Agents & Brokerages

Zillow agreed to a $212.5 million cash settlement of the Jaeger securities class action over its shuttered iBuying business, about $48 million of it from insurance, weeks after the Supreme Court refused its appeal.

AGNT, HomeServices of America, Keller Williams and Real REMAX Group launched Open Real Estate, a free national listing-data platform meant to work alongside MLSs as private listings spread.

In an Oct. 15 letter to FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson, Sens. Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren asked the agency to extend its Zillow-Redfin rental scrutiny to the home-buying market.

JLL appointed capital markets chief Mark Gibson to a newly created Country CEO, U.S. post effective immediately, and said Kevin MacKenzie will take over Capital Markets, Americas on Jan. 1, 2027.

Sissie Hsiao, who led development of Google’s Gemini app, joined Compass’s board effective Oct. 14, filling the seat left by lead independent director Charles Phillips, who resigned Oct. 9.

At eXpcon in Salt Lake City on Oct. 8, 2026, eXp Realty announced four things at once: Revenos Mortgage, a joint venture with top-five nonbank lender Newrez launching in early 2027; an MCP strategy that connects agents’ own Claude or ChatGPT accounts to their eXp data; eXp Ready, up to $50,000 of pay-at-close seller prep financing; and ShowGo, an internal marketplace for showing coverage.

eXp Realty’s chief executive now runs the parent company, and the same Oct. 8 announcement carried a Newrez mortgage joint venture, a $50,000 seller-prep program, a showing marketplace and an MCP-based AI strategy.

California Regional MLS filed a declaratory-judgment complaint against Compass in Manhattan federal court on Oct. 5, asking a judge to rule that its cooperation rules are lawful before the brokerage can sue to overturn them.

Fathom Holdings and Neighborhood Intelligence, the company formerly known as Bed Bath & Beyond, terminated their merger agreement on Oct. 5, saying current valuations would not reflect the fair value of either company. NXH will also keep the tZERO stake it had proposed to swap for control of the brokerage.

Sen. Mike Lee introduced S. 5646 on Sept. 30, a two-page bill that would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act so its definition of “employee” excludes qualified real estate agents and direct sellers, replacing the Labor Department’s case-by-case test with a statutory rule.

Judge James L. Robart denied Zillow’s motion to dismiss on Sept. 28, letting agents pursue claims that Zillow ties Follow Up Boss to its referrals and uses it to steer business to Zillow Home Loans.

Neighborhood Intelligence, the Nasdaq company formerly known as Bed Bath & Beyond, would contribute its 38.8% tZERO stake and other digital assets to Fathom Holdings in exchange for newly issued shares and control of the national brokerage, replacing a June merger agreement that ran the other direction.

The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based brokerage said the combination expands its footprint across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida and lifts its network past 27,000 agents. No financial terms were disclosed.

Compass said Sept. 22 it is rebuilding Compass.com around See It First, a feature that gathers homes at every marketing stage from nine affiliated brands and lets sellers test pricing without accruing public days on market.

Fifty-nine percent of title firms reported at least one seller impersonation fraud attempt in 2025, more than double the 28% in ALTA’s 2024 study. Vacant land is still the top target, deepfaked voices are spreading, and a quarter of affected firms paid claims.

The Fifth Circuit affirmed dismissal Sept. 9 of a Texas broker’s antitrust suit challenging the three-way Realtor membership requirement for MLS access, holding the complaint failed to allege antitrust injury.

Rocket Companies has named Alessio Sanfilippo, most recently a Meta vice president, chief executive of Redfin effective immediately, filling a seat vacant since Glenn Kelman left in January.

Gail Liniger, who co-founded RE/MAX in Denver in 1973 and served as its chief executive from 1991, has died at 81 — three days after the franchisor became a subsidiary of Real REMAX Group.

Real REMAX Group closed its acquisition of RE/MAX Holdings on Aug. 24 and began trading on the Nasdaq as REAX on Tuesday, creating a 180,000-agent company backed by a new $550 million term loan.

The Real Brokerage and RE/MAX Holdings expect to close their combination Aug. 24 as Real REMAX Group, releasing preliminary results of the RE/MAX stockholder election on merger consideration.