{"id":340475,"date":"2025-12-12T13:13:58","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T13:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/friday-flash-did-i-miss-anything\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T13:13:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T13:13:58","slug":"friday-flash-did-i-miss-anything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=340475","title":{"rendered":"Friday Flash: Did I miss anything?"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been checked-out for about a month. I missed some things, huh?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with Compass\u2019s proposed acquisition of Anywhere.<\/p>\n

The dominant narratives that have emerged in the past few weeks seem to be:<\/p>\n

This is the tipping point from which we will descend into a shattered marketplace defined by private listings.<\/em><\/p>\n

Or:<\/p>\n

This is the conclusive consolidation event, one that portends a real estate brokerage landscape as dismal as Verizon\/AT&T.<\/em><\/p>\n

I think both of these are off the mark.<\/p>\n

Regarding private listings, the thing I keep saying, and the thing most leaders competing with Compass don\u2019t want to admit publicly, is that unless you have geographically concentrated market share<\/em>, you really have no effective response to the Compass Private Exclusives play, no matter how big you are. The counter to this assertion is that many brokerages and franchisors with diffused market share will begin (and indeed already are) collaborating on collective private networks. But making this work assumes a lot, and overlooks an obvious collective action problem<\/a>. <\/strong><\/p>\n

So I don\u2019t think this deal sends the industry into private listings free-for-all. It just means Compass gets extra momentum on this front in markets where Anywhere\u2019s company-owned stores compound their share. Getting agents affiliated with franchisees \u2014 who make up the large majority of \u201cAnywhere\u2019s agents\u201d \u2014 is possible, but is a much harder, and longer, play.<\/p>\n

As for the consolidation narrative, while the numerical reality of a combined entity with ~20% national market share is undeniable, the on-the-ground reality is messy. The headline-driven \u201cgame over\u201d angle on this is both premature and ill-informed. This isn\u2019t telecom. It\u2019s a loosey-goosey, fluid ecosystem wherein consolidation can be likened to an effort to combine disparate lumps of Jello. <\/p>\n

When Compass bought Christie\u2019s in late 2024, my first thought was, \u201cThey\u2019re becoming Anywhere.\u201d That is now a pending reality. The question is, can Compass do Anywhere better than Anywhere could? Robert Reffkin and his board are betting they can. <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

Zillow did an integration with ChatGPT. <\/p>\n

There were concerns, accusations, and deep textual readings of NAR\u2019s IDX policy<\/a>. <\/p>\n

I think this is overblown. (If you\u2019re sensing a theme with this post, you\u2019re not wrong.)<\/p>\n

First of all, the actual app is pretty rudimentary \u2014 effectively the old web equivalent of an iframe. The fact that this is all it is is an IDX policy success, not a failure.  <\/p>\n

The win for Zillow is that they\u2019re on the platform first, not Redfin, Homes.com, or Realtor.com. Whether or not this is a transformational moment is anybody\u2019s guess, but Zillow\u2019s got a beachhead in case it turns out to be one. <\/p>\n

Personally, I think home search is the least <\/em>interesting thing that will impact the homebuying process.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

OK, back to Compass. They launched a buyer demand tool<\/a> this week. Smart. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always thought the chief focus of most brokerages and brands (and many vendors) is to give agents things that will help them rock a listing presentation<\/em>. If a new piece of software, or a new program, doesn\u2019t serve that purpose, think hard about doing it. <\/p>\n

Every Compass agent now walks into a listing presentation with:<\/p>\n