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In a sort of throwback to the origins of the first multiple listing services, Compass is preparing to deploy physical books filled with private listings and viewable in company offices.

The company calls the project the “Compass Private Exclusive Book,” and told Inman exclusively that it will officially launch in May. In a statement, the company described the books as “a curated collection of Compass Private Exclusives available for viewing in Compass offices.”

Physical books will be updated weekly, while a virtual version will receive updates in real time. Compass added in the statement that “agents from all brokerages are invited to visit any Compass office to individually browse Private Exclusives listings on a 1:1 basis.”

The Compass Private Exclusive Book comes as the brokerage increasingly makes private listings — which it dubs “Compass Private Exclusives” — a keystone of its marketing efforts. Such listings are the first part of Compass’ “3-Phase Marketing Strategy” and up until the book project were viewable exclusively through the brokerage’s platform.

After debuting privately, listings using the 3-Phase Marketing Strategy then move to “coming soon” status, before finally heading to the local multiple listing service for the broader industry to view.

Compass has argued that the strategy gives sellers freedom to market properties as they see fit, and that it lets sellers try out different staging and pricing plans. Critics, however, have suggested that Compass simply wants to keep listings for itself and that doing so reduces transparency in the market. The debate over private listings has polarized the real estate industry, and last week Compass sued Northwest MLS over rules that block private listings in Washington state.

In its statement about the Private Exclusive Book, Compass seems to have anticipated further debate and responded to several ideas that have come up in criticism of private listings. The company’s statement notes, for example, that the book is meant to “promote greater transparency and collaboration” and that “private isn’t hidden, exclusive isn’t secret.”

“The majority of Compass Private Exclusives that sell off-MLS are co-brokered with non-Compass agents,” a Compass spokesperson said in the statement. “Compass is now the only brokerage sharing all off-MLS listings with the entire brokerage community. Unfortunately, there is a persistent false narrative suggesting the motivation behind Compass Private Exclusives is to double-end deals, which couldn’t be further from the truth.”

The statement adds that if “Compass’ goal was to double end deals, it would keep office exclusives in-house as NAR’s Clear Cooperation Policy allows, but instead, Compass is sharing its Private Exclusives with the entire brokerage community.”

A company spokesperson also said that the goal is not to recruit agents. Industry members who visit a Compass office to view a book will not be asked for contact information for recruiting purposes.

Compass also argued in its statement that the Compass Private Exclusive Book “supports fair housing, as any potential group of buyers, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, disability, or other characteristics protected by the Fair Housing Act and other civil rights statutes, can visit a Compass office to view these listings.”

Compass plans to place private listing books in all markets, the statement also notes, beginning with the largest local offices and expanding from there as demand necessitates. And while Compass has met opposition to its private listing strategy from Zillow and other entities, it does not anticipate opposition to its book.

“The National Association of Realtors, the MLS, and Zillow are not expected to prevent Compass from sharing with all agents and consumers given NAR’s MLS Antitrust Compliance Policy, stating, ‘Boards and associations of Realtors and their MLSs shall not prohibit or discourage participants from taking ‘office exclusive’ listings,’” the statement notes. “NAR also recently clarified that any agent can share a Private Exclusive on a 1:1 basis with agents at other brokerages and/or clients.”

Though launching a physical book of listings today is an unusual move, it does harken back to a bygone era. Decades ago, agents used to meet in person to share listings with each other. Eventually, those listings were compiled into books and evolved into the first multiple listing services. Finally, in the 1990s and beyond, those books migrated to the then-new internet and were later syndicated to public-facing portals like Zillow.

In its statement, Compass nodded to that history.

“This initiative reimagines the spirit of the original MLS books,” the company’s statement notes, “by providing a centralized, physical resource to discover unique properties while respecting the privacy, security and marketing strategies of today’s sellers.”

Update: This post was updated post-publication after Compass provided Inman with an updated press release on the private listing book.

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Compass escalated its battle over private listings in Washington state last week via a new lawsuit but, in doing so, revealed that waging war has come at a cost: The brokerage has lost both agents and listings in the course of the fight.

That information comes from Compass’ complaint, which the company filed Friday and which accuses Northwest MLS (NWMLS) of limiting competition. Among other things, the complaint recalls an episode earlier this month during which NWMLS cut off Compass’ IDX feed. An IDX feed takes data — such as listings — from an MLS and sends it to MLS members; in the complaint, Compass describes the move as a “group boycott” meant to “undermine” its business.

Eventually, Compass claims, that is exactly what happened.

“Brokers have reported clients fully canceling listing agreements because Compass can no longer offer them Compass Private Exclusive listings as an option,” the complaint states. “Brokers have likewise lost business opportunities because potential clients no longer wish to list their homes for sale at all as a result of the brokers’ inability to offer Compass Private Exclusive listings.”

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“Compass Private Exclusives” are properties the company markets exclusively through its own platform. Such listings are the first part of the brokerage’s “3-Phase Marketing Strategy” that sees homes put into the MLS only after they’re first marketed privately, then as “Coming Soon.”

The new complaint also indicates that multiple brokers left Compass after NWMLS shut off the IDX feed, and that three of those brokers “specifically cited NWMLS’s actions as the reason for their departure.” Moreover, according to the complaint, a managing broker at another company tried to recruit Compass agents during the IDX shutdown. The broker allegedly claimed in an email that “we’re fully in compliance with NWMLS rules. Our IDX [listings data] feed is live, accurate, and working exactly as it should.”

“No dramas, no disruption — just a stable, trusted platform to run your business on,” the broker’s pitch continued, according to the complaint.

Compass ultimately concludes in the complaint that “NWMLS’s actions against Compass were intended to, and did, have a chilling effect on Compass’s business — both with consumers and with its own brokers.”

That claim is key to Compass’ case, which rests on the idea that the brokerage is suffering thanks to alleged anticompetitive behavior on the part of NWMLS and various Washington brokerages.

For its part, however, NWMLS has previously defended its actions, saying that it shut off Compass’ IDX feed after the company broke the rules.

Inman has reached out to NWMLS this week and will update this story with any information the multiple listing service provides.

The new complaint also offers a detailed glimpse into how both parties ended up in conflict in the first place. The situation began, the complaint notes, when Compass first asked NWMLS to make a rules change in July 2024. The change would have allowed Compass to market private listings in Washington the way it does in other states, but in February of this year, NWMLS declined to make the change, according to the complaint.

In response, Compass pivoted to looking at NWMLS rules that it could interpret in ways that would allow it to market listings privately. NWMLS responded to Compass’ strategy by changing one rule, then telling the brokerage it was out of compliance when it pivoted to a different rule, the complaint states.

The complaint describes Compass’ Exclusives-friendly rules interpretations as a “competitive threat to” NWMLS’s “monopoly.”

Though the conflict is taking place in a single state, it is a case study in tensions over private listings. Compass began publicly leaning into the concept last year and has been open about its desire to build its own private listing network — an idea that has strongly polarized the real estate industry. Tensions over the concept flared just over a week ago when CEOs of multiple companies — including Compass, eXp Realty and others — began arguing about the issue in the comments section of a LinkedIn post.

In the case of Washington state, Compass CEO Robert Reffkin began criticizing NWMLS — as well as Washington-based franchisor Windermere — last month on Instagram. That prompted a war of words, with Windermere Co-President OB Jacobi firing back on several occasions. Friday’s lawsuit was just the latest salvo in the battle.

It remains to be seen who will prevail, but for now, Compass’ new legal complaint offers insights into the degree to which Compass is leaning into private listings.

“Outside of Washington,” the complaint reveals, “in the first quarter of 2025, approximately 48.2 percent of homeowners who listed their home with Compass started their listing using the Compass 3-Phased Price Discovery and Marketing Strategy; this equates to approximately 19,393 new listings in the first quarter of 2025.”

Read the full complaint here: 

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A LinkedIn post from Zillow erupted into the latest battleground over private listings on Friday, with many of real estate’s biggest names — Robert Reffkin, Glenn Sanford, Bess Freedman among them — duking it out in the comments.

Zillow Chief Industry Development Officer Errol Samuelson authored the post, titled “Make no mistake — we are championing transparency at Zillow.” He began by arguing that buyers, sellers and agents deserve equal access to data.

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“Our new listing access standards – requiring that a listing marketed to some buyers should be available to all buyers – reinforce this belief,” he wrote, referring to the move to ban privately marketed listings from Zillow’s platform.

Soon after Zillow shared the piece on LinkedIn on Friday, industry heavyweights begen piling on. By Sunday, the post had racked up nearly 300 comments.

Compass CEO Robert Reffkin — who has made private listings a keystone of his brokerage’s strategy — was among the earliest commentors. Among other things, Reffkin argued in the comments that sellers should be able to choose how they market their properties, and that “Zillow is abusing its market power.”

“This is bully behavior and is an abuse of monopoly power coordinated by the largest trade association in the United States and the largest real estate portal in the United States,” Reffkin said, referring to both Zillow and the National Association of Realtors.

Reffkin’s comment itself sparked a number of replies, including from eXp Realty CEO Leo Pareja.

“Robert Reffkin, I completely believe in seller choice — but that includes telling the actual truth, not steering everyone into a self-serving scheme for recruiting and double-ending transactions under the banner of ‘seller choice,’” Pareja wrote.

Pareja later commented again, arguing that the “drive to exclude properties from the open market is a guaranteed recipe for a fair housing nightmare.”

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Soon Glenn Sanford — CEO of eXp World Holdings, parent of eXp Realty — weighed in, responding to another comment from Reffkin that “you’re positioning this as Zillow suppressing homeowner choice — but let’s call it what it really is: a debate over platform transparency vs. brokerage control.”

Sanford then went on to engage in a back-and-forth with several other commenters, including Compass senior vice president Rory Golod.

Other well-known industry figures weighed in as well. Anthony Lamacchia, CEO of Lamacchia Realty, described Zillow’s private listing ban as a “wildly bold move that is undoubtably, unquestionably, and unequivocally better for homebuyers and home sellers.”

James Dwiggins, CEO of NextHome, wrote, “Wow… Compass Agents Are Drinking The Kool Aid!”

“The entire industry knows this charade already and we’re not dumb so please stop offering us your Kool Aid,” Dwiggins continued.

And Bess Freedman, CEO of Brown Harris Stevens, weighed in several times, thanking Zillow at one point and at another arguing that “transparency is the only way that a fair market structure can flourish, and therefore keeping clear cooperation allows that to continue.”

On the other hand, Leonard Steinberg — a Compass agent and the brokerage’s “chief evangelist” — wondered if Zillow’s ban is “discriminatory.”

Scores of other comments poured in Friday and Saturday as well, with notable representation from personnel associated with Compass, eXp and Zillow.

The debate — and the willingness of CEOs to take public stands and cross each other on social media — highlighted the way that private listings have become real estate’s cause célèbre in recent weeks.

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A flare up in the conflict over private listings between Compass and Northwest MLS ended Thursday, but in its wake the two parties presented differing versions of what happened.

The issue began Tuesday when Northwest MLS (NWMLS) suspended Compass’ IDX feed, which is what distributes MLS data to MLS users. The move escalated what had previously been a war of words, but the feed was restored Thursday.

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In a statement to Inman Thursday, NWMLS indicated that the suspension was intentional and a response to Compass’ use of privately marketed listings — which NWMLS disallows but which are a core part of Compass’ current strategy.

“The suspension was the result of Compass’ failure to input numerous of its own listings and share those listings with other member real estate firms and their clients in accordance with Northwest MLS’s rules,” the statement indicated. “Northwest MLS offered Compass a data license for its own listings, but Compass did not respond to that offer. Compass’ brokers access to all other Northwest MLS systems remained uninterrupted.”

The statement also indicated that the conflict, at least as it pertained to the IDX feed, had been resolved.

“Northwest MLS worked with Compass on April 15th and 16th to facilitate Compass’ compliance with Northwest MLS’s rules,” the statement continued. “With Compass’ commitment that it would comply with Northwest MLS’s rules going forward, Northwest MLS reinstated the data license to Compass on April 17th.”

However, when Inman asked Compass about the resolution, the company responded by saying it had already been following the rules.

“Compass has always held itself to the highest standards and has always followed NWMLS rules,” the company said in an email to Inman Thursday evening. “When Compass listed Private Exclusives, we followed the NWMLS ruleset. The NWMLS changed its rules to block Compass clients from using Private Exclusives. Compass remains committed to giving homeowners the choices they deserve and enjoy in every other state.”

“Private Exclusives” is the term Compass uses to refer to privately marketed homes, which is the initial status given to properties moving through the brokerage’s “three-phase marketing strategy.” After going on sale as a private exclusive, homes then move on to “coming soon” status, but it is only after that in the third phase of the strategy that they go to the MLS.

The conflicting statements get at a core question in the NWMLS-Compass conflict: How is Compass doing private listings in Washington state? Inman had asked individuals on both sides of the conflict this question in a number of recent off-the-record calls. But the response was generally that supporters of Compass believed the company was in compliance with the rules while supporters of NWMLS believed the company was not.

Compass’ statement offers the brokerage’s answer to that question: The rules changed, to Compass’ disadvantage.

The company also provided Inman with PDFs showing NWMLS rules. The PDFs indicate that on March 28 — days after Reffkin first criticized NWMLS on Instagram — multiple rules having to do with non-exclusive listing agreements were changed.

The PDFs also show a number of other changes that took place on other dates, but there is no information in the document about what prompted any of the modifications. Inman has reached out to NWMLS for more information.

Whether the two versions of this saga can be reconciled remains to be seen.

But either way, the conflict has taken place against the backdrop of intense wrestling within the real estate industry over private listings. That conflict began with pressure on the National Association of Realtors over Clear Cooperation Policy — which was recently modified — and has continued in recent days with bans on private listings from Zillow and Redfin. And for the time being, the issue remains hotly contested.

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Washington-based Northwest MLS temporarily shut down its IDX feed to Compass amid an ongoing conflict over private listings, Inman has learned exclusively, before restoring it about a day later.

The shutdown appears to have been in effect throughout Wednesday, according to multiple Northwest MLS users who spoke to Inman on condition of anonymity. It was unclear exactly when it began, but by late Thursday morning the feed had been restored.

NWMLS declined to comment.

“Despite following NWMLS’s published rules, Compass’ IDX feed was suspended without warning — impacting our clients and agents alike,” Compass Regional Vice President Cris Nelson told Inman. “NWMLS is a broker-owned MLS and is the only MLS in the country that prohibits agents from marketing a property on the internet — privately or publicly — unless it’s listed in the MLS.”

The IDX suspension is only the latest chapter in an ongoing saga involving the country’s largest brokerage by sales volume and a powerful independent multiple listing service. The conflict began in late March when Compass CEO Robert Reffkin criticized NWMLS, describing it on Instagram as uniquely restrictive. Reffkin’s comments stemmed from Compass’ efforts to expand the listings it markets privately before posting them to an MLS.

The feud erupted on the same day as the National Association of Realtors announced it would uphold its Clear Cooperation Policy requiring Realtors to put their listings into NAR-affiliated MLSs within a day of public marketing — while also introducing a new delayed listing category. Clear Cooperation had been fiercely debated, and some had looked forward to a decision from NAR to settle the matter on private listings once and for all.

Nelson referenced those private listings in her statement, saying “we launched a compliant Private Exclusive marketing strategy using ‘non-exclusive’ and ‘unenforceable’ listing agreements — both of which, since the founding of NWMLS in 1984, have not been eligible for submission into the MLS.”

“This is a stark example of monopolistic control, with NWMLS having 100 percent market share of real estate agents, that limits homeowner choice, stifles competition, and sets a dangerous precedent for broker accountability and market fairness,” the Compass statement added.

In recent weeks, and leading up to the IDX feed suspension, the conflict between Compass and NWMLS has grown more intense.

At the end of March, Compass clients signaled they might sue NWMLS. Windermere — also a target of criticism in Reffkin’s Instagram posts — then fired back in a series of statements and opinion pieces.

Last week Windermere Co-President OB Jacobi told Inman Reffkin “has been a little bit of a bully when it comes to this movement.”

The IDX shutdown, however, further turns up the heat on the simmering cold war. Short for “internet data exchange,” the IDX feed takes information from the MLS and distributes it to MLS members. It allows MLS information to appear on third-party websites, and the technology is a key tool through which members of the real estate industry share listings. Being cut off from the feed could isolate agents from the rest of the market.

Whether Compass gets the NWMLS IDX feed back, the conflict over private listings is likely to persist. In addition to the dustup between NWMLS and Compass, Zillow and Redfin announced in recent days that they will not display listings that have been privately marketed.

On the other hand, a number of other brokerages besides Compass have also begun rolling out their own private listing networks.

Update: This story was updated after publication following the restoration of Compass IDX feed. 

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