Compass-Anywhere deal sets up private listings culture clash
As the debate over private listings and the Clear Cooperation Policy raged on, Anywhere leaders charted a distinctly central path. Here’s how that could change under a Compass banner.
This week’s news that Compass plans to buy Anywhere Real Estate raised the possibility of a merger that would combine two competitors with distinctly different views on one of the biggest issues — private listings — in the industry.
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Compass has of course made private listings a central part of its marketing strategy. But Anywhere has not. Indeed, before the Monday announcement, Anywhere and its subsidiaries had been consistent in their messaging in regard to private listings: We don’t think they’re the right way to go, but if we’re forced in that direction through competition or if it’s what consumers prefer, we are ready to fight and win.
Ryan Schneider
“If the world goes to private listings, we will not let our agents be disadvantaged,” Anywhere CEO Ryan Schneider said on a call with investors during the company’s fourth quarter earnings presentation. “We have more listings to make into private listings than anybody does. I think that’s a short-sighted way for our industry to go.”
Schneider continued the same messaging in subsequent conversations and public statements, including in late April.
“Anywhere Real Estate is aggressively advocating for transparency and the broad and public distribution of nearly all listings because we believe it is best for buyers to see all the inventory and critically helps sellers get the highest price for their home, full stop,” Schneider said in April.
“I do not think that advising the vast majority of sellers to do a private listing and risk their property not getting displayed on some of the most prominent public portals is a winning strategy,” he added.
Both Compass and Anywhere declined to comment for the story.
Schneider’s comments seemed to set the tone for other leaders of Anywhere brands, who also spoke out on the issue.
Mike Miedler
Mike Miedler — CEO of Century 21, an Anywhere brand — told Inman in July that the industry has long had ways of marketing properties privately if clients desired, but that consumers hadn’t shown a broad desire for that kind of discrete marketing.
“You have to wonder…if the ultimate goal is to put everything in one spot if that’s self-serving or if that’s really the best thing for the customer,” Miedler said in July. “That’s why I say the free markets will play out.”
Miedler did leave the door open to changing course, but ultimately reiterated a belief that consumers don’t favor private listings.
“If need be, we do have the technology that we could do that if possible or our consumers choose that route,” Miedler said. “We’re finding right now that they don’t. They want more transparency.”
In a similar vein, Kamini Lane — president and CEO of Anywhere-owned Coldwell Banker — wrote for Inman in a July opinion piece that “private listings ignore the law of supply and demand.”
Kamini Lane
“How is it optimal to restrict access to the select few your agent deems worthy and risk losing out on potentially stronger offers?” Lane asked in her piece.
In other cases, leaders at Anywhere brands simply downplayed the significance of private listings and their place in the real estate industry.
“You don’t hear talk about private listing networks,” Alex Vidal, president of Anywhere’s ERA Real Estate, told Inman in July. “Like, you don’t hear any of that stuff in the field.”
Taken together, the comments from various leaders within the Anywhere ecosystem suggest skepticism about listings that are not marketed publicly via multiple listing services. That is not Compass’ position, and how these different views might mesh — or, collide — within a merged company remains to be seen. Compass has also indicated that the different brands within the merged company would operate independently.
But the cultural differences are significant, as further evidenced by Anywhere’s notably different stance on Zillow compared to Compass — which sued the real estate portal this summer over its policy blocking privately marketed listings from its platform. Speaking on stage at Inman Connect San Diego in late July, Schneider said private listings were an issue that Anywhere and Zillow agreed on.
“Zillow is our frenemy,” Schneider said. “There’s a lot of places where we have common ground, including on the private listings thing.”
