Welcome to real estate insights born from many years “in the trenches.” This site cuts through the theory to deliver down-to-earth, field-tested advice for homeowners, buyers, and industry pros—covering everything from buying and selling to investing and development. It’s all practical knowledge for making smarter property decisions.
Latest news on real estate laws, regulations, and policy changes impacting the market.
Here’s an update on the One Big Beautiful Bill, fresh from its tight Senate win and heading to the House.
Bottom line up front: The Senate kept almost all the real-estate perks from the original plan and added a few new benefits. If the House signs off, homeowners, landlords, sellers, investors and real estate agents will see more money in their pockets, clearer tax rules, and stronger support for affordable housing.
The Compass-Zillow Lawsuit Isn’t Just Legal Drama—It’s a Battle Over Real Estate’s Innovation DNA
Glenn Sanford, CEO of eXp, just weighed in on the Compass-Zillow lawsuit—and whether you agree with him or not, his post hits a critical nerve about where this industry could be headed.
The Compass antitrust lawsuit against Zillow is heating up, and Greg Hague’s latest analysis puts an even sharper point on what’s at stake. I covered the legal filing last week, but Hague’s breakdown highlights just how transformative this case could be for the real estate industry. He’s right: this isn’t just about listing policies or portal preferences. It’s a fight over who controls the digital front door to homebuying—and whether innovation in marketing strategies gets crushed under the weight of a near-monopoly.
What Zillow calls a policy change for transparency, Hague frames as textbook exclusionary conduct. And it’s hard to argue with that lens when you consider the timing: Compass gains traction with its Private Exclusives and extended pre-MLS marketing, NAR adjusts the Clear Cooperation Policy to allow more flexibility, and suddenly Zillow drops a 24-hour rule that effectively bans listings that don’t play by its rules. It’s not about fairness to buyers; it’s about eliminating options that threaten Zillow’s lead-gen machine. The permanent nature of the ban, coupled with Zillow’s platform dominance, underscores the concern.
Compass filed a federal antitrust lawsuit yesterday accusing Zillow of trying to crush competition in the home search space. The core of the lawsuit challenges what Compass calls the “Zillow Ban,” a new policy set to begin enforcement June 30th, which blocks any listing from appearing on Zillow if it was marketed elsewhere—even on a brokerage’s private platform—for more than one day.
Compass claims this rule unfairly targets its 3-Phased Marketing Strategy, which allows sellers to start privately marketing a listing before it hits the MLS and public portals. According to the complaint, 94% of listings that used the strategy in 2024 ultimately went to the MLS and sites like Zillow, but the new policy would strip those sellers of that exposure unless they bypass pre-marketing altogether—or fire their agent and relist with someone else. The suit alleges this is a classic monopolistic move to limit seller choice, eliminate competing innovation, and control inventory. Compass also accuses Zillow of conspiring with Redfin and eXp to enforce the policy across multiple platforms, describing it as a coordinated boycott.
In recent weeks, the U.S. Department of Justice has moved to terminate or seek early termination of several redlining-related consent orders with banks, citing substantial compliance with the terms of the original settlements. These actions mark a shift in approach and have sparked conversation across the financial and regulatory landscape.
Key updates include:
While the industry debates Clear Cooperation, buyer comp rules, and MLS policy shifts, state real estate regulators — the ones with enforcement power — are quietly stepping in.
In a recent post on her blog, former California DRE investigator and real estate compliance consultant Summer Goralik sounded the alarm: Private listings are drawing increased scrutiny, and state agencies are preparing to act.
Another day, another lawsuit taking aim at the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) and its long-standing policies. But this one doesn’t center on buyer broker compensation like the Sitzer-Burnett or Moehrl cases. Instead, it targets a different piece of NAR’s structure—the so-called “three-way agreement” and its Variable Dues Formula (VDF), which, according to a new federal complaint, forces brokers to either pay dues for agents who don’t want to be members or disassociate with them altogether.
Filed June 9 in the Central District of California by broker John Diaz, the complaint alleges that NAR, the California Association of REALTORS® (CAR), and two local associations (Lodi and Central Valley) have violated federal antitrust law through a coordinated effort that restricts competition and punishes brokerages that don’t fall in line.
Maybe Subagency Isn’t So Crazy After All
So… Rob Hahn stirred the pot again. In his recent piece, A Modest Proposal: Bring Back Subagency, Rob suggests we ditch buyer agency and go back to the “good old days” where everyone worked for the seller—and he makes the case better than I expected.
Just days after I wrote about the controversy surrounding NAR’s Standard of Practice 10-5 (SOP 10-5), the National Association of REALTORS® Board of Directors has officially ratified changes to the standard. As expected, the updates focus on clarifying the definition of “harassment” and narrowing its scope to only apply when REALTORS® are acting in a professional capacity.
This morning’s move at the REALTORS® Legislative Meetings in Chicago formalizes the proposed revisions that had been in the works since 2023. According to NAR President Kevin Sears, the aim is to better align Article 10 of the Code of Ethics with similar standards used by other large trade associations, while also easing enforcement for state and local associations.
If the preliminary vote tallies hold, Redfin shareholders just gave Rocket Companies the green light to buy them out for $1.75 billion. That vote took place yesterday, June 4, during a special meeting that followed some last-minute legal fireworks and a bit of political heat. Assuming everything stays on track, the deal will close before the end of June.
For those who haven’t been tracking it closely, this merger means Rocket, best known for Rocket Mortgage, is about to add a national real estate brokerage, tech platform, and salaried-agent workforce to its portfolio. It also means Redfin, which hasn’t had a profitable year in nearly two decades, gets absorbed into a company with the budget and appetite to scale their model nationwide.