Coming Soon and Office Exclusive Listings: What You Can Market

Coming soon listing rules are set by your local MLS inside two NAR policies. Clear Cooperation requires MLS submission within one business day of public marketing. Multiple Listing Options for Sellers adds a delayed marketing option and requires a signed seller disclosure for it and for office exclusives. In practice: once a sign, post or email blast goes out, the listing goes in the MLS within one business day.

Most pages that rank for this were written in 2020 to 2023, before NAR adopted Multiple Listing Options for Sellers in March 2025 and published office exclusive guidance in July 2026. This page explains the current national rules in plain language, shows how two MLSs apply Coming Soon differently, and gives a table of what counts as public marketing.

What counts as public marketing under Clear Cooperation?

Public marketing, in NAR’s words, “includes, but is not limited to, flyers displayed in windows, yard signs, digital marketing on public facing websites, brokerage website displays (including IDX and VOW), digital communications marketing (email blasts), multi-brokerage listing sharing networks, and applications available to the general public.” Once any of these happens, the Clear Cooperation Policy requires the listing broker to submit the listing to the MLS within one business day.

That definition and the one-business-day rule appear in NAR’s Multiple Listing Options for Sellers FAQs, which also answer the question many agents still ask. Has Clear Cooperation changed? NAR’s answer: “CCP itself remains unchanged and in full effect.” NAR’s Multiple Listing Options for Sellers page adds that the new policy doesn’t change Clear Cooperation or local MLS submission deadlines. The policy applies to participants and subscribers of REALTOR association-owned MLSs.

NAR also clarified what doesn’t count. One-to-one, broker-to-broker communications about a listing don’t trigger the policy. Multi-brokerage communications do.

Which activities count as public marketing? A quick table

The table applies NAR’s definitions to everyday marketing. “Office exclusive” assumes the seller chose not to have the property publicly marketed. “Delayed marketing” is NAR’s delayed marketing exempt listing. Your MLS may be stricter, so treat this as a starting point.

Activity	Public marketing?	Office exclusive	Delayed marketing exempt listing
Yard sign	Yes (named by NAR)	Not allowed; would trigger MLS submission within 1 business day	Allowed, per NAR FAQ
Instagram post, story or Reel	Yes (public-facing digital marketing)	Not allowed	Allowed, per NAR FAQ
Email blast to your database	Yes (named by NAR)	Not allowed	Allowed, subject to seller’s instructions
Sharing with agents in your own firm	No	Allowed, depending on the listing contract	Allowed
One-to-one call or text with an agent at another firm	No, if seller authorized	Allowed with seller authorization	Allowed
Post in a multi-brokerage group or network	Yes (named by NAR)	Not allowed	Check your MLS; some may treat networks like syndication
Showing by an agent from another firm	Triggers MLS submission	Not allowed without filing	Allowed, subject to seller’s instructions
Mentioning the specific listing on your podcast	Not named by NAR; a public podcast reaches the general public, so treat it as public	Don’t	Allowed as listing broker marketing

The podcast row is our reading, not NAR’s text. A podcast episode is published to anyone who searches for it, which makes it hard to argue it isn’t public.

What is an office exclusive listing in 2026?

An office exclusive listing is an exempt listing where the seller directs that the property not be disseminated through the MLS and not be publicly marketed. The MLS holds it on file, but participants outside the listing firm can’t see it.

NAR’s office exclusive and pre-marketing guidance of July 9, 2026 says every REALTOR association-owned MLS must offer an office exclusive option. It says the choice “belongs entirely to the seller,” which can include health, safety and privacy reasons, and that the agent must advise the seller of the MLS benefits they are waiving or delaying.

The broker must get a signed seller disclosure that includes three things:

1. A disclosure about the professional relationship between the listing broker and the seller.
2. An acknowledgment that the seller understands the MLS benefits they are waiving or delaying, such as broad and immediate exposure.
3. Confirmation of the seller’s decision that the listing won’t be publicly marketed (office exclusive), or won’t have immediate public marketing through IDX and syndication (delayed marketing).

The same guidance has a compliance check. If an office exclusive is publicly marketed, submit it to the MLS within one business day. To tell an agent outside your firm about it, get the seller’s authorization, keep it one-to-one, and make sure the receiving agent doesn’t market or show it. NAR’s guidelines for one-to-one broker communication add that negotiating or accepting offers on an office exclusive goes beyond one-to-one communication and requires filing the listing.

What is the difference between Coming Soon and delayed marketing?

Delayed marketing is a national NAR listing option. Coming Soon is a local MLS status. Both let a seller prepare or build interest before a full launch, and NAR’s July 2026 guidance groups them together as “pre-marketing listing options.”

Delayed marketing exempt listings came with Multiple Listing Options for Sellers, effective March 25, 2025, with MLSs required to implement it by September 30, 2025. The seller directs the broker to delay IDX and syndication for a period the local MLS sets. During that window:

• The listing is in the MLS and visible to other participants, who can tell their buyers, arrange showings and submit offers.
• NAR’s FAQs say the listing broker may market it “in any manner that is consistent with the seller’s needs and interests subject to applicable law,” including other websites, social media and a yard sign.
• It counts as an active listing, and an MLS can’t prohibit showings.

Coming Soon rules vary much more. Two examples show how far apart MLSs are:

Rule	San Diego MLS (July 2025 update)	REcolorado (FAQ page)
Public marketing	Allowed (signs, flyers, social media)	Allowed; yard signs need a Coming Soon rider
Showings	Individual broker-to-client showings permitted; no open houses or broker tours	No showings of any kind until Active
Time limit	Not stated in the notice; one use per listing agreement	Up to seven days, then automatically Active
Syndication and IDX	Not sent to public portals or IDX	In IDX feeds; not broadly syndicated
Days on market	Resets when the listing goes Active	Doesn’t accrue during Coming Soon

The San Diego details come from the SDMLS Coming Soon rules update, which also requires a signed seller certification in the transaction file and one exterior photo within 72 hours. The Colorado details come from REcolorado’s Coming Soon FAQ. An agent who moves between those two markets would break a rule doing exactly what was normal at home.

Do state laws limit off-market listings?

State law can limit private listings on top of MLS rules. NAR’s July 2026 guidance says some states, naming Wisconsin, Washington and Connecticut, “have enacted laws or are considering laws that require the public marketing of listings,” and tells agents to check with their state license authority.

That list is NAR’s and may already be out of date. Ask your broker whether your state has passed anything, and recheck before each office exclusive.

How do you market a listing before it goes live without breaking the rules?

Marketing a listing before it goes live stays within the rules only when you know which option the seller signed and what your MLS allows for it. Most problems come from a post or sign going out before the paperwork or MLS entry.

• Confirm which option the seller chose: full MLS, Coming Soon, delayed marketing or office exclusive.
• Get the required signed seller disclosure or certification before any marketing.
• Read your MLS rules for that status: time limit, showings, sign rider, required wording.
• Submit the listing to the MLS within one business day of the first public marketing.
• For an office exclusive, keep outside contact one-to-one and seller-authorized; no showings by outside agents.
• Check state law on private listings.
• Hold podcast, video and social content about the property until the status allows public marketing.
• Apply the general real estate advertising rules, including brokerage name, to every piece.

Content made ahead of launch is fine; publishing it early is the risk. If you record a walkthrough video or a listing episode before going live, give whoever publishes it the go-live date in writing. Teams using agent podcast production that handles editing and publishing should send the producer the seller’s marketing instructions with the recording.

Once the listing is live, our listing launch plan covers the first two weeks of marketing, and our guide to real estate listing video covers what to shoot. For social posts, see real estate marketing on Instagram.