“We are building a more open, competitive marketplace — one that gives homeowners and agents real choice, more transparency, and smarter strategies.”
ROBERT REFFKIN,
FOUNDER & CEO, COMPASS
Your Home.
Your Choice.
For decades, organized real estate, including multiple listing services, associations, and online portals, have dictated how homes are marketed and sold in the United States. These entities profit from controlling access to listings and information, limiting both competition and consumer choice.
As a result, home sellers are forced into a one-size-fits-all approach. Once a home appears on MLSs and portals, it’s immediately subject to negative insights like days on market, price drops, and automated value estimates — all of which can quickly work against a seller’s best interest. Sellers are forced to either accept these negative insights or list their home as a Private Exclusive. There is no other option available because organized real estate dictates how listings must be marketed.
At Compass, we believe homeowners should have the freedom to decide how to market and sell their home. Every seller deserves a strategy that aligns with their goals, timing, and comfort level.
That’s why we created the Compass 3-Phased Marketing Strategy, giving homeowners the same advantages as real estate developers and professional homebuilders.
Compass Is Giving Homeowners the Same Advantages as Real Estate Developers and Professional Homebuilders
Professional homebuilders and real estate developers have a sophisticated playbook on how to sell homes and just like some homeowners, have properties they want to advertise that aren’t ready to be shown. Here are the key things they do:
Test Aspirational Pricing
They test an aspirational price or validate a pricing strategy privately before listing on the MLS.
Learn from Engagement Insights From the Listing Page
They learn from the data and analytics they get from their websites, including property page views, visits, and engagement insights.
Harness the Power of Marketing
They market while staging and preparing the home to create interest and anticipation before it’s ready to be on MLSs and portals.
Protect and Control Their Data
They control which websites their photos, address, and data appear on and protect their data.
You Decide How Your Home Is Sold
At Compass, we believe selling your home should feel as personal and considered as the home itself. Our 3-Phased Marketing Strategy offers distinct pathways that are crafted to align with your goals, your timing, and your vision.
To help you make the most informed decision, we’ve outlined all available options in our
3-Phased Marketing Strategy Disclosure Form.
Portal Sites Hurt Homeowners By Displaying Negative Insights That Devalue Homes
At Compass, we put homeowners first.
Eliminate Days on Market & Price Drop History Risk
Extend your marketing runway by controlling when the property is put on the MLS and portals, helping minimize public days on market or price drop history. Excessive days on market and price drop history can devalue your property in the eyes of buyers.
1.
Avoid Missed Buyer Inquiries
Some third-party sites block buyers’ ability to contact the listing agent directly. These leads are sold to other agents who may be unfamiliar with your home and may not represent the buyers in a way that results in a sale.
2.
3.
Control your Pricing
Automated home valuations on third-party sites use outdated algorithms and incomplete data, often mispricing homes and negatively shaping buyer expectations before you even list.
No Negative Insights Added to Your Listing
Portals can add their own assessments and information to a listing, which may not accurately reflect the true condition, value, or desirability of your property.
4.
The Compass
3-Phased Marketing Strategy
A Smarter, More Flexible Way to Sell
Compass Private Exclusive
PHASE 1
The rigid rules of organized real estate limit how agents can compete and how sellers can showcase their properties. However, Compass Private Exclusives give both agents and homeowners the freedom to tailor their marketing approach.
Because all marketing is public by definition, a Private Exclusive isn’t hidden or secret. It is a way to publicly market in the manner that best serves the homeowner — without exposing the property to negative signals that can reduce perceived value.
Every buyer and brokerage searching on Compass.com can see how many Private Exclusives match their criteria and connect with a Compass agent to learn more. In fact, while almost every real estate company in the United States has private listings, Compass is the only one that offers this level of transparency to consumers.
On Compass.com, every home search displays the exact number of available properties — including Compass Private Exclusives — providing equal visibility and opportunity for every consumer and brokerage regardless of any buyer characteristic.
Make your listing available to a nationwide network of 37,000 top agents, their millions of clients, and to any buyer or brokerage who contacts a Compass agent.
Begin to create urgency and generate buyer interest without accumulating days on market or damaging public price drops.
Sometimes you’ll find a buyer who will pay a premium for certainty and reduced stress.
PHASE 2
Compass Coming Soon
Publicly launch your property on Compass.com, showcasing it to all agents and consumers on the internet without displaying days on market or price drop history. Signal to the market that increased competition for the listing will be coming soon when it’s launched on all other sites.
Find out more about Compass Coming Soon here.
Receive key engagement insights from your agent about how agents and their buyers are viewing, commenting, and sharing your listing on Compass.com – data that is lost when listings go into other platforms.
Improve the chance of ranking higher on Google while increasing the likelihood that serious buyers contact us directly, instead of an agent who may not be familiar with your home.
In this phase, have more control over your data so photos of your home and personal information don’t stay on the Internet.
Go Live on All Platforms
PHASE 3
Go ‘Active’ on the MLS and portals with the benefit of learning from Phases 1 & 2.
Armed with feedback from agents and buyers, we strategically launch your home on the MLS and portals in a way that helps ensure maximum demand and confidence to achieve the best outcome for you. Now that your home is on the MLS and portals, it will accrue days on market and visible price drop history
Marketing by the Numbers
Our research shows that Compass-sold homes that are marketed before going active on the MLS and portals, on average, are associated with these results:
“Compass Private Exclusives Are Available To All”
On Compass.com, every home search displays the exact number of available properties — including Compass Private Exclusives — providing equal visibility and opportunity for every consumer regardless of any buyer characteristic.
Not being on the MLS or portals to start helps more sellers and is good for competition. While a one-stop shop like the MLS or portals may seem convenient, in the long run, it hurts competition and limits consumer choice. The real estate market is no different. The free-market system thrives on diversity, with different companies offering distinct products and consumers empowered to choose what best suits their needs.
When choice disappears and control is concentrated in a single source or monopoly, the result is inevitable: higher prices, fewer options, and lower quality.
At Compass, we believe the same principles that drive a healthy economy should also define how homes are bought and sold. That’s why we’re building a more open, competitive marketplace—one that gives homeowners and agents real options, greater transparency, and smarter strategies.
Your Home.
Your Choice.
Your Freedom.
At Compass, we believe every homeowner deserves control over how their property is marketed and the freedom to protect its value.
The choice should always belong to the homeowner — not organized real estate.
Building the Smartest and Safest Place To List Your Home
*Findings are descriptive statistics and compare the average of Compass residential listings that went active on a MLS and were pre-marketed as a Compass Private Exclusive and/or Compass Coming Soon vs. the average of Compass residential listings that went active on a MLS but were not pre-marketed as a Compass Private Exclusive and/or Compass Coming Soon from January 1, 2024 - December 31, 2024 as well as measure the percentage of Compass Coming Soon residential listings that sold during the period January 1, 2024 - December 31, 2024. Compass Coming Soon listings that sold off the MLS are identified as having a close date in 2024, were pre-marketed as a Compass Coming Soon, and were on the MLS for less than one day. Source: Compass data. Findings from the internal analysis were based on a hedonic regression analysis that examined Compass residential closed sell-side transactions from January 1, 2024 - December 31, 2024, nationally and for all residential property types (single family, co-op, condo, townhouse, and condop). For 2024, Compass pre-marketed listings are associated with an average 2.9% increase in the final close price versus Compass listings that went directly to the MLS. The estimated effect has a 95% confidence interval ranging from 1.9% and 3.9%. This finding may vary depending on market conditions and seasonality.
The results provided are based on current data and methodologies, and should not be interpreted as definitive predictions of future outcomes. Compass utilizes a Compass Private Exclusive listing and/or Compass Coming Soon listing at the direction of the seller. Compass makes no warranty, representation or guarantee as to the accuracy of these results or any actual outcome of using the Three Phase Marketing Program. Results may vary. Correlation does not necessarily equal causation.