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The biggest names in real estate are wielding their influence as the National Association of Realtors considers the fate of its divisive Clear Cooperation Policy, a pocket-listing prohibition that has already drawn passionate opinions from the chief executives of Redfin and Compass, among other major entities.
NextHome CEO James Dwiggins is the latest to share his views, arguing in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday that the rule must stay in place — while warning of big names seeking to conceal their own agendas while fighting for its demise.
“They are distracting you from their real motives: to keep listings off the broader marketplace of internal promotion, recruit more agents to get access to this inventory, generate internal buyer leads, double-end deals, and boost profits,” Dwiggins wrote in a counter-argument aimed at Compass CEO Robert Reffkin, who on Monday penned an op-ed in opposition to the rule for Inman.
Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman, meanwhile, argued in his own op-ed for Inman on Tuesday that the end of Clear Cooperation would represent a win for big brokers — but not for other agents and consumers.
“Without strong data cooperation policies, agents will rush to join the biggest broker in town, even at lower splits, just to ensure their customers can see all the homes for sale,” Kelman wrote. “The goal in weakening Clear Cooperation is to make being bigger matter — more than being better. That is the law of the jungle, masquerading as freedom.”
In his LinkedIn post on Tuesday, Dwiggins pushed back against Reffkin’s assertion that Clear Cooperation undermines homesellers’ right to choose their preferred methods of marketing and selling property, exposing them to a range of unnecessary risks. Teasing his own forthcoming op-ed later this week, Dwiggins laid out what he believes will be negative consequences as a result of a potential repeal of the rule.
Namely, smaller brokerages and franchisors will be at a disadvantage, Dwiggins said, since bigger brands will have the capability to “hoard listings internally,” potentially making them more attractive to both consumers and agents.
The result will create more legwork not only for agents, but homebuyers as well, Dwiggins added, with both having to check individual brokerage websites or even having to call those firms in order to get the full scope of what listings they have available — if they’re willing to share them. “Can we talk about Fair Housing issues?” Dwiggins asked.
The CEO also brought up the implications for listing portals and MLSs if CCP goes away.
If major portals, like Zillow can’t get access to most listings from the MLS any longer, “don’t put it past them to pivot and figure out how to win long term,” Dwiggins wrote. “This could be the very thing that pushes them in a different direction, the one the industry has been talking about for almost two decades where they go head-to-head with traditional real estate companies.”
Alternatively, portals may attempt to access listing data directly from brokerages, potentially through a revenue-sharing model, he said. That could harm MLSs or eliminate them entirely if they can’t compete with portals.
Dwiggins suggested most consumers would be unhappy if the rule went away since it would leave fewer options accessible to homebuyers and leave sellers with fewer people bidding for their properties.
“Removing the system we’ve spent decades creating would be detrimental to the very people we serve,” Dwiggins wrote. “Greed will drive this!”
