Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!
Compass CEO Robert Reffkin told agents on Tuesday that it’s time to cut through the noise.
Robert Reffkin
“Now, Compass is no stranger to negative headlines and noise,” Reffkin said during his keynote address at the company’s annual retreat, which is being held this year in Denver on June 3-5. “We have a long history of ignoring the noise and focusing on what helps you.”
Compass launched in Denver and Boulder in 2019 with about 50 agents across the state of Colorado. Today, there are roughly 900 Compass agents based in the state, including in Vail, Aspen, Steamboat Springs and Telluride.
During the keynote, Reffkin rallied the firm’s agents and staff against the naysayers who said in the past that Compass and its model wouldn’t last long, discussed his main short-term goals of seller choice and agent listing attribution, and unveiled the latest rendition of Compass AI.
“But my mom told me years ago: ‘Don’t focus on the headlines, focus on the trendlines,'” Reffkin continued. “That is what we did — we ignored the noise, invested billions of dollars in the future of the agent, and worked as hard as we could to help build a company that could improve your quality of life.”
Media outlets and brokerage CEOs aren’t the only ones shaping industry noise, however, Reffkin said. The CEO named what he called “organized real estate” — the National Association of Realtors (NAR), multiple listing services (MLSs) “that NAR owns 80 percent of” and portals — as the biggest noise generators today. He went on to frame “organized real estate” as wanting to control agent inventory.
“If they don’t have your inventory, it puts their business model at risk,” Reffkin said. “This is the most important moment in real estate history. This is about choice versus control.”
Reffkin’s stated goals of homeseller choice and agent recognition on their listings are directly related to his vocal stance against NAR’s Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP), in which he has made the argument that homesellers should be able to choose where, when and how their properties are marketed for sale. As part of this characterized “fight” over seller choice, the brokerage has also developed a robust network of private exclusive listings; released physical books in-office of those listings; and touted its 3-phased marketing strategy, which involves launching listings as private exclusives, then “coming soon” properties, and ultimately, on public listing portals.
Reffkin shared an anecdote about New York City-based agent Esteban Gomez who marketed a private exclusive listing in Tribeca, and was able to break a new price record for the neighborhood without ever having had to officially list the property on the market and put his seller at risk of adding up days on market while waiting to see if the record list price would work out.
On Wednesday, one day after the keynote took place, Compass elaborated to Inman that Gomez had reached out to a few agents from firms outside of Compass one-on-one about the private exclusive listing — a practice that violates brokerage agreements with most MLSs and listing portals that have committed to upholding Clear Cooperation, including Zillow and Redfin. Ultimately, the buyer for the listing was actually brought by an agent from The Agency.
“Organized real estate is telling you that you can’t do this, but Esteban could not have set a new price record without this,” Reffkin told the Compass Retreat audience on Tuesday. “They’re not the government. They’re not elected officials … The irony here is that everything Esteban did that his clients said made him look like a magician, organized real estate are trying to stop. Why? Because he was successful outside of the MLS and portals.”
The CEO went on to tout a beefed-up version of its Compass AI tool, which was first announced as part of the firm’s tech platform in 2023. With the latest rendition, agents will be able to manage their workflow hands-free simply by speaking prompts to Compass AI regarding specific clients and listings.
The tool can complete tasks like scheduling property tours and communicating appointments to other agents, complete disclosure forms, create and upload CMAs to Compass One (the client-facing version of Compass’ tech platform), build marketing collateral, and even complete other tasks without being prompted — like alert an agent to past clients who have started searching for properties again, and draft emails to them about private exclusive listings.
The revamped technology will launch next month to select beta testers and firmwide later this year.
On top of the Compass AI upgrades, Reffkin said the brokerage is also working to grow its referral network, increase coaching offerings and identify other solutions to help agents grow their businesses.
“And we are going to make sure the consumer knows that the industry and this entire business is powered by you and that every search should not begin on a portal, but with an agent,” Reffkin added. “And I am going to be relentless in continuing to fight for all of you. I will continue to try and rally our competitors and every firm to stand up for your rights. I will be tireless in my push that NAR and MLS’s stop taking the billions of dollars of dues and fines you pay every year and use those funds to restrict and limit you, but rather support you.
“I am going to continue to push portals to put your names back on your listings, to be partners to all of you and support you as equitable participants in this business and not companies that use your data and listings to further their financial goals,” he continued. “And the best part is, I am confident this will happen. I am confident because when in a debate of choice versus control, choice will always win.”
Update: This story was updated after publishing with additional context provided by Compass regarding the anecdote about agent Esteban Gomez.
Get Inman’s Luxury Lens Newsletter delivered right to your inbox. A weekly deep dive into the biggest news in the world of high-end real estate delivered every Friday. Click here to subscribe.
