Don’t let corporate decisions turn into hostility toward agents

As we continue to speak out about the corporate decisions reshaping our industry — particularly around private listings and the quiet dismantling of our MLS system through a national MLS service being pushed forward by MRED and Compass — there’s something I want us all to keep in perspective — and I’m including myself in this.

It would be easy, as these conversations get louder, for things to drift into an “us versus them” mentality toward individual agents. I don’t want that to happen. Not from me, and not from anyone in this industry.

We see it all the time in politics. Someone belongs to a particular party, practices a certain faith, or comes from a different background — and suddenly they get lumped into a category. People stop seeing the individual. They only see the label. They direct their frustration and anger at an entire group based on the actions of a few. It’s one of the worst tendencies we have as human beings, and I refuse to let us fall into that same trap here.

Keeping the focus on people

So, let’s keep something important in mind: Compass agents are wonderful people, as are the other agents from different brokerages who might hold beliefs that are different from ours.

Most agents have the same goals and fears as the rest of us. They want to grow, to serve their clients well, to make a difference in the lives of buyers and sellers — and yes, to put food on the table for their families.

They chose to hang their license with a company because that company offered them something they valued. And honestly? A lot of what these organizations deliver in terms of tools, technology and marketing resources is genuinely impressive.

The push to upend the norms that have served our industry for decades is not coming from these colleagues. It’s coming from way higher up the corporate ladder.

The brokers and executives encouraging private listings are passionate, talented, fiercely competitive people. That competitive drive is exactly what got them to where they are.

But that same drive — that hunger for dominance and market control — is showing real consequences. Not just for you, the working agent, but for the buyers and sellers we are all ethically bound to serve.

The Clear Cooperation Policy exists for a reason: to protect consumers by ensuring broad market exposure and transparent competition. When listings are withheld from the MLS, buyers lose access to inventory, sellers may net less, and the playing field tilts toward whoever controls the most private inventory.

That’s not innovation. That’s consolidation dressed up as disruption.

But here’s my point — and it’s the heart of this piece.

For those of us working to push back and protect the open, cooperative marketplace that benefits everyone, we must never let our frustration with corporate decisions turn into hostility toward individual agents.

The person sitting across from you at the closing table who happens to carry a Compass business card is just another professional trying to do right by their clients. They didn’t design the policy. They’re navigating it, just like we are.

We can hold corporate leadership accountable for decisions that harm our industry and still treat every agent we encounter with the professionalism and respect they’ve earned. That’s not a contradiction. That’s character.

This industry was built on cooperation. Our entire value system — the MLS, the National Association of Realtors’ Code of Ethics, the cooperative commission model — was designed around the idea that agents work together in service of their clients, even across competing brokerages. The moment we turn on each other is the moment we hand the critics exactly the narrative they want.

So, as things continue to unfold, let’s stay clear on who we’re actually disagreeing with. Let’s direct our energy where it belongs — toward policy, toward leadership, toward systemic change — and keep the door open to every individual agent we meet along the way.