I got an update on the group of brokerages who have hired the same law firm to go after the National Association of Realtors. If they intend to disrupt the August 17th changes, they better get on it! But they are going let that go, and instead they will be pursuing the legal alternatives to end the Clear Cooperation Policy.
Regardless how you feel about the CCP, the sellers should have the right to choose in or out. Will getting rid of the CCP create more off-market deals and help eliminate the buyer-agent? Absolutely, but that’s the trend any way.
Compass held its Q2 earnings call on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. During the investor Q&A portion, CEO and Founder Robert Reffkin claimed that NAR’s “clear cooperation” rule is on borrowed time.
Clear cooperation requires that REALTORS® list a property on an MLS affiliated with the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), within 24 hours of marketing the listing elsewhere. The rule is one of several that has been described as violating antitrust statutes, allegations that have brought the real estate industry under scrutiny over the last year.
In court filings for the case Top Agent Network, Inc. v. NAR, et al (where the plaintiff alleges clear cooperation is a tool of monopoly), NAR appeared “amenable” to revising the rule. Reffkin claimed such a change–and more–are inevitable.
“I think clear cooperation will end,” he said, and called the rule “anti-homeowner.”
“I believe that too much of the way the system works today isn’t for the homeowner. And so what–I’ll give you a couple examples. Days on market is the killer of value. Price drop history is the killer of value. The reason why private exclusives at Compass are so popular is because they do not have days on market when they go up, they do not have price drop history. When you go to a Mercedes-Benz lot or any other luxury goods, you don’t see on every Mercedes-Benz the price drop or the days on market,” said Reffkin.
He continued:
“Clear cooperation, the problem with it is, it’s forcing homeowners into negative insights. It’s saying anyone who has an agent, after one day of public marketing where it was no negative insights on a place like Compass or through your agents, you have to put it in the MLS, and then it goes to the system which the homeowner doesn’t have a choice on.”
https://www.rismedia.com/2024/08/01/compass-earnings-call-q2-2024/
