't seem like that's the case, according to studies that Bright MLS and Zillow put out. 

So what is this really about? It's about him controlling the inventory, double ending deals and creating a closed network where he can recruit more agents, because he's going to try and say he has listings. 

Obviously, I'm 100% against private listing networks, and so that just doesn't feel right. Windermere has the most to gain from doing a private listing network in the area. We have 30% market share, and so we're the dominant leader in the area. So I can't figure out why this is the market he wants to come after. The only thing that I can think of is that Northwest MLS is the only — and I don't know this for sure — the only one in the country that has made rules that are different than his desire and that he's not getting his way, so he's coming after them. 

So, even if your competitors follow Compass' lead, we won't see Windermere launch a private network?

No. We've made our stance very clear on what's going on out there.

Many corporate leaders are distancing themselves from DEI. How does a company like Windermere, which remains committed to diversity, continue to move the ball forward?

Our DEI efforts are centered around the industry and how we can help make change. How can we support down payment assistance programs to help close the wealth gap? Can we educate people on the past inequities we see today because of steering and redlining? Can we support people trying to get into a historically very white — at least in the Northwest United States — a very white industry?

We're trying to do things within our space, reflecting on past inequities that happened and are absolute facts. This exact action — pre-marketing and office exclusives — threatens our work in the space by allowing steering and allowing biases.