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Off-market and coming soon

The homes you won't see on Zillow

Since 2025, sellers can keep a home off public websites for a while — as Coming Soon, an office exclusive or with delayed marketing. If you only watch Zillow, you see these homes late, or never.

~8%of Bright MLS listings were office exclusives by Feb. 2025, double the 4% average since Sept. 2024Bright MLS research
24%+of new listings in some DC-area neighborhoods were office exclusivesBright MLS research
~90%of office exclusives later went onto the MLS before closing — after insiders had their first lookBright MLS research
4listing statuses in Bright's new rules (July 2026), and sellers can now hide price and address from websitesReal Estate News

How a home can be for sale but not on Zillow

Four kinds of “quiet” listings

🔜 Coming Soon

Entered in Bright MLS but not ready for showings. Since August 2024 there's no time limit, so a home can sit in Coming Soon for weeks. Agents see it in the MLS right away.

🔒 Office exclusive

The seller tells the brokerage to keep the home off the MLS and off public websites. Only that brokerage's agents and their buyers know. I hear about these by talking with listing agents.

⏳ Delayed marketing

Visible to agents inside the MLS, while sending it to Zillow and other public sites is held back for a set period. Buyers with an agent hear first.

🙈 Active, but hidden details

Under Bright's July 2026 rules, a seller can keep the listing off websites or hide the price, address, some photos and the price history there. The MLS still shows agents everything.

How we got here

Two years of rule changes

  1. Aug 2024

    Bright MLS drops the 21-day cap on Coming Soon listings.

  2. Mar 2025

    NAR's “Multiple Listing Options for Sellers” allows office exclusives and delayed marketing, with a signed seller disclosure.

  3. Jun 2025

    Zillow starts blocking listings that were marketed privately before going public (its Listing Access Standards).

  4. Mar 2026

    Zillow simplifies its rule — the MLS becomes optional, but public listings must be “broadly accessible” — and launches its own pre-market program, Zillow Preview.

  5. Jul 2026

    Bright MLS announces four statuses — Registered, Office Exclusive, Coming Soon and Active — and lets sellers hide details from consumer websites.

  6. Sep 2026

    Zillow Preview listings start showing on Realtor.com too.

Median days to a contract

Bright MLS region, Sept. 2024 – Feb. 2025

Office exclusive37 daysRegular MLS listing20 days
Do quiet listings help or hurt sellers?The two sides disagree. Zillow's studies found off-MLS sellers got 1.3–1.5% less; a Compass study found pre-marketed homes sold for 4.6% more. Bright found no price effect. Each has a stake. For a buyer, what matters is simple: these homes exist, and you only hear about them through an agent.

How I watch for you

Tell me what you want. I'll watch Bright every morning.

  • A saved Bright MLS search that catches Coming Soon and delayed-marketing listings the day they're entered.
  • Calls to listing agents I know about homes they're about to list — including office exclusives.
  • Homes whose listing expired or was withdrawn: the owner may still want to sell.
  • You get a text or email the same day, with my notes, before the weekend crowd.

Downsizing? One-level homes and elevator condos are the ones that disappear fastest. This is where watching early pays off most.

My wish list

Sources

  1. Bright MLS research — Office exclusives (Sept. 2024–Feb. 2025)
  2. UrbanTurf — Bright MLS Coming Soon rules
  3. NAR — Multiple Listing Options for Sellers
  4. Zillow — Listing Access Standards
  5. Real Estate News — Zillow's simplified standards make the MLS optional (Mar. 2026)
  6. Real Estate News — Bright's new rules (July 2026)
  7. Zillow — Preview listings live on Realtor.com (Sept. 2026)
  8. Zillow — off-MLS sales study (May 2026)
  9. RISMedia — the dueling Zillow and Compass studies (Aug. 2026)

Contact

Want me to watch for a home?

Tell me a little about what you're looking for. I'll reply personally, usually within one business day.

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(703) 966-8905