Compass, Rocket, Redfin Urge Mlss To Allow Seller-directed Pre-marketing

Compass International Holdings, Redfin and Rocket Companies are urging MLSs to adopt policies that support pre-marketing and phased marketing distribution and to cease penalizing or punishing agents for carrying out “seller-directed marketing plans.” 

The companies, which entered into a mutually exclusive deal to publish Compass coming soon listings on Redfin in late February 2026, made these requests in a letter sent to MLS leaders and real estate professionals on Wednesday. 

“The seller’s informed decision must always be respected. No MLS should override the judgment of the client or interfere with the fiduciary obligations of the professional representing them,” the letter, which was obtained by HousingWire, states. “When a real estate professional acts in good faith, gives clear counsel and carries out the marketing plan a seller chooses for their own property, that agent is doing exactly what the profession requires.

“We can no longer stand idly by while our real estate professionals face punitive actions for following duties to their clients,” the letter continues. “Compass International Holdings and Redfin are committed to defending our agents who are unfairly disciplined or penalized by an MLS for executing a seller-directed marketing plan.” 

Compass doubles down

In the letter, the firms doubled down on Compass’s qualms regarding the National Association of Realtors’s (NAR) Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP), claiming that the rule, which requires listings to be input into the MLS within one business day of public marketing, exacerbated the pocket or exclusive listing issue the association was looking to solve with the rule. 

“Office exclusives increased as sellers who wanted more control over their marketing timeline chose to keep listings out of the MLS altogether,” the letter states. “Others, wary of the negative and punitive signals associated with MLS exposure, such as price history and days on market, chose not to list their homes at all. At a time when the country faces a serious housing inventory shortage, those outcomes serve neither consumers nor the market.” 

With NAR shifting control of MLS rules and enforcement to local MLS, the letter argues that it is now up to the MLSs to make changes that promote seller choice and protect brokers who are carrying out their client’s demands. 

The companies argue that in a tight inventory environment, providing sellers with increased flexibility in marketing their property could lead to an increase in available inventory. 

“More listings mean more opportunities for buyers, more business for agents and a healthier market. MLSs that restrict seller choice work against the interests of consumers and their own participants,” the letter states. 

The letter highlights several MLSs, including Unlock MLS, Midwest Real Estate Data, Bright MLS, Canopy MLS, Houston Association of Realtors and MLS Property Information Network, for providing sellers who submit listings with a menu of options for home and when they want their listing to be broadcast to the entire market. 

“Ninety-four percent of listings that are initially marketed off MLS will reach full MLS distribution to major portals and thousands of brokerage websites,” the letter states. “These MLSs don’t weaken transparency, and they don’t decrease their own value. They strengthen both by being the place where seller choice lives. We urge every MLS to follow their lead.”

However, the companies note that they will not accept rules or rule changes that dictate where a seller and their listing agent can and cannot market their listings and that they support some of the legislative efforts like those in Illinois and Connecticut that require sellers to sign a disclosure if they choose to not market their listing broadly. 

“Many lawmakers are reaching the same undeniable conclusion: real estate professionals should honor the informed marketing decisions their home sellers’ select,” the letter states. “Their decision deserves respect, not punishment.” 

Zillow recently changed their policy

The letter notes that Zillow, which has been a vocal supporter of CCP, recently announced changes to its own listing access standards policy, leading compass to voluntarily dismiss its lawsuit against Zillow regarding this policy. The updated policy no longer requires listings to be submitted to the MLS, just that they are “broadly accessible to the general public in a manner that provides open access.” 

“The MLS is now one path to public marketing, but not the only one,” the letter states. 

Addressing real estate professionals, the three companies wrote that if any MLS or brokerage fines or punishes an agent for executing a seller-directed marketing plan, Compass and Redfin will support them. 

“It is time to put the client first in this industry. We are jointly committed to dismantling any system that stands in the way of that mission,” the letter states. 

The end of restrictions

These claims are unsurprising given statements Compass CEO Robert Reffkin made during his firm’s Q4 2025 earnings call in late February. 

In addressing the partnership he announced with Rocket and Redfin, Reffkin said that he felt the “alliance marks the end of the restrictions that MLSs have had on agents and sellers on how they market homes.” 

“Because when they’re restricting the agent and home seller, they’re going to be restricting Rocket. I don’t see a scenario where the MLSs will continue to enforce these restrictive rules with Rocket and Redfin on our side because we now have more resources,” Reffkin added. “We’re going to give our public listings to Rocket-Redfin, publicly searchable [by] 60 million people. In each of those markets, what’s going to happen is that [the] MLS is going to send our agents a fine for up to $5,000. The agent is going to ask if we can help them, and we will, but what is the MLS going to tell the public? Are you telling me that you’re fining the agent $5,000 for marketing the listing publicly on a site searchable by 60 million people? That you’re doing that to protect fair housing? Are you doing that to protect transparency? Are you doing that to ensure that we’re not double ending deals? Or are you doing this not to protect your transparency but [to] protect your own business model? It is going to expose that.” 

Since Compass announced its syndication deal with Rocket and Redfin, other brokerages and real estate portals have banded together to provide pre-marketing solutions to their agents. On Tuesday, Zillow debuted Zillow Preview, launching the pre-marketing product alongside Keller Williams, Side, United Real Estate, HomeServices of America and REMAX, while on Wednesday, eXp Realty announced non-exclusive syndication deals with Realtor.com, Homes.com and ComeHome.com. 

NAR did not immediately return HousingWire’s request for comment.