Compass vs. Zillow: The Real Estate Wars

The Journal discusses Compass, a real estate brokerage aiming to change how homes are bought and sold. Compass advocates for a three-phase marketing strategy that begins with private listings within its network, gradually expanding to Compass.com and then to public listing sites like Zillow. This approach challenges the traditional method of immediately posting listings on multiple listing services (MLSs) and aims to give sellers more control over the process, particularly regarding information like days on market and price cuts. However, this strategy has created conflict within the real estate industry, with organizations like the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Zillow pushing back, leading to lawsuits and debates over market transparency and consumer interests, as some worry this approach could make the home buying process more difficult for buyers by limiting access to information and fragmenting listings across multiple platforms.