This is the type of name-calling I’m willing to endure:

IMHO, RE industry has descended right into the gutter alongside slimy used car salesmen. License to screw over consumers using information hiding and deceptive practices.

Elimination of pre-sale inspections and mandatory disclosures. Elimination of escrow via mandatory seller-arranged financing (complete with kickbacks). Refusal to allow buyer representation at all. “Sign on the line today, accepting all our slimy terms, or lose the property to the next sucker tomorrow!”

It gets worse – those from within the industry have been slamming Compass and Robert Reffkin for years. Zillow came out with their own study this week where they claim the sellers of off-MLS homes lost $1 billion in the last two years – which is an eye-popping headline! But in the fine print they do admit that they used their zestimate to make the analysis.

Our manager Steve responded on a realtor-news feed:

It caused Steve and Robert to talk by phone on Friday, and they discussed the path we are on. It is the one I’ve described where we end our relationship with NAR and the MLS companies and go it alone.

The commercial brokerages have always functioned this way and have only used Loopnet as a last resort. Nobody calls them names or threatens to sue them over their practices. It is inevitable that the same thing happens to residential brokerages, and Compass will just be the first national brand to do it.

It will make for a terrific recruiting tool as well. If you are an agent, we should chat!