In the wake of the news that MLSs Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) and Realtracs were partnering with Compass (additionally with United Real Estate for Realtracs) to take their platforms nationwide, the industry has been buzzing. The potential of further nationwide MLSs and the expansion of pre-marketed listings has been one of hottest topics. Now, Bright MLS is entering the fold.
In a new Op-Ed on how MLSs must evolve with brokerage’s businesses, Bright MLS President and CEO Brian Donnellan announced a partnership of sorts with Compass, stating that the brokerage has “committed to making its nationwide data available to our subscribers through our system.” Additionally, Compass will “subsidize new Bright subscriptions for its agents” both in the MLS’s service area (New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia), as well as across the country.
This type of nationwide partnership is under scrutiny specifically in a new lawsuit filed by Zillow against Compass and MRED, claiming that the brokerage and MLS are engaged in an “illegal conspiracy” to promote Compass’s private listings and undermine Zillow.
The lawsuit claims that Compass’s agreements with MRED and at least two other MLSs are part of that conspiracy, with the MLSs changing rules and, allegedly, threatening to cut off Zillow from their listing feeds if Zillow bans Compass listings.
Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that Compass recently “terminated—on behalf of itself and ‘every’ Compass ‘brokerage entity or subsidiary’—all direct listing feeds with Zillow nationwide.”
Zillow claims in the lawsuit that MRED recently updated its “objective criteria” rules for IDX and VOW to provide a “pretextual basis” for “retaliating” against Zillow and has urged all 43,000 of its members to not provide Zillow with a direct listing feed. MRED’s technology provider is simultaneously threatening to cut off Zillow’s listing feed, meaning the portal would have no access to listings in Chicago. The new rules say that “(e)xclusion criteria may not include, directly or indirectly, the identity of any Participant, brokerage firm, subscriber, licensee, or representative,” with Zillow saying this language is being used as an excuse to terminate its feeds.
Donnellan did call out Bright’s ruleset in the Op-Ed, calling it “among the shortest and most flexible in the country,” and noted that the MLS is “rolling out even more options this summer.”
Bright MLS’s specific rule change as of May 10 is as follows:
“Brokers and Licensees may limit the subset of IDX listings they choose to display based only on objective criteria that does not violate the Bright Rules or the NAR Code of Ethics and is not based on an agreement with another Listing Broker or based, directly or indirectly, on the identity of the seller, broker, licensee, brokerage firm, or subscriber. If a display is limited to a subset based on objective criteria, there must be a user disclosure that states, in effect, ‘Listings have been excluded from display.’”
Donnellan said that with “pre-marketing options and clear enforcement,” Bright “gives brokers and sellers more control over how listings are marketed, including in emerging AI-driven environments.”
“The job of an MLS is to give brokers room to compete on strategy, not to force everyone into a single playbook or push them to build workarounds outside the MLS,” he continued.
Compass International Holdings Chairman and CEO Robert Reffkin said in a statement provided to RISMedia that the company wants “to support MLSs that value, support, and protect their customers, who are real estate agents, from retaliation by other MLSs and portals, and ensure that agents can fulfill their fiduciary duties to their home seller and home buyer clients.”
Pivoting to the topic of a national MLS, Donnellan said that the industry will continue to consolidate “because it has to,” as “most MLSs do not have the technology, resources, or scale to compete in a market where platforms are investing billions.” However, Donellan added that “scale alone is not the answer” and “a single national MLS would centralize too much control in one place.”
“History shows that this kind of concentration weakens competition and slows innovation,” he continued. “Real estate needs a competitive ecosystem of strong platforms, brokers, and technology partners pushing each other to improve. That is how brokers get better tools and consumers get more accurate, timely information.”
Donnellan also stated that Howard Hanna is partnering with Bright and Ocusell’s joint venture to co-develop and license technology solutions and services for brokers, agents and MLSs.
The venture was announced back in September with the intention to give brokers and agents “access to more powerful tools to manage and analyze listings, drive affiliated services business, and serve clients more effectively from the familiarity of their own broker portal if they choose,” as stated in the release.
Donellan said the venture is “now being leveraged by brokerages across the country, to drive single-point-of-entry listing creation.”
