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Compass CEO Robert Reffkin’s recent posts criticizing NAR’s spending, the Clear Cooperation Policy, and the structure of the MLS have sparked lots of conversation in our industry. As someone who has been in this business, works alongside agents every day, and has seen both the challenges and the impact of sound policy, I felt compelled to respond.
Setting the record straight
Trying to rewrite history without understanding it is not only misleading, it’s dangerous. Let’s set the record straight: 2023 was not the worst real estate market since 1995. Those of us who’ve been in this business long enough and understand the full history know that’s simply not true. The real crisis was 2007–2010, when the market imploded due to systemic failures fueled by Wall Street, not by NAR, not by MLSs and not by practitioners.
But what is true is what came next: It was NAR and its partners who showed up to help rebuild, advocate and push for policy that protected homeowners, housing rights and the long-term stability of our industry.
And that’s precisely why we have to remember the full context before throwing stones. Wall Street’s “innovation” led to the 2008 financial collapse — the worst housing market in modern U.S. history — packaging risky subprime loans into complex mortgage-backed securities (MBS), selling them as safe investments and fueling a housing bubble with unsustainable lending practices.
When it all collapsed, millions of homeowners in underserved and first-time buyer communities were left holding the bag, while the financial institutions responsible were bailed out. That wasn’t a failure of organized real estate. That was unchecked greed.
Let’s also call this what it is: The effort to dismantle an entire industry and its trade organization under the banner of “consumer choice” is yet another Wall Street-style “innovation” — one engineered not to empower consumers, but to protect investor returns.
When policies that promote transparency and cooperation are undermined, we should all be asking: Who truly benefits? Because if history tells us anything, these strategies rarely serve the people buying and selling homes.
NAR’s fight for fair housing
Meanwhile, despite its flaws, NAR has consistently been one of the few organizations advocating for homeownership rights at the federal level. They fight for mortgage interest deductions, fair housing, disaster relief and the right for agents to remain independent contractors, a foundational freedom allowing agents to build their businesses on their own terms. That advocacy matters; most agents would feel the impact if it disappeared.
Clear Cooperation isn’t perfect — no policy is — and NAR is not perfect either. But suggesting that the organization and its policies exist purely as a dues-protection racket ignores the real intent: The protection of the profession, a shared Code of Ethics, and a rules-based infrastructure designed to ensure transparency in the marketplace and equal protection for buyers and sellers.
Specifically, the Clear Cooperation Policy was created to prevent off-market manipulation with practices that tend to benefit only a select few while limiting access and opportunity for the broader public. Tearing down a policy that is intended to promote equal opportunity for all buyers, and that requires listings to be entered into the MLS where they are visible and accessible to all, undermines this industry’s stated commitment to fair housing and transparency.
Yes, certain aspects of the policy, including carve-outs for exclusives, deserve further scrutiny. The industry hasn’t always been on the right side of history here, but this is an opportunity — an opportunity for companies and brokerages across the board to come together and acknowledge that cooperation benefits the entire market.
Instead of strategies that protect a company’s bottom line, we should be advocating for policies that serve all sellers and all buyers through transparency, standards, exposure and equal access to data. If we truly believe in a fair and functional marketplace, then it’s time to align our business strategies with the values we say we stand for, not just for what’s profitable, but what’s right.
Examining brokerage motives
What we can’t overlook here is the fact that Compass is a publicly traded company. Their board is accountable to shareholders, and that accountability is also about profit. To criticize NAR while conveniently skipping over the profit-driven motives of your own platform? That’s not transparency. That’s selective outrage.
Yes, it’s fair to question spending and structure. Yes, reform is necessary. However, there are thousands of professionals who deeply care about the real estate industry and its future. Every major organization — nonprofit or corporate — has dealt with bad behavior.
But tearing down an entire institution because of a few bad actors ignores the real, meaningful progress being made. If you want change, you show up. You work toward a common goal: Protecting homeowners, building equity, driving the adoption of data standards and making the system better for everyone.
For further clarification, when we talk about doing deals outside the MLS, we’re talking about exclusivity and giving access to properties only to those connected to specific agents working with specific brokerages. That hurts communities of color, it hurts first-time buyers, and countless studies have shown it also hurts — you guessed it — sellers. It creates barriers where there should be bridges.
Fair housing isn’t just a slogan, it’s a responsibility. So how can leaders at companies that claim to stand for consumers and equal access not support policies that ensure every agent and every buyer has access to every listing — and every seller receives the full exposure they deserve in the marketplace?
MLSs and greater transparency are not the problem. They are part of a proven infrastructure, built over a century, with model rules and shared data standards that evolve as the market changes. We don’t benefit from a broken system — and this one isn’t broken. It’s imperfect, yes, but it’s functioning and always improving because of the people who keep showing up to make it better.
People who show up to make it better do the work, not just for themselves, but to strengthen this industry for the communities we serve.
Nina Dosanjh is Chief Technology and Strategy Officer at Vanguard Properties. Connect with her at LinkedIn and Instagram.
