On Friday, subscribers of Northwest MLS (NWMLS), will be able to utilize a new listing status known as “First Look.” The status, which is the result of a settlement between Compass and NWMLS ending their antitrust battle, allows sellers to publicly market homes before they enter active status while keeping those properties available to NWMLS members.
The creation of a coming soon status is quite the aberration for the broker-owned MLS, which previously did not allow for coming soon or office exclusive listings.
“Northwest MLS has really been a bright light in the MLS policy space, even before this lawsuit,” Russ Cofano, a co-founder of Alloy Advisors, said. “Having been a lawyer, I’ve negotiated plenty of settlements and a good settlement is one where both parties feel like they gave up a little too much. I believe both parties would say they gave up too much with this settlement, but that it is still a good settlement.”
Despite possibly giving up more than they would have liked, in an emailed statement, NWMLS called the settlement a “victory for open competition, consumer protection and the integrity of the regional housing market,” claiming that as a result of the settlement there would be no off-MLS private listings, which was the catalyst for this legal fight.
Compass first filed this lawsuit in April 2025, in which it claimed NWMLS was a “monopolist.” The brokerage alleged that NWMLS’s listing policy, which did not allow for office exclusive listings, was harming Compass as it prevented the firm from using its three-phased listing strategy, in which listings start out as Compass Private Exclusives before turning to coming soon and eventually active listings.
Two-phased marketing strategy
Industry analysts believe this settlement is a signal that Compass’s three-phased marketing plan may be becoming a two-phased strategy instead.
“When Compass announced its private exclusive and coming soon listings would be on a portal, it felt like they were starting to abandon the private listing phase because how can something be private if it is on a public portal,” Cofano said.
The data backs up these claims. In early August, the number of Compass’s private exclusive listings was down 27% year-over-year to roughly 5,000 listings, while the number of coming soon listings was up 185% to roughly 3,000 listings, according to an analysis by Mike DelPrete.
“They didn’t give up the thing that Compass really wanted, which is the ability to build an internal private network on the back with Northwest MLS data. I think the private exclusive fight in my mind is starting to go the way of the Dodo,” Amit Kulkarni, a co-founder of Alloy Advisors, said of both the decline in the number of private exclusives and the settlement. “I think their whole strategy now is starting to pivot to coming soon.”
Victor Lund, co-founder of real estate consulting firm WAV Group attributes the initial creation of Compass’s private exclusive strategy to the implementation of the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP) back in 2019.
“Clear Cooperation had the effect of real estate agents like those at Compass offering private exclusives so that sellers could get the choice they wanted in the way that they brought their home to market. They didn’t use private exclusives before their cooperation except in certain cases, such as sellers with privacy or safety concerns,” Lund said.
He feels that with NAR relying on MLSs to enforce CCP and more MLSs creating coming soon status options for sellers this is also contributing to the decline in the volume of Compass’s private listings.
Coming soon boom
In addition to providing some insight into the possible shift in Compass’s strategy, industry analysts also feel this settlement also signals that any MLSs still holding out against creating a coming soon status will soon be changing their stance.
“I think this settlement is going to be foundational and the cornerstone of a policy trend we are going to see in the industry,” Cofano said. “I think we are going to see more and more MLSs take this approach, which gives Compass something, but it doesn’t give them private exclusives.”
War of words
NWMLS coming to this settlement with Compass is also poignant given some of the statements Compass International Holdings CEO Robert Reffkin has made regarding MLSs and associations that don’t accommodate the demands of his firm or its agents.
In June 2025, at Compass’ RETREAT, Reffkin told attendees that he would push the MLSs to change.
“Organized real estate benefits from controlling your inventory. If they don’t have your inventory, it puts their business model at risk,” Reffkin said. “This is the most important moment in real estate history. This is about choice vs. control.”
He followed this statement up in February of this year during his firm’s fourth quarter 2025 earnings call with investors and analysts with a comment claiming that the alliance he had recently announced between Compass, Rocket and Redfin “marks the end of the restrictions that MLSs have had on agents and sellers on how they market homes.”
“Because when they’re restricting the agent and home seller, they’re going to be restricting Rocket,” Reffkin said. “I don’t see a scenario where the MLSs will continue to enforce these restrictive rules with Rocket and Redfin on our side because we now have more resources.”
These claims were shortly followed by a letter sent by Compass, Rocket and Redfin to MLSs urging them to adopt policies that support pre-marketing and phased marketing distribution and to cease penalizing or punishing agents for carrying out “seller-directed marketing plans.”
“The seller’s informed decision must always be respected. No MLS should override the judgment of the client or interfere with the fiduciary obligations of the professional representing them,” the letter stated. “We can no longer stand idly by while our real estate professionals face punitive actions for following duties to their clients. Compass International Holdings and Redfin are committed to defending our agents who are unfairly disciplined or penalized by an MLS for executing a seller-directed marketing plan.”
A harbinger of future legal action?
Given Compass is current legal docket, which includes an antitrust suit with Zillow and a probe from the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust, analysts are unclear if Compass will pursue legal action against other MLSs at this time, but it certainly remains a possibility.
“My hope is that Compass doesn’t have to go to court to support seller choice, but they definitely seem willing to do that,” Lund said.
Cofano is unsure if Compass will file additional lawsuits, but he does feel the firm may try to use the NWMLS saga as a cautionary tale for other MLSs resisting the creation of pre-marketing listing statuses.
“I would be surprised if we don’t see Compass using this in background discussions with other prominent MLSs to essentially force them down the same rabbit hole,” Cofano said.
While it remains to be seen how this settlement will impact other MLSs, the Council of MLSs (CMLS) CEO Jessica Edgerton believes that overall this is a good thing for the MLS industry.
“CMLS commends NWMLS for its unwavering commitment to an open, transparent, and comprehensive marketplace,” Edgerton wrote in an emailed statement. “The resolution of this matter and the introduction of the First Look status gives sellers enhanced flexibility during the early stages of a listing without walling off inventory inside closed or private networks. NWMLS continues to set a strong example nationally for how MLSs can adapt to consumer expectations while fiercely protecting an open marketplace and fair competition.”
