Outspoken independent broker Anthony Lamacchia, who has never hesitated to share opinions and engage on hot industry topics, has been relatively quiet (at least by his standards) on the current industrywide debate over listing policies.
Until now.
In a 13-minute video posted to his coaching YouTube channel on Oct. 19, Lamacchia excoriated Compass’s focus on getting rid of “negative insights” and the mega-brokerage’s broader campaign to remake MLS rules and policies, calling on Compass brokers and agents to “flood” CEO Robert Reffkin with emails and “tell him he is going too far.”
“It will turn into an absolute listing war if Robert (Reffkin) gets his wish,” Lamacchia said.
Lamacchia becomes one of a handful of high-profile brokerage leaders who have publicly spoken out to oppose Compass and Reffkin. Others include Brown Harris Stevens CEO Bess Freedman and NextHome CEO James Dwiggins—both of whom Lamacchia referenced in his video.
Compass’s push to remake real estate is somewhat unprecedented, at least in modern times, as the brokerage has already catalyzed—or forced—signficant changes in the flow and control of listings. Reffkin and Compass have framed the issue around “seller’s choice” and flexibility to market properties off-MLS, especially on Compass platforms, and accused incumbents of digging in to protect their own business interests.
A Compass spokesperson told RISMedia via email that “Compass offers sellers more marketing choices, including the option to market their homes without immediately appearing on every real estate website.”
The spokesperson noted that MLS PIN, which covers much of the area where Lamacchia operates, “lets agents follow their clients’ marketing instructions without penalty.”
“Compass wants every homeowner to have the same freedom Lamacchia’s clients already enjoy,” the spokesperson said.
While many inside and outside the industry continue to question whether there is any significant demand for “premarket” or “phased” listings, Compass’s strategies (or lobbying) pushed many MLSs to change their rules, and catalyzed brokerages to seek more control over their data as Compass builds a formidable war chest of exclusive inventory and continues to grow.
But Lamacchia, in his unfiltered, unscripted style, highlighted what many of Compass’s critics have argued—that these off-MLS, private platform listings don’t actually serve consumers, and will result in backlash amid a larger focus on housing affordability and access.
“This should be a bipartisan issue,” Lamacchia said. “I’d like to see both sides screaming about this.”
In the media
Last week, Reffkin made an appearance on CNBC to discuss the housing market more broadly, but also discussed what he described as a barrier to housing recovery—the “negative insights” of days on market and price drops.
Reffkin also repeated his criticism of “the MLS system,” saying that “every single board member on the MLS is a direct competitor to us.”
In response to a question about fair housing issues, Reffkin said his company’s private listings “can” be marketed widely on social media, digital newsletters and anywhere other than “real estate websites.”
Compass still keeps many listings on private platforms not visible to other agents or the general public, though the company promises to provide these listings to any agent or buyer who contacts a Compass office.
Lamacchia responded directly to some of Reffkin’s comments on CNBC, noting that appraisers rely on “negative insights” like days on market when assessing home values (in reports that buyers see eventually anyway), and that many Compass brokers also serve on MLS boards and have a say in policy decisions.
“Perhaps (those brokers) are not speaking up to you, but they’re speaking up to me, and they’re speaking up to others in the industry,” Lamacchia claimed.
While Compass has also argued its marketing strategies help bring hesitant sellers onto the market, Lamacchia said that Reffkin’s “crusade that never ends” in support of private listings is going to obscure or remove inventory when it is needed most.
“Over the last year, we’re finally starting to have more inventory. But if the inventory starts to get hidden in a big way, no one’s going to be able to actually see that there’s about 1.7 million homes for sale in the United States right now,” he said.
That inventory will also end up scattered across a large number of brokerages and platforms if Compass manages to unmake the MLS rules it has targeted, according to Lamacchia, and keeps exclusive listings on its own platforms.
“The larger companies like mine will have some leverage to fight back,” Lamacchia said. “And there are owners like me out there, I’m sure, that have the same attitude I do—‘Hey, you stop our agents from seeing listings in certain areas, we’re going to do it to you in the areas that we’re strong.’”
“We should not go there,” he added.
Market data
The “negative insights” issue is also something Lamacchia said is being twisted by Reffkin and Compass, arguing that brokerage owners can’t “put our finger on the scale” to help one side of the transaction or the other.
In Lamacchia’s home state of Massachusetts, Compass represented buyers 47% of the time, compared to 39% sellers (and the remainder were double-ended deals), according to Lamacchia.
“Your company is doing more buyer business, but you’re clearly favoring sellers,” he said.
Despite the sharp criticism, Lamacchia acknowledged that Reffkin has “built a hell of a company” and has some legitimate criticism of the MLS system—specifically fines, which he said should be more of a “hand slap” than a five-figure penalty.
At the highest level, though, Lamacchia reiterated that he believed that Compass’s signature marketing strategy (which the company reported that at one point, was used for 48% of its listings) is not good for consumers.
“It achieves maximum exposure, but only after (Compass does) all the self-serving, selfish things by trying to sell (a property) internally to double (its) revenue,” Lamacchia said. “Imagine explaining that to a seller, because that’s the truth.”
