Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Somebody tell Compass…

I’m impressed with Bright MLS‘ response to Compass’ “pre-litigation” letter. Brian Donnellan letter showed leadership and had very cogent responses to Compass’ concerns.

Here are a few things I found interesting in both these letters and other scuttlebutt.

From the Compass letter…

“The policy is further problematic because of Bright’s high market share, and the fact that the MLS is an essential service.”

Cory Perkins, Compass

Someone should tell Cory that the broker’s narrative is that there are too many MLS organizations.

A couple things from Brian’s letter back to Compass

As you are aware, we reached out to Compass’ executive team multiple times for feedback in advance of announcing this Policy. In response, we were informed by one Compass executive that the company had “no opinion” on the Policy and were told by a second executive that he “agreed with the core tenets of the Policy.” Two weeks after we provided you with a draft of the Policy, I personally responded to your email on October 16 with another offer to meet and discuss it – but
you did not respond.

Brian Donnellan, Bright MLS

This is chickenshit on Compass’ part. Why is it that nobody can just pick up the phone and work things out anymore? Your first move is to send a “pre-litigation letter” and make it public? Not a good look.

“Bright is standing up for Fair Housing

History has shown that many times listings are kept out of the MLS to avoid–whether or not intentionally–certain demographic subsets of potential buyers or to circumvent the rules applicable to MLS listings that promote standards for ethical and complete information.”

Brian Donnellan, Bright MLS

Fuck yeah! When I first read Compass’ letter I had my own take. I’ve been writing about how I thought that the Fair Housing concerns were not brought up enough in regard to the pocket listing debate. It’s great to see Bright MLS show leadership again, especially in this area.

I also heard that in some costal cities Compass is very successful at double-ending many deals, over 30%. Which means they can offer attractive splits to their agents, which also helps recruiting efforts. So this is a real threat to their business model.

Last thing is that I’ve heard through the grapevine is Compass does not have the same problem with MRED’s implementation of 8.0. I’m not sure what the big differences are between Bright MLS “coming soon” policy and MRED’s PLN. Could it be Bright MLS’ $5,000 fine? It would be good to get some clarification from Compass regarding their stance about this.

Still a lot of days left till NAR Annual. ????

  1. Let’s hear from the silent majority! #chickenshit #callme #double-ending and maybe the most important #brightisstandingupforFAIRHOUSING.

  2. Thanks for tracking this, Greg! Is Brian Donnellan’s letter to Compass published in full anywhere? From the excerpts above, I’m sure the whole thing is a good read!

  3. Pingback: Rob Hahn calls bullshit on Compass claims - Vendor Alley | Vendor Alley

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