Compass Coming Soon listings will receive priority display on Redfin.com, with buyer inquiries sent to Compass listing agents, according to details of the new partnership.
Compass International Holdings has struck a three-year partnership with Rocket Companies to display coming-soon listings in a way that aligns with the mega-brokerage’s marketing strategies.
Robert Reffkin, Compass’ CEO, laid out the details of the new partnership in an email he sent to all Compass agents on Thursday. Inman has obtained and reviewed that email. Multiple sources independently confirmed the existence of the agreement.
Under the agreement, sellers and Compass agents can choose to syndicate Compass Coming Soon listings directly with Redfin, where the listings wouldn’t accrue days on market, price histories or home valuation estimates.
Eventually, Compass Private Exclusive listings will also be displayed on Redfin as well, Rocket said in a statement announcing the deal.
The partnership marked a significant twist in the ongoing battle between Compass and what it considers “organized real estate“: the National Association of Realtors, the multiple listing services and Zillow. It brought Rocket-Redfin into alignment with the nation’s largest brokerage, a new ally that Reffkin said would bring significant leverage while the two challenge the rules in place that seek to ensure listings end up on the MLS.
“This alliance marks the end of the restrictions that MLSs have had on agents and sellers on how they market homes,” Reffkin said during a call with investors on Thursday. “When they’re restricting the agent and homeseller, they’re going to be restricting Rocket.”
The Compass listings on Redfin will be prioritized with “premium” placement, Reffkin said in his email. The listings will display the agent’s name, photo and brokerage prominently, and buyer leads will be sent directly to listing agents for no referral fee, he added.
“This program has never been offered to sellers before and is exclusively for you and your clients,” Reffkin said in the email.
The announcement came the same day that Compass released its fourth quarter financial results, when it posted record quarterly revenue of $1.7 billion — as well as full-year revenue of $7 billion.
During the call with investors, Reffkin said that MLSs with rules that restrict off-MLS marketing of listings would “lose their moral narrative.”
He specifically called out the California Regional Multiple Listing Service, North Texas Real Estate Information Systems and the Northwest MLS, and suggested Compass and Rocket were prepared to go to battle with them and any other MLS that might try to fine Compass agents who market coming soon properties on Redfin.
“In each of those markets, what’s going to happen is that MLS is going to send our agents a fine for up to $5,000,” Reffkin said. “I’m going to look at that piece of paper, and the agent’s going to say, ‘Can you help me?’ Yes, we will help them.”
The move comes as Compass has battled both in the courts and out of them to allow its agents to market real estate listings in ways that are currently largely inhibited by rules and policies the industry set for itself.
Reffkin has also said that real estate is the only industry where participants face fines for doing things in ways they want.
“I don’t think any agent at any company should get fined by their MLS,” he said on stage at Inman Connect New York earlier this month. “This doesn’t happen in any other industry. There is no association that is fining their own people. This is not normal.”
“Are you telling me that you’re fining the agent $5,000 for marketing the listing publicly searchable by 60 million people on Redfin, these sites, that you’re doing that to protect fair housing? Are you doing that to protect transparency? Are you doing that to ensure that we’re not double ending deals?” Reffkin said. “Or are you doing this not to protect transparency, but protect your own business model?”
Rocket CEO Varun Krishna also confirmed the partnership in a statement, saying it was a way to increase the supply of listings to the Redfin platform.
Rocket said that it would offer “preferred pricing” for Compass clients, including a 1 percentage point interest rate reduction for the first year of a loan, or a lender credit of $6,000.
“When barriers are removed and supply grows, affordability improves,” said Varun Krishna, CEO of Rocket Companies. “Today’s challenge is friction in the homebuying process and a lack of inventory. By bringing search, agents and financing into one connected platform, we can help more sellers enter the market, reduce complexity for buyers and make homeownership more attainable.”
Jason Haber, an associate broker with Compass in New York, applauded the partnership.
“Our clients should be the ones determining how their listings are listed, where their listings are listed and when their listings are listed,” Haber told Inman Thursday afternoon. “I think it fits the zeitgeist of the age we’re in.”
Email Taylor Anderson