Private listings and the appraisal record The comps behind the velvet rope.

On July 22, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald of Wisconsin, chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust, asked Compass CEO Robert Reffkin and MRED CEO Rebecca Jensen for staff briefings. His letters warned of “velvet ropes” around certain properties. Real Estate News ↗ The panel said it was examining whether companies use private networks to insulate themselves from competition at consumers’ expense. No outcome of the briefings has been reported. HousingWire ↗

The phrase captured an argument that has consumed residential real estate for 18 months: whether a home can be marketed to some buyers before others, and who gets to decide. The country’s largest brokerage, its largest portal, a dozen MLSs, six state legislatures, three federal judges and several members of Congress have taken positions. Four legislatures passed bills.

Appraisers have no seat in that fight and are rarely mentioned in it. Yet they sit at the end of every transaction it touches. A home can spend two weeks as a private exclusive and ten days as Coming Soon, then reach the MLS and go under contract in 12 days. On an appraiser’s grid it can look like a quick, clean sale. The weeks of earlier exposure, and any asking price tested before MLS entry, may appear nowhere in the record the appraiser is required to cite.

We trace the rule that kept listings together for five years, the strategy that pulled them apart, the deals, lawsuits and laws that followed, the competing studies of what any of it does to price, and what Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA require of an appraiser who must report listing history and days on market from a named source.

NAR’s Board of Directors passed MLS Policy Statement 8.0, known as Clear Cooperation, on November 11, 2019, and gave MLSs until May 1, 2020 to adopt it. The rule is short: once a broker markets a property to the public, the listing must be submitted to the MLS within one business day. NAR ↗ Office exclusives stayed legal as long as they were not publicly marketed, and Coming Soon statuses that share the listing with all MLS participants comply. NAR policy and FAQ ↗

For appraisers, Clear Cooperation’s effect was practical: if a home was publicly marketed, its list date, list price, price changes and status history accumulated in one place, under one set of rules, where any participant could see them. That is the record the guidelines assume when they ask for days on market and a named data source.

In March 2025 NAR kept the rule but opened a door. Its Multiple Listing Options for Sellers policy created “delayed marketing exempt listings.” With written consent, a seller can tell the agent to postpone IDX display and syndication to portals for a period, while the listing stays visible to other MLS participants. MLSs had until September 30, 2025 to put it in place. NAR ↗ NAR’s FAQ adds that one-to-one, broker-to-broker conversations about a listing do not trigger Clear Cooperation. NAR MLOS FAQ ↗

Eight days earlier, the Justice Department told a court it had not taken a position that Clear Cooperation-type policies alone are anticompetitive, while a footnote flagged concern about exceptions that favor large brokerages. Real Estate News ↗

Compass describes three phases on its seller page. Phase 1 is a Private Exclusive, shown inside the Compass network. Phase 2 is Coming Soon, public on Compass.com and Redfin.com. Phase 3 is the public websites. Compass pitches Phase 1 as a way to test price without days on market, price drops or a rushed timeline. Compass ↗

The company’s securities filings describe the same sequence: list first as a Compass Private Exclusive, then as Compass Coming Soon, before going active on the MLS. SEC filing, Q4 2024 ↗ By its first-quarter 2025 release it had a formal name: the “3-Phased Price Discovery and Marketing Strategy.” SEC filing, Q1 2025 ↗

The point of the first two phases is price discovery: learning what buyers will pay before the listing becomes part of the shared record. When the home finally reaches the MLS, the discovery has already happened somewhere the MLS does not see.

The strategy now runs through a much larger company. Compass announced an all-stock acquisition of Anywhere Real Estate on September 22, 2025, at 1.436 Compass shares per Anywhere share. It put the enterprise value at about $10 billion including assumed debt, with roughly 340,000 agents across brands that include Coldwell Banker, Century 21, Corcoran, Sotheby’s International Realty and Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. SEC filing ↗ Inman reported the equity value at $1.6 billion, with about $2.6 billion of Anywhere net debt assumed. Inman ↗ The waiting period under federal merger law expired January 2 without a formal Justice Department investigation, and the deal closed January 9, 2026, forming Compass International Holdings, months ahead of its original schedule. SEC filing ↗ Bloomberg Law ↗

On its second-quarter 2026 call, Compass reported revenue of $4.3 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $363 million. It said 57% of new listings in the most recent week launched as Coming Soon, set a target of 80% by the end of the third quarter, and said it expects more than 90% of MLSs to allow these listings by year-end. MarketBeat ↗ On the prior call, Reffkin said he wants to create a national MLS to compete with local ones, and argued that state private-listing laws do not block phased marketing, calling “Private Exclusive” a label because the listings are still marketed. RISMedia ↗

Two figures from the fight concern double-ending, where one brokerage represents both sides. A Compass internal slide filed in the Zillow case states that off-market sales double-end 72% more often than on-market sales. Inman ↗ An April 2026 Consumer Policy Center report by Stephen Brobeck, a former Consumer Federation of America executive director, put Compass’s share of unit sales at 30% to 39.5% in Boston, Washington, Chicago, San Diego and Austin, and its Washington, D.C. double-ending rate at 41%, against a historical range of 3% to 12%. Inman ↗

Private listings are only useful to a seller if the right buyers see them. Through 2026, Compass signed a run of deals that route its pre-market inventory to a portal, a lender and several MLSs that agreed to carry it.

The Rocket deal, announced February 26, put Compass Coming Soon listings on Redfin immediately, with Private Exclusives to follow. Rocket said it could add more than 500,000 listings to Redfin and deliver more than 1 million buyer inquiries, and offered buyers a one-point rate reduction in year one or up to $6,000 in lender credit. Rocket ↗ Compass’s own page cites more than 1.2 million leads. Compass ↗ Redfin is not paying Compass for the listings, according to a person familiar with the deal. OnlineMarketplaces ↗ The deal reversed Redfin’s April 2025 pledge, under then-CEO Glenn Kelman, not to publish listings that had been publicly marketed before reaching the MLS. Inman ↗

MRED, the Chicago MLS with about 48,000 subscribers, went further on April 24. It opened its MLS and its roughly decade-old Private Listing Network to licensed agents nationwide. Compass agreed to feed its national inventory, including Private Exclusives and Coming Soon listings, and to pay MRED membership for its first 100,000 agents. Inman ↗ Jensen said the MLS should not dictate marketing or business-model practices. Real Estate News ↗ Realtracs, with about 19,000 subscribers in six states, followed on April 30, with United Real Estate also joining. Real Estate News ↗

The deal that matters most to the appraisal record came on May 6. The MLS, the Southern California MLS known as CLAW, created an “MLS Exclusive” status that is members-only, can last the life of the listing, and does not record days on market or price history until the sale. Compass reimburses switching costs for its first 100,000 agents and 10,000 others. Real Estate News ↗

On March 19, Compass and Rocket published an open letter urging agents to report MLS penalties for seller-directed marketing. It named seven MLSs as resisting: Arizona Regional, California Regional, First MLS, Georgia MLS, Northwest MLS, OneKey MLS and Stellar MLS, and called them a clear minority. Real Estate News ↗ Inman’s coverage lists Redfin as a signer too. Inman ↗

Zillow and eXp announced the Zillow Listing Access Standards on April 10, 2025. Zillow ↗ Zillow began sending notices on May 28 and blocking non-compliant listings on June 30. An agent’s first two non-compliant listings drew notices; from the third, listings were blocked for the life of the listing agreement. Real Estate News ↗ Outlets described the trigger differently: HousingWire wrote within one business day of public marketing, Inman within 24 hours. HousingWire ↗ Inman ↗

On March 17, 2026, Zillow revised the standard. Publicly marketed listings must now be broadly accessible. Zillow dropped the ban on listings marketed on other public sites before Zillow, while private listing networks and gated inventory remain excluded. Zillow ↗ RISMedia ↗

By September, pre-market listing statuses had become common enough that NWMLS was the lone large holdout, until its settlement. Utah’s Wasatch Front MLS added its first coming-soon status in May 2026. Inman ↗ The open questions moved from whether pre-market listings exist to who controls them, who can see them, and how each status treats time and price. The last of those is the appraiser’s question.

The rulings have not settled the merits, but they have settled some facts about market power. In the Zillow case in New York, the court assumed for argument that Zillow held 50% to 66% of the relevant market and still found monopoly power not shown. That range was an assumption, not a finding; Reuters described it as Compass’s likely overstated claim. Reuters ↗ The court found the evidence of a Zillow-Redfin conspiracy ambiguous and contradicted by credible testimony. RISMedia ↗ In Chicago, Judge Tharp found Zillow had not made a sufficiently strong showing that MRED holds monopoly power in a relevant market. Real Estate News ↗ A Bloomberg wire story described MRED as holding a monopoly on Chicago-area listings; the court’s finding is the one that counts. Insurance Journal ↗

The Chicago case produced the most vivid moment. After Compass cut its direct feeds to Zillow on May 8, according to Zillow, cutting direct access to more than 25% of current Chicagoland listings, MRED suspended Zillow’s feeds on May 20. Reports of the size differed: HousingWire said about 43,000 active listings, RISMedia more than 30,000. HousingWire ↗ RISMedia ↗ A temporary order restored the feeds two days later, required Zillow to carry nine listings it had removed, and barred it from banning listings in ZIP codes where MRED had listings between April 2025 and April 2026. HousingWire ↗ When the injunction was denied in September, nearly 100 Compass agents outside Chicago joined MRED within 24 hours, and dozens of previously banned listings returned to Zillow. Real Estate News ↗ Zillow said the ruling is not the final word. Real Estate News ↗

The NWMLS settlement is the only one with terms that touch the data. Its First Look status lasts up to 21 days and allows showings and open houses; the seller decides whether the listing goes on IDX. Days in First Look and pre-launch price changes are kept off public sites but stay in the internal NWMLS database. NWMLS ↗ HousingWire ↗ NWMLS says First Look prevents off-MLS “shadow” markets, and RISMedia reports its rules still bar closed pocket networks, including Compass Private Exclusives. RISMedia ↗

Washington moved fastest. SSB 6091, sponsored by Sen. Marko Liias, passed the Senate 49 to 0 and the House 92 to 1, was signed March 16 and took effect June 11. Washington Legislature ↗ It applies the prohibition with only a narrow exception for the health or safety of the owner or occupant, and routes violations to the state’s unprofessional-conduct statute. Session law ↗ Supporters at the hearing included Washington Realtors, Windermere, Habitat for Humanity, Zillow and the Fair Housing Center of Washington; Compass opposed. The supporters’ summary in the Senate bill report said private listings can negatively impact appraisals, one of only two places we found a government document raise appraisal at all. Senate Bill Report ↗

Wisconsin’s Act 69 covers 1 to 4 unit homes and takes effect January 1, 2027. A seller who opts out must sign a department form acknowledging reduced awareness, no public-platform display, and possibly fewer offers or a lower price. Its registered supporters included the Wisconsin Realtors Association and Zillow Group. Wisconsin DSPS ↗ Wisconsin Ethics Commission ↗ Connecticut’s law, in effect since October 1, defines public marketing broadly, from websites and social media to signs and emails to multiple recipients. Its opt-out form warns that reduced exposure may result in a lower sale price. OLR summary ↗ Public Act ↗

New York’s Fair and Transparent Real Estate Listings Act passed the Assembly on May 29 and the Senate 60 to 0 on June 1. As of October 5, the official trackers show no delivery to Gov. Kathy Hochul, no signature and no veto. NY Senate ↗ RISMedia ↗ The final bill was softened from an earlier one-day draft. It includes a good-faith defense and would take effect 180 days after becoming law. The Real Deal ↗ Bill text ↗

Both sides have published numbers on whether marketing a home privately raises or lowers its price. They disagree, and they are not measuring the same thing. Before using any figure below, read who paid for it and which homes it compares.

Compass’s July 2026 study of 70,809 closings found a 4.6% price premium for its phased marketing, 34% faster time to contract and 29% fewer price cuts, about $19,780 on a $430,000 median. It covers listings whose pre-market phase ended on the MLS and excludes expired and withdrawn listings, so homes that failed to sell are not in it. Real Estate News ↗ A separate Compass analysis compared 806 listings Zillow had banned with 296,966 that were not, and found median sale-to-list ratios of 100% versus 98.7%; Beacon Economics said the comparison did not seem statistically reasonable. HousingWire ↗

The one study without a commercial sponsor is narrow. Hayunga, at the University of Georgia, examined about 700,000 Dallas-Fort Worth sales from 2002 to 2022, of which about 1% were true pocket sales. He found a 1.7% premium overall, 3.3% before Clear Cooperation, 0.9% after it, which was not statistically significant, and 8.2% in luxury homes. Real Estate News ↗ Reffkin has promoted it repeatedly on social media. RISMedia ↗

On the other side, Zillow’s May 2026 research on 6.2 million sales found off-MLS sales were 1.9% of the sample and sold for 1.3% less, about $4,230 each, and that dual agency cost sellers $1.49 billion over three years. Zillow ↗ Zillow’s retained economist in the Chicago case associated likely Compass private-listing sales with prices 4% lower in Chicagoland and 4.8% lower nationally, using a narrower definition than Compass uses. The Close ↗ Bright MLS’s 2023 study of more than a million sales found on-MLS homes sold for 17.5% more, but it compared all off-MLS sales, including for-sale-by-owner, against MLS sales. Bright MLS ↗ The best-known critiques of Bright’s methods were aimed at its 2022 study, not this one. Inman ↗

A Bright MLS report from April 2025 adds a different kind of evidence. Private listings were nearly 8% of properties in February 2025, up from about 2% three to four years earlier. Only 13% of homes that started as private listings opened and closed as office exclusives, and listings that started that way took a median 37 days to contract, against 20 for standard listings. Real Estate News ↗

None of the rules below mention private listings. All of them assume a record of listing dates, prices and time on market that the appraiser can find, cite and verify. Here is what they require, in their own terms.

Fannie Mae also says comparables should generally have closed within the last 12 months, and that the appraiser must analyze closed sales, contract sales and listings. Fannie Mae B4-1.3-08 ↗ B4-1.3-07 ↗ One widely shared column on private listings said UAD requires days on market to be “considered.” The Selling Guide’s wording is that DOM must be reported. HousingWire column ↗ Fannie Mae ↗

FHA’s Mortgagee Letter 2025-18 dropped the requirement for at least two active listings or pending sales on the grid, but kept the rule that MLS records alone are not acceptable verification. HUD ↗ FHA’s report guide requires the subject’s listing history for the prior 12 months, including dates, prices and terms of current and prior listings, with DOM in UAD format. FHA guide ↗

We searched Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHFA, the Appraisal Institute, ASA, NAA, The Appraisal Foundation and major AVM vendors for any public statement on private or pre-market listings and appraisal data. As of October 5, we found none. Fannie Mae’s March 2026 Appraiser Update and the Appraisal Institute’s July 21 newsletter are silent on the topic. The only government voices on appraisal so far are Sen. Warren’s August 6 letter and the supporters’ testimony summarized in Washington’s Senate bill report. Senate Banking ↗ WA Senate Bill Report ↗

Industry voices have filled some of the silence, as opinion. Anthony V. Mannino argued in HousingWire that pre-market suppression produces “laundered” sale records that flow into comps and AVMs. HousingWire ↗ Bruce Ailion of RE/MAX Town & Country argued that thinner comp data raises repurchase and model risk for lenders. HousingWire ↗ eXp CEO Leo Pareja, whose company announced Zillow’s standards jointly with it, wrote that appraisers already spend hours calling agents one by one, and called on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHFA to take notice. Inman ↗

The problem is sharper in nondisclosure states, where sale prices are not public record. A Bernalillo County Assessor handout lists them as Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri (some counties), Mississippi, Wyoming, Utah, Texas, North Dakota, New Mexico and Montana. NM Legislature ↗ On off-market sales, the chief appraiser of the Travis Central Appraisal District in Austin said: “All we can do is work with the data we have.” MortgagePoint ↗