Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the Inman Community and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

After months of legal wrangling, a judge on Friday granted preliminary approval to antitrust commission settlements from eXp World Holdings and Weichert of North America.

The approval came via a 14-page ruling from Judge Mark Cohen, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Cohen wrote in the ruling that the “proposed settlement agreements satisfy the criteria for preliminary approval” and that they appear to be “the product of intensive, thorough, serious, informed, and non-collusive negotiations.”

TAKE THE INMAN INTEL INDEX SURVEY FOR MAY

A final approval hearing is scheduled for Oct. 28. News of the preliminary approval was first reported by Real Estate News.

Preliminary approval of the eXp and Weirchert settlements is significant because, more so than other antitrust commission deals, these two companies’ proposals were engulfed in controversy from the beginning. EXp first announced a settlement last October, agreeing to pay $34 million. Weichert settled a month later.

Both companies settled in a case known as Hooper, which was filed in Georgia.

However, not long after eXp announced its settlement, homesellers in Missouri who were behind a different case known as Gibson pushed back. They argued that eXp, and later Weichert, used a tactic known as a “reverse auction,” which is essentially shopping around among similar class action lawsuits for the one that will yield the best deal. The Missouri homesellers wanted to force the two companies back to the negotiating table and to have the case transferred out of Georgia and into Missouri.

EXp and Weichert objected to the homesellers’ characterization of the settlements and opposed attempts to transfer the case.

Legal wrangling over the two companies’ alleged “sweetheart deals” continued for months, and in March the Georgia judge refused to transfer the case to Missouri.

In Friday’s ruling, Cohen also determined that he had jurisdiction over the case.

In addition to eXp and Weichert, Cohen also granted preliminary approval on Friday to settlements involving Mark Spain Real Estate Atlanta Communities Real Estate.

Read the full order granting preliminary approval here: 

Email Jim Dalrymple II

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

The ongoing and ever-heated real estate industry debate over private listings spilled onto the Inman stage Wednesday as panelists debated the wisdom of the concept and whether it amounted to “steering.”

The debate took place during an afternoon panel at Inman On Tour Miami, which featured NextHome CEO James Dwiggins, Compass Chief Real Estate Strategist Mark McLaughlin and the Keyes Company President Christina Pappas.

Midway through the conversation, Dwiggins argued that sellers can do whatever they want and that there are many different flavors of listing right now. However, when “we talk about seller choice, there’s a difference between choice and steering.”

TAKE THE INMAN INTEL SURVEY FOR MAY

Dwiggins’ comment was a reference to Compass, which has made private listings a centerpiece of its marketing efforts, and which disclosed in a recent lawsuit that nearly half of its listings are “pre-marketed” — meaning they first begin as Compass private exclusives or with “coming soon” status before later entering the local multiple listing service.

“That’s called steering,” Dwiggins added.

However, McLaughlin quickly objected, saying that Dwiggins’ argument essentially amounted to saying that “20,000 of Compass’ clients are duped and steered.”

Dwiggins then shot back, saying that most consumers likely don’t understand or read contracts that lay out how privately listing their home might work.

Dwiggins has become one of the most prominent voices in the real estate industry pushing back against private listings, while Compass CEO Robert Reffkin is among the concept’s most prominent advocates.

From left to right, moderator Brad Inman, Christina Pappas, James Dwiggins and Mark McLaughlin at Inman On Tour Miami Wednesday. Credit: Mike Nyffeler with AJ Canaria Creative Services.

The debate over private listings engulfed much of the homeselling business in late 2024 and early 2025 as different players put pressure on the National Association of Realtors to take action on Clear Cooperation, a rule that requires NAR members to put their listings into their local MLS within a day after they begin marketing. In the end, NAR staked out a kind of middle ground, keeping Clear Cooperation in place but adding a new delayed marketing option.

During Wednesday’s debate, McLaughlin responded to a frequent criticism of Compass’ position — namely, that the company merely wants to double-end more deals — by saying that more than 50 percent of the brokerage’s listings that don’t hit the MLS are co-brokered.

Later on Wednesday, after this story had published, a Compass spokesperson suggested to Inman that by penalizing agents or brokers who fail to enter their listings into the MLS within one business day, multiple listing services were the ones engaged in “steering” practices.

“It’s worth noting that the MLSs fine agents up to $5,000 if the agent doesn’t steer their clients into the MLS,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement to Inman. “The Clear Cooperation Policy’s ‘mandatory submission’ rule results in agents steering clients into the MLS out of fear of being fined by the MLS.”

Meanwhile, Pappas took a kind of middle position — and offered a warning. Regarding seller choice, she said, “I believe in allowing our sellers a choice in how it gets marketed. They need all of the information possible to make the best decision.”

However, she also recalled a situation during the COVID-19 pandemic in which a buyer sued her company after buying an off-market property. Turns out, because the property was off-market, the buyer didn’t have a good sense of the home’s market value.

“The buyer sues us because he thought he overpaid,” Pappas said.

After the story ended, Dwiggins added that “there’s a lot more of that coming.”

Alternatively, McLaughlin had earlier argued during the discussion that “the one opinion that’s missing here is the opinion of the homeseller.” And he said he believes “the decision on how to do marketing should create a competitive environment.”

“It should be,” he added, “at the intersection of the seller’s desire and the agent’s professional advice.”

Email Jim Dalrymple II

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

Douglas Elliman CEO Michael Liebowitz kicked off Inman On Tour Miami Tuesday morning with a defense of private listings, saying that consumers should have choices — and offering some slight criticism of other unnamed players who are also championing the private listing concept.

Liebowitz appeared as part of a three-person panel, and began his comments by saying that the real estate industry is currently experiencing significant change. One of the largest of those choices has to do with private listings, Liebowitz said, adding that “I’m a big believer in you’ve got to give the client choice.”

“It’s for me as the CEO of a company to make sure the client understands the risks,” Liebowitz continued, adding a moment later that “you have to offer choice.”

TAKE THE INMAN INTEL SURVEY FOR MAY

Liebowitz went on to say that a listing is likely to get a better price if more people can see it, but that different homeowners have different priorities and an agent’s job is to educate. He added that he himself once listed his own home as a private listing years ago due to concerns about how his neighbors might react to the news that he was moving. However, Liebowitz said, he eventually ended up listing the home publicly, which led to him finding a buyer.

Michael Liebowitz on stage at Inman On Tour Miami on Tuesday. Credit: Mike Nyffeler with AJ Canaria Creative Services

A debate over private listings has roiled the real estate industry in recent months. On the one hand, proponents of the concept have argued that it gives homeowners choice and potentially protects their privacy, among other things. The most publicly vocal advocate of private listings in the industry has been Compass CEO Robert Reffkin, who has made the concept a centerpiece of his brokerage’s marketing efforts. However, other companies have also rolled out their own private listing networks.

However, private listings also have many critics who argue that the concept potentially has negative impacts on fair housing, and that an open marketplace is most beneficial to homeowners. Zillow has been among the entities taking this position, and went so far as to ban privately marketed listings from its platform.

Zillow Chief Industry Development Officer Errol Samuelson also appeared on Tuesday’s panel with Liebowitz, though Samuelson’s comments focused primarily on artificial intelligence.

During his remarks, Liebowitz did not mention any other companies by name. However, he did hint that he doesn’t agree with how some brokerages have engaged with the private listing concept.

“Others are using it for different reasons than that,” Liebowitz said after discussing private listings as a tool advancing consumer choice. “They’re using it for other business plans. We are focused on the client.”

In addition to Liebowitz and Samuelson, LPT founder and CEO Robert Palmer also appeared during Tuesday morning’s panel. Much of Palmer’s commentary focused on the market, with him noting that “right now, our kind of word of the year so far is maybe ‘uncertainty.’”

However, Palmer also weighed in on private listings, saying that “if it’s truly a private listing, great.” However, he criticized private listings that don’t end up in a multiple listing service but are nevertheless marketed to the public in other forums.

“If private listing becomes proxy for circumventing cooperation,” Palmer said, “I think that becomes a problem.”

Email Jim Dalrymple II