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The ongoing and ever-heated real estate industry debate over private listings spilled onto the Inman stage Wednesday as panelists debated the wisdom of the concept and whether it amounted to “steering.”
The debate took place during an afternoon panel at Inman On Tour Miami, which featured NextHome CEO James Dwiggins, Compass Chief Real Estate Strategist Mark McLaughlin and the Keyes Company President Christina Pappas.
Midway through the conversation, Dwiggins argued that sellers can do whatever they want and that there are many different flavors of listing right now. However, when “we talk about seller choice, there’s a difference between choice and steering.”
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Dwiggins’ comment was a reference to Compass, which has made private listings a centerpiece of its marketing efforts, and which disclosed in a recent lawsuit that nearly half of its listings are “pre-marketed” — meaning they first begin as Compass private exclusives or with “coming soon” status before later entering the local multiple listing service.
“That’s called steering,” Dwiggins added.
However, McLaughlin quickly objected, saying that Dwiggins’ argument essentially amounted to saying that “20,000 of Compass’ clients are duped and steered.”
Dwiggins then shot back, saying that most consumers likely don’t understand or read contracts that lay out how privately listing their home might work.
Dwiggins has become one of the most prominent voices in the real estate industry pushing back against private listings, while Compass CEO Robert Reffkin is among the concept’s most prominent advocates.
From left to right, moderator Brad Inman, Christina Pappas, James Dwiggins and Mark McLaughlin at Inman On Tour Miami Wednesday. Credit: Mike Nyffeler with AJ Canaria Creative Services.
The debate over private listings engulfed much of the homeselling business in late 2024 and early 2025 as different players put pressure on the National Association of Realtors to take action on Clear Cooperation, a rule that requires NAR members to put their listings into their local MLS within a day after they begin marketing. In the end, NAR staked out a kind of middle ground, keeping Clear Cooperation in place but adding a new delayed marketing option.
During Wednesday’s debate, McLaughlin responded to a frequent criticism of Compass’ position — namely, that the company merely wants to double-end more deals — by saying that more than 50 percent of the brokerage’s listings that don’t hit the MLS are co-brokered.
Later on Wednesday, after this story had published, a Compass spokesperson suggested to Inman that by penalizing agents or brokers who fail to enter their listings into the MLS within one business day, multiple listing services were the ones engaged in “steering” practices.
“It’s worth noting that the MLSs fine agents up to $5,000 if the agent doesn’t steer their clients into the MLS,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement to Inman. “The Clear Cooperation Policy’s ‘mandatory submission’ rule results in agents steering clients into the MLS out of fear of being fined by the MLS.”
Meanwhile, Pappas took a kind of middle position — and offered a warning. Regarding seller choice, she said, “I believe in allowing our sellers a choice in how it gets marketed. They need all of the information possible to make the best decision.”
However, she also recalled a situation during the COVID-19 pandemic in which a buyer sued her company after buying an off-market property. Turns out, because the property was off-market, the buyer didn’t have a good sense of the home’s market value.
“The buyer sues us because he thought he overpaid,” Pappas said.
After the story ended, Dwiggins added that “there’s a lot more of that coming.”
Alternatively, McLaughlin had earlier argued during the discussion that “the one opinion that’s missing here is the opinion of the homeseller.” And he said he believes “the decision on how to do marketing should create a competitive environment.”
“It should be,” he added, “at the intersection of the seller’s desire and the agent’s professional advice.”
