Zillow Bought Me a Plane Ticket

Zillow is flying me to the MRED hearing. Here's the full disclosure — and why this case matters far beyond Chicago.

Photo by Benjamin R. on Unsplash

This time next week, I’ll be sitting in a federal court in Chicago for the hearing on Zillow’s motion for a preliminary injunction against MRED.

Up until 24 hours ago, being present for the hearing wasn’t even on my radar. I thought I’d be celebrating my 36th birthday and, a few days later, lighting off some fireworks with our neighbors. Then I got an out-of-the-blue call from Errol Samuelson of Zillow with a “crazy idea.”

You can probably connect the dots, but I feel a bit of disclosure is in order.

Within two weeks of me starting Realtor Gone Rogue, Errol was one of the first ten subscribers to my Substack. I’ll have to ask him how he originally came across my writing — but, to put it mildly, I was surprised that my brand-new publication had caught his attention so quickly. In the months since, we’ve had a few brief exchanges. He first reached out to say he was intrigued by my retainer model at The Tartan Team. He emailed me again late last month, after I published The Kingmaker, expressing appreciation for my perspective on the MRED and Compass partnership.

If you’ve read me for a while, you know I have serious concerns about Compass. My intellectual adversaries would call me a “Compass hater.” The truth is, I don’t hate Compass. They’re merely one player in a much larger game. What troubles me is how Compass is using its power to change the rules of that game. And I care because The Game isn’t abstract — listings and leads, profits and market share. The Game’s most important pieces are people’s homes, their dreams, their goals. Their lives.

The stakes could hardly be higher.

I believe the housing market the American public deserves is one that is maximally accessible, transparent, and fair. I believe Compass’s “3-Phased Marketing” strategy is a threat to the relative transparency and fairness American consumers — buyers and sellers alike — enjoy today. And, as The Kingmaker argued, I believe Compass is weaponizing MLSs to advance a corporate agenda that, at its core, is designed to benefit its shareholders over the homeowners our industry exists to serve.

That’s where I’ve stood for months. And — surprise, surprise — many people at Zillow, including Errol, share those beliefs. So Errol reached out, he was complimentary about my writing, and this week he floated a crazy idea: Zillow would fly me out to sit in on the hearing.

I want to be clear about this: They’re paying for my flights and my hotel. I suspect they may even pick up the tab on a meal or two. And, yes, I’m genuinely excited to get some face time with Errol and others in Zillow’s leadership. These are some of the brightest minds and most influential figures in American real estate. I’d be crazy not to accept the invitation. Right?

But that raises another legitimate question: What’s in it for them?

I don’t think Errol would mind me sharing this, and surely it’s no surprise: They’ve asked me to listen. To reflect. And to write.

While they’re making it possible for me to attend, they are not compensating me for my time, nor do they have any editorial authority over what I publish. In Errol’s own words: “If you conclude that we’ve got it wrong, please write that.”

It’s a calculated risk on their part. I could conclude Zillow is wrong and that its motion should be rejected. More likely still, I could write pieces that are complete duds and get zero attention.

But, since we’re all adults here, we can safely acknowledge the real reason they’re bringing me — out of all the writers available to them — is because I’m an independent voice who, based on my body of work, happens to share their read on this particular battle.

Why then all the throat-clearing?

Because transparency is the whole point of what I do here.

You cannot have trust without transparency, and I value yours. I’d also rather name the reputational risk I’m incurring upfront rather than be at the mercy of someone else framing it for me. The lazy read, for the pro-Compass, pro-PLN folks who already disagree with me, is that this trip is evidence I’m in Zillow’s pocket. Far be it from me to stand in the way of anyone drawing their own conclusion — but for the more intellectually serious people in the Compass camp (of whom there are genuinely many), I at least wanted to offer some facts and context.

Here’s the most important piece of context I can give you: I’ve already said, in print, that my primary interest is not Zillow keeping its data access. Again, in The Kingmaker, I wrote that I have “no dog in the fight to protect Zillow’s access.” What bothers me is “the consolidation of power and control over access to listings” — no matter who’s doing the consolidating.

That was true before Zillow bought me a plane ticket, and it’ll be true after.

Which is the whole point. Zillow bought me a plane ticket. They didn’t pay my mortgage. If that corrupts me in someone’s mind, so be it. Though, as someone who writes out of love for this industry and the people it exists to serve, I sincerely hope it doesn’t.

Nine Listings, and Something Much Bigger.

The reason I don’t want these reflections to be easily dismissed is simple: this case matters. Far more than I think most agents and their clients currently realize.

On its surface, it looks niche. Nine listings, one cut feed, and a fight about MLS rules. All happening in Chicagoland. Why should an agent, like me, in Vancouver, WA care? Why should you care?

The headline question next week is, should a federal judge stop MRED from cutting off Zillow while the lawsuit plays out? But — and this is the part that matters for all of us — sitting underneath that procedural question is a much larger one: Whether a single brokerage can turn the cooperative the entire industry depends on into a weapon aimed at everyone else.

At the deepest level, that’s not a Zillow problem or even a Compass problem. That’s a who-writes-the-rules-and-who-do-they-serve problem. And it’s the same question I’ve been circling for months — now headed, for the first time, into a courtroom.

Before I fly out, I’ll publish a Part Two, highlighting with specificity what’s at stake in that room, what the hearing can and can’t decide, and some of the questions I’ll be carrying in. If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe here so you don’t miss anything.

In the meantime, I’m ordering a fresh notebook and packing my bags. I look forward to reporting back soon.

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