Last week, Compass announced a new proprietary new tool to “track homebuyer activity in real time.” Called Buyer Demand, it allows agents to access buyer-related market insights using data from saved searches within Compass’ network.[1]
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My first thought when I heard the news? That sounds awfully familiar.
Compass didn’t invent buyer demand as a lead-gen tool
When I was launching my first brokerage, I was searching for any edge I could find. That’s when a young founder walked into my office with a bold idea: What if we could capture and share anonymized buyer demand data — not just within our own walls, but with our competitors, too?
He called the concept a “Buyer Graph.”
It sounded crazy at first, but we implemented it. And for the first time, my team could pull up real-time price demand charts to help set list prices, visualize heat maps showing where buyers were actually searching and reverse-prospect listings against active demand across the graph.
The insights were powerful. They changed how we positioned homes, advised clients and understood our market. Only later did this idea spread across the industry. And now, nearly a decade later, Compass is rolling out a similar product with plenty of fanfare.
The founder who walked into my office that day? Andrew Flachner. And the company behind the Buyer Graph was RealScout.
Over the years, dozens of Buyer Graphs launched in major U.S. markets, including Los Angeles and New Jersey, with brokerages like Long & Foster and KW Metro Center participating. Not long after that, companies like Percy (formerly Buyside) followed suit, with their own Buyer Market Analysis reports. [3][4][5]
Zillow, for its part, uses interaction on its portal platform to unlock additional market demand insights. While Zillow traffic includes millions of casual shoppers in addition to its more serious visitors, the sheer magnitude of its reach and insight makes this functionality invaluable to its users, including agent partners.[6]
Enter Compass. Last week’s news about Compass’s new product feels uncannily familiar in both design and functionality — but with one important twist. It’s only available to Compass agents, and the demand data comes exclusively from Compass clients.
That choice reignites an old debate in our industry: Do we want to move toward a truly connected marketplace or splinter further into a patchwork of private networks?
Closed vs. open data ecosystems
The big difference between Compass’ buyer demand tool and that of other companies is the data it draws from and the audience it’s available to.
For some time now, the question around Compass has been: Is the future of real estate open or closed? Compass believes in a closed ecosystem with a vast hoard of private listings. Many of us, however, believe that more visibility, more connection and more collaboration is better for everyone.
Compass’ buyer demand insights are limited to Compass agents and their clients. That exclusivity means that the data is limited to Compass’ footprint in each individual market, which is often smaller than the sum of its competitors.
By contrast, other buyer demand tech tools are “brokerage agnostic,” facilitating collaboration across companies throughout the industry, giving agents in any brokerage access to the buyer demand data they, and their clients, need.
With its proposed acquisition of Anywhere, Compass seems to be banking on a formula where more agents equal more data and more perceived value. However, as long as the number of Compass’ competitors is greater than the market share that Compass controls, they’ll be at a disadvantage.
By favoring tech tools with an open data ecosystem, independent brokerages and competing franchisers are better able to band together and stay competitive amid the current wave of consolidation.
5 actionable takeaways from the buyer demand data debate
So, why should you care about any of this? Because of the power of buyer demand data to show your expertise in your local market.
Here are five things to know about the buyer demand data debate:
1. Use buyer demand data to win listings
Real-time buyer demand is more powerful than comparable sales during listing appointments, because it’s more precise and more current. Use tools like heat maps that offer insights that reflect up-to-the-minute buyer interest, not yesterday’s closings.
Instead of looking in the rearview mirror, you can tell a fresh story at your next listing consultation.
2. Non-Compass agents, you can benefit from buyer demand data, too
No, you don’t have to move to a new brokerage to take advantage of game-changing buyer data. Tools like RealScout and Percy help you access buyer intent, or you can use proxies like pending sales, open house traffic and hits to your website or social media channels to develop your own guesstimates.
When you choose tech that works across brokerages and MLSs, you get broader exposure, more collaboration, and better matches between buyers and listings.
3. Educate market-savvy consumers with better data
Consumers today are more informed and discerning than ever. Providing them with the most current buyer demand insights helps to build trust, positioning you as their knowledgeable guide and market expert.
Better data and tools like heat maps, demand calculators and reverse prospecting matches help set expectations, answer objections and allow you to make data-informed decisions together.
4. Audit your tech stack to future-proof your business
Your brokerage isn’t always the best place to find the latest technology. Independently built tools and platforms are often adopted early by forward-thinking agents, helping them stay nimble and competitive.
Need insight? Talk to the techiest agent at your brokerage. I guarantee they’re using at least one tool that your broker has never heard of.
5. Which side will you choose: open or closed?
This isn’t about one tech tool. It’s about an entire philosophical debate: Should real estate be shared or siloed[7]? Should innovation lead to exclusivity or collaboration? At the heart of this debate stands the future of real estate — and your business.
A buyer demand tool is powerful, but it isn’t novel. There are several of them out there, and they’ve been around for years. The real story here should be about the tension between a collaborative real estate industry versus walled gardens.
References
- ^ announced a new proprietary new tool (www.inman.com)
- ^ TAKE THE INMAN INTEL SURVEY FOR OCTOBER (www.research.net)
- ^ Los Angeles (www.inman.com)
- ^ New Jersey (www.inman.com)
- ^ Percy (formerly Buyside) (www.inman.com)
- ^ Zillow, for its part, uses interaction (www.inman.com)
- ^ shared or siloed (www.inman.com)
- ^ LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com)