The future of how real estate brokerages recruit agents and market listings hangs in the balance.
After Compass International Holdings expanded its fight with multiple-listing services on these two major fronts in recent months, Inman reached hundreds of agents — including those with Compass-owned brokerages and franchises — and broker-owners for their unvarnished thoughts.
These results from the Inman Intel Index survey conducted in late October suggest that there is appetite for change in how recruiting platforms obtain agent data from MLSs, even as little support exists for Compass’s effort to put the brokerage in the driver’s seat.
And in the separate legal fight over the fines that underpin Clear Cooperation, the survey reveals an industry that remains sharply divided, with little desire for compromise.
Where do agents believe control over recruiting data should reside? Anywhere but the brokerage
This saga began in late September, when Compass International Holdings sent its letter to various MLSs requesting they no longer provide listing data to third-party vendors to power recruiting tools.
If the Compass letter had merely called for a blanket end to the practice, or had asked that agents be allowed to control whether MLSs can send their data to recruiting platforms, the Inman survey suggests they’d have received greater backing from the industry as a whole.
But that’s not exactly what the letter called for.
The letter asked MLSs to no longer provide the company’s agent or listing data to brokerage recruiting software companies “[for] all brands affiliated with Compass International Holdings.” Franchise broker-owners, the letter proposed, would be able to opt back in.
The letter also called for the MLSs to clarify “our right as a participant broker to opt out of non-IDX/VOW vendor data distribution.”
In other words, Compass suggests the decision should rest with the brokerage.
This arrangement as described in the letter, as it pertains to recruiting data in particular, lacks support from even the Compass agents Inman surveyed in late October.
- Fewer than 3 percent of all agent respondents — including only 4 out of 105 agents with Compass-owned brokerages or brands — said they wanted each brokerage to decide whether their agents’ sales data reached recruiting tools.
Instead, agents in the Compass family were more open than other agents to the prospect of a blanket ban on the provision of MLS data to recruiting platforms — one that applied equally to all brokerages, and that franchise broker-owners in their network couldn’t opt back into.
- 16 percent of agent respondents with Compass-owned brokerages or brands said MLSs should no longer provide this data for recruiting tools for all brokerages and agents, compared to 7 percent of respondents at other named brokerages.
- Meanwhile, only 19 percent of agents with Compass firms or franchises told Inman that the status quo on recruiting data should stay in place, compared to 36 percent at other named brokerages.
Still, even at Compass and Compass-owned firms and brands, most agents surveyed by Inman supported keeping the data flowing in some form.
- The largest group of surveyed agents across all brokerages — 47 percent — favored putting the decision in the hands of agents.
- Another 30 percent of agents supported MLSs continuing to provide agent data to recruiting tools as done today.
- And 10 percent supported a universal ban on the practice of MLSs providing data for recruiting tools.
Broker-owners and brokerage executives surveyed were the only group that registered significant support for the status quo.
- 49 percent of surveyed leaders at franchise brokerages supported keeping the status quo intact, compared to only 30 percent of agent respondents at franchise operations.
On a second front, agents and brokerage leaders also split into stark camps on Compass’ fight with California’s legal dispute with CRMLS.
Standing firm on fines
Real estate professionals Inman surveyed in October tended to take a clear stance on the Compass-CRMLS legal dispute, rather than seeking a compromise or settlement similar to the one reached between the brokerage giant and Washington state’s NWMLS.
- More than half of surveyed agents and two-thirds of brokerage-leader respondents said they preferred to keep fines in place for publicly marketing a home without promptly listing it on the MLS.
- Only 15 percent of agents and 13 percent of leaders in the survey instead preferred an NWMLS-style compromise, in which listings could be marketed for multiple weeks before being listed on the MLS.
Compass does draw some agent support for dropping the fines — but mostly from within its own network.
- 34 percent of agent respondents with Compass-owned firms or brands said they preferred to end the fines, compared to 31 percent who want to keep the rules in place.
- At other named brokerages, 15 percent supported ending the fines.
- Support for the existing rules was strongest among agents at privately owned indie brokerages (69 percent) and at franchise-affiliated brokerages (61 percent).
Overall, the survey suggests Compass continues to see firm resistance to its vision for real estate throughout much of the industry, including at many of the brokerages and brands it acquired earlier this year as part of the Anywhere merger.
But the survey suggests the industry broadly is open to change in some of these policies, even if not everyone agrees with the path that Compass is laying out.
Methodology notes: This month’s Inman Intel Index survey ran from Oct. 20-29 and received 579 responses. The entire Inman reader community was invited to participate, and a rotating, randomized selection of community members was prompted to participate by email. Users responded to a series of questions related to their self-identified corner of the real estate industry — including real estate agents, brokerage leaders, lenders and proptech entrepreneurs. Results reflect the opinions of the engaged Inman community, which may not always match those of the broader real estate industry. This survey is conducted monthly.
