This week on The Download, check in with industry thought leaders on the new deal between Compass and Redfin parent company, Rocket.
Real estate professionals are increasingly dividing into two camps: Those who like what Robert Reffkin is doing and saying about “business-as-usual” real estate and those who don’t. Now, with a new deal announced between Compass International Holdings and Rocket Companies, there’s even more to talk about.
Today, I’m going back to the beginning with the deal’s announcement, then looking at some of the opinion pieces that have flooded Inman inboxes ever since.
Near the end of February, Robert Reffkin sent out an email to Compass agents announcing a new three-year partnership with Rocket Companies to display coming-soon listings and, eventually, Compass Private Exclusive listings on Redfin. Such listings won’t display days on market, price histories or home valuation estimates, as they would if they were listed on the MLS and MLS-fed portals like Zillow and Realtor.com.
“This alliance marks the end of the restrictions that MLSs have had on agents and sellers on how they market homes,” Reffkin said during an investor call following the announcement of Q4 2025 earnings. “When they’re restricting the agent and homeseller, they’re going to be restricting Rocket.”
Just like the merger with Anywhere, this deal has set off a storm of op-eds from both the pro- and anti-deal camps. While some see this as a continuing part of Compass’ “war” on organized real estate, others are excitedly grabbing the popcorn to see what the brokerage giant will do next.
Compass is rethinking how inventory reaches consumers, and that’s long overdue
The future of real estate belongs to those willing to evolve its infrastructure, not just its messaging, Compass team lead Angela Morsa writes.
‘Full transparency is the strongest mechanism for serving buyers and sellers’: Windermere’s OB Jacobi
Consumers shouldn’t be “guinea pigs” for strategies that may not benefit them, Windermere Real Estate’s co-president writes.
Assault on the MLS: How the Compass-Redfin deal threatens the open market
This is about more than a competitive edge. It’s about market openness and transparency, America Foy writes.
Compass just declared independence from the MLS and took Redfin and Rocket with it
What does the new partnership mean, and how will it impact the real estate market at large? Coldwell Banker luxury agent Cara Ameer weighs in.
The Download is a column in which Inman’s Christy Murdock takes a deeper look at the top-read stories of the past week to give you what you’ll need to meet Monday head-on.
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