Riding high after the week’s turn of events, Compass International Holdings, Rocket and Redfin have penned an open letter to multiple listing service (MLS) leaders, urging them to adopt policies that support phased listing distribution and stop fining agents for executing “seller-directed marketing plans.”
“Once a seller makes an informed decision, the real estate professional’s job is to faithfully execute it,” the letter read. “Because those choices can materially affect a seller’s financial outcome, clients’ instructions must be able to be carried out without fear of fines, discipline, or professional retaliation.”
“The seller’s informed decision must always be respected. No MLS should override the judgment of the client or interfere with the fiduciary obligations of the professional representing them,” it continued. “When a real estate professional acts in good faith, gives clear counsel and carries out the marketing plan a seller chooses for their own property, that agent is doing exactly what the profession requires.”
In the three-page letter, which Inman obtained late Wednesday, Compass and Redfin pointed to the National Association of Realtors’ Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP) as the source of the conflict, saying that the requirement that listings be entered into the MLS within one business day of public marketing has “created the problem” the rule intended to solve, pointing to a growing share of homesellers choosing an office exclusive.
The CCP has an exemption for office exclusives, also known as pocket listings. In this case, listing brokers will file the listing as an office exclusive with the MLS, ensuring it isn’t shared with other MLS participants and subscribers. It’s been difficult to track the number of office exclusives nationally; however, in the year after CCP went into effect, economists estimated the share had doubled to 4 percent.
Bright MLS estimated in April 2025 that the share had doubled again to 8 percent; however, 90 percent of those listings transitioned to standard active listings before they were sold.
“The stated goal was to prevent listings from being withheld from the broader market,” the letter read. “Instead, the opposite happened: office exclusives increased as sellers who wanted more control over their marketing timeline chose to keep listings out of the MLS altogether.”
Compass and Redfin said the increased share of office exclusives and the flood of pre-marketing partnerships that have debuted in the past month prove the demand for greater marketing choice. The letter also pointed to Zillow’s decision to be more lenient in its Listing Access Standards, leaving room for listing agents and their clients to properly market coming-soon listings on their platform and others, such as Redfin, Realtor.com and Homes.com, without worrying about their listing being banned.
The Listing Access Standards no longer mention a 24-hour timeline or a mandate that the listing appear on Zillow. Although Zillow said it still prohibits listings that start on private listing networks, Compass counted the adjustment as a win.
“Under the new policy, a listing satisfies Zillow’s standards by being made ‘broadly accessible to the general public in a manner that provides open access, which may include displaying it on a public-facing website, mobile app, or internet real estate portal,'” the letter read. “The MLS is now one path to public marketing, but not the only one.”
This course of events, Compass and Redfin said, should be a signal to MLSs to begin building “seller-choice frameworks into their rules.”
Compass and Redfin highlighted BAREIS MLS, BrightMLS, Canopy MLS, HAR, MLS Listings, MLSPIN, MRED, Realtracs, SFAR MLS, The MLS/CLAW and Unlock MLS as examples of MLSs that are meeting consumer and agent needs with phased marketing options, and admonished several others — including ARMLS, CRMLS, FMLS, Georgia MLS, NWMLS, OneKey MLS, and StellarMLS — for upholding more stringent rules.
“[They] have chosen to double down on their unwillingness to change, threatening and imposing fines and disciplinary action, and retaliating against real estate professionals who would faithfully execute seller-directed marketing plans,” the letter read. “These MLSs represent a clear minority in an industry that is rapidly moving toward seller choice.”
“Seller choice is working. [These MLSs] have built seller-choice frameworks into their rules. They give sellers who submit listings to the MLS documented options for how and when a listing reaches the full market,” the letter added. “… These MLSs don’t weaken transparency, and they don’t decrease their own value. They strengthen both by being the place where seller choice lives. We urge every MLS to follow their lead.”
The companies ended the open letter pledging to “defend” Redfin and CIH-affiliated agents who are being fined, sanctioned or facing other kinds of retaliation for “honoring seller choice.”
“To our real estate professionals: if an MLS penalizes you for serving your client, tell us immediately. We will fight to change rules that punish you for honoring seller choice,” the letter read. “If any MLS or brokerage fines, sanctions or retaliates against you for executing a seller-directed marketing plan, contact your Broker of Record right away.”
“Compass International Holdings and Redfin have your back. We will support you, defend you, and stand behind our agents who put their client first,” it concluded. “It is time to put the client first in this industry. We are jointly committed to dismantling any system that stands in the way of that mission.”
The letter comes as debates over consumer choice, the ownership and distribution of listing data, and market transparency boil over, with Reffkin and his supporters taking the tidal wave of pre-marketing platforms coming to the industry — namely Zillow Preview’s launch with Keller Williams, REMAX, HomeServices of America, United Real Estate and Side — as a signal that they’re winning the war.
Reffkin said as much on Wednesday, after announcing that Compass had voluntarily dismissed its antitrust lawsuit against Zillow.
“Our goal has always been to give homeowners more choice to decide when, where, and how to market their homes,” he said in a written statement. “We are pleased to see that other brokerages are now recognizing the strong consumer demand for more options in how they sell their homes. Homeowners deserve more choices, not fewer choices.”
Read the full letter below:
