ROBERT REFFKIN,
FOUNDER & CEO, COMPASS
Protecting and Maximizing the Value of Homes
For years, the traditional way of selling your home has been part of a system that has put sellers at a disadvantage. The most well-known real estate websites have built their business models at the expense of homeowners by showing negative insights on their listings, such as days on market, price drops, and home value estimates.
For years, the traditional way of selling your home has been part of a system that has put sellers at a disadvantage. The most well-known real estate websites have built their business models at the expense of homeowners by showing negative insights on their listings, such as days on market, price drops, and home value estimates.
At Compass, we’re leveling the playing field by giving individual homeowners the same playbook and best practices real estate developers and professional homebuilders have benefited from for years. We’re working with homeowners to build the smartest and safest place to list homes.
The marketing strategies that Compass supports are not novel or new. In fact, they have been used by the largest and most successful group of sellers in the industry—professional homebuilders and real estate developers. They 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:
They test an aspirational price or validate a pricing strategy privately before listing on the MLS.
They pre-market while staging and preparing the home to create interest and anticipation before it’s ready to launch.
They learn from the data and analytics they get from their websites, including property page views, visits, and engagement insights.
They control which websites their photos, address, and data appear on and protect their data.
Our research shows that Compass-sold homes that are pre-marketed before going active on the MLS, on average, are associated with these results:
Higher Closing Price
Faster to Contract
Less Likely to Drop in Price
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. Price drop history is included for geographies where price drop history is available from MLS. Source: Compass data. Findings from the internal analysis were based on a hedonic regression model 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.
Portal sites hurt homeowners by placing negative insights that devalue your home. At Compass, we put homeowners first.
Extend your marketing runway by controlling when the property is put on the MLS, 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.
Some third-party sites block buyers’ ability to reach out to the listing agent directly. These leads are sold to other agents who may be unfamiliar with your home and whose interests may not align with your selling goals.
Automated home valuations on third-party sites use outdated algorithms and incomplete data, often mispricing homes and shaping buyer expectations before you even list.
Third-party platforms can add their own assessments and data to a listing, which may not accurately reflect the true value or desirability of your property.
Just like many companies test products with a smaller audience before launch, listing your home as a Private Exclusive allows you to test price, gain critical insights, generate early demand, and extend your marketing runway – all before going public.
Find out more about Compass Private Exclusives here.
Make your listing available to a nationwide network of 34,000 top agents and their millions of clients.
Begin to create urgency and generate buyer interest without accumulating days on market or damaging public price drops.
Sometimes you’ll find a buyer that will pay a premium for certainty and reduced stress.
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.
Go ‘Active’ on MLS & third-party sites with the benefit of price discovery from Phases 1 & 2.
Armed with feedback from agents and buyers, we strategically launch your home on the public market to help ensure maximum demand and confidence to achieve the best outcome for you. Now that your home is launched, it will accrue days on market and visible price drop history.
At Compass, we believe selling your home should be done on your terms, with control over how it’s marketed and how your data is being used.
*Select phases of this marketing plan are not possible in some markets where MLS and/or association rules restrict public marketing before a listing is input into the MLS. Check with your Broker of Record to ensure you are compliant with your local MLS requirements.
Mark McClinchie is dedicated to helping you find your dream home and assisting with any selling needs you may have. Contact Mark today to start your home searching journey!