I lived through a moment when most of the real estate companies in New York City decided individually that we were going to stop the feed to StreetEasy. It was the summer of 2017. Brown Harris Stevens was the first company to cut the direct feed. I remember getting a text from Robert Reffkin, CEO of Compass, joking that he was annoyed I beat him to it.
Each company was deciding for themselves what was best for them. Stribling & Associates, now part of Compass, cut their feed soon after. Town was still in business, and CEO Andrew Heiberger was very clear that he was going to cut his feed, and he made good on that promise. Corcoran CEO Pam Liebman told me she also planned to cut her feed.
At that time, StreetEasy was still building and growing, and it seemed to me that BHS had an opportunity to be in control of our listings without hurting the consumer. I was sick and tired of having my agents pay StreetEasy to keep the leads and business that they worked hard for.
What transpired was nothing short of infuriating, mixed with a little bit of backstabbing.
It was early in September 2017 on a Friday, and I was in Provincetown with my friends when Pam called me to let me know that Corcoran had cut a deal with StreetEasy, and they would continue to feed their listings.
That was the nail in the coffin, sealing StreetEasy’s existence in NYC and making it stronger than ever.
How the landscape has changed in the years since
And so the story goes. And here we are today in a very different landscape because Compass now owns Corcoran, and their leadership has suddenly adopted a very different philosophy.
Today, just like nearly 10 years ago, BHS has no agenda except to operate in the best interests of our clients.
Like it or not, our consumers and agents use StreetEasy to search for properties. Would I prefer agents didn’t have to pay to have their name appear next to their listing? Of course.
But the ship has sailed, and in order to eliminate StreetEasy you would have to hurt the consumer as well as pivot your fiduciary duty away from your client toward your company. The announcement from Compass and its “See It First” program is the latest signal.
That does not sound kosher to me.
The Compass private listing agenda
When Compass started all of this private listing chaos over a year ago, it became very clear that they had an agenda: Kill StreetEasy and Zillow, get the share price up and pay back its debtors. I’m curious about how the consumer fits into their master plan.
Recently, Pam Liebman held a town hall with agents, explaining that she would offer them each $1,000 in marketing budget if they would not market on StreetEasy and that Compass, Sotheby’s and Coldwell Banker are all going to stop marketing on StreetEasy. She includes a seller’s pitch to get them off StreetEasy.
Too many real estate companies have lost the plot and are unwilling to stand up for the very thing that matters most: what consumers want. If you are selling your home, do you want 10 million people per month looking at it or nearly 400 million?
The irony here is that nearly a decade ago there was an opportunity to really do something beneficial for agents that would not hurt consumers. Today the landscape has changed dramatically, and the bed Corcoran made nearly 10 years ago is one their leadership is hiding under as they encourage agents and sellers down a path of fewer eyeballs for listings. And all for what?
In 2017, it was a decision based on how to make more money for Corcoran, and today it is a decision based on how to make more money for Compass.
Bess Freedman is the CEO of Brown Harris Stevens in New York City.
