Over the last few years the RMLS™ Board of Directors and staff have received numerous questions, concerns, and comments regarding property that is being marketed as “coming soon.” In light of so many inquiries the RMLS™ Board of Directors formed a task force earlier this year to evaluate the concerns and identify potential solutions. The result is a new status called CSN – Coming Soon-No Showing. This new status indicates that there is a valid listing agreement between the seller(s) and the listing agent/firm, but that the listing is not ready to be shown. This listing is in the MLS, but not on market. This status tells other subscribers when the property will become available for showings.
Highlights of the new Coming Soon-No Showing (CSN) status:
- CSN listings are considered an off-market status, like Withdrawn (WTH).
- CSN listings are only viewable within RMLSweb.com.
- CSN listings are not included on RMLS.com, Realtor.com, IDX, or syndicated feeds.
- CSN listings are not included in open house or broker tours.
- A property may be in CSN status for up to 21 days. After 21 days is reached the system will automatically change the status to Active (ACT) unless the listing agent changes it sooner.
- CSN listings cannot be shown—by anyone. If a showing is to occur, the rules will state that the status of the listing must first be changed to Active (ACT) to allow everyone an opportunity to show the property.
- Days on Market (DOM)/Cumulative Days on Market (CDOM) counts do not accrue while in CSN status
- The first photograph will contain a “Coming Soon-No Showing” watermark. When the listing is no longer in CSN status, the system will automatically remove the watermark from the first photograph.
- CSN listings can be searched and viewed within RMLSweb.
- CSN listings will be excluded from client prospecting auto-email notifications.
- CSN listings are excluded from statistical reports.
- Agent reports within RMLSweb will only display “No Showings Permitted” in the showing notification section.
Here are a few examples of how you could benefit from the Coming Soon-No Showing listing status:
- It allows time to prepare a listing so that it is fully marketable the moment it goes active. With this new status, you can prepare all marketing around the date the listing will move to Active status. Listings under the new status are submitted to the MLS and have an MLS number.
- This new status allows agents to market their listings in the MLS to other subscribers while finishing touches (such as new paint, flooring, etc.) are being completed.
- A listing will not needlessly accrue Days on Market/Cumulative Days on Market. DOM/CDOM accrual does not begin until it moves to Active status.
- It provides subscribers with the date of when the listing is expected to be active. By providing this date, the most interested buyers can get prepared to see the property when the listing switches to Active status.
- It helps keep other subscribers informed of upcoming inventory. By including CSN listings in RMLSweb, subscribers will not be caught off guard by “coming soon” yard signs when driving through a community with a buyer.
We will be adding the new status in early 2018. Changes to the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations, listings contracts, and the Authorization to Exclude from MLS Addendum will be required as well as programming changes for RMLSweb. Watch the RMLSweb desktop for more information as we get closer to implementing this new status.
Will this new status allow for a LB to be installed to gove Contractors a one-day code for access to vacant properties to do repairs before property becomes active?
Janet
Hello Janet, Yes, this new status will allow for a lockbox to be placed on the property in order to allow prep-work to be completed before the property is on the market.
Love this! Thank you!
Can you please simplify the authorization to exclude from the RMLS form? The amount of initials and signatures required is overkill.
Hello Brian, We are happy that you like the new status! I will send your suggestion for changes to the Authorization to Exclude from MLS Addendum to the committee for review.
Is this a mandatory status? In other words, once a listing contract is signed and in Office Exclusive status will it be required to become Coming Soon? Thank you so much for doing this!
Hello Rosanne,
The new status ‘Coming Soon-No Showing’ is not mandatory. When this new status is released, language changes will also be made to the Listing Contract.
When your seller(s) fill out and sign the listing contract they will decide to do ONE of the following three options:
a) publish the listing as Active (ACT) in the MLS within 72 hours
b) publish the listing as Coming Soon-No Showing (CSN) in the MLS within 72 hours
c) exclude the property from the MLS for the entire length of the listing contract using the Authorization to Exclude from MLS Addendum (a.k.a. office exclusive)
The ‘Coming Soon-No Showing’ status and the Authorization to Exclude from MLS Addendum are two separate activities. CSN listings will be published in the MLS and properties excluded from the MLS will not be published in the MLS.
So, to clarify, an agent can no longer take a listing as an Office Exclusive and market it as Coming Soon on Zillow until it becomes ACT? The choices are ACT, CSN, or exclude it for the entire listing period? Thanks!
The three choices are ACT, CSN or to exclude the property from the MLS for the entire listing period. Property that is excluded from the MLS can be marketed as coming soon on Zillow and other websites, it just cannot be published on the MLS for the remainder of the listing period.
Sometimes the LA is working on finalizing details on the listing info, pictures, repairs, price, etc. will this status allow LA to place the CSN listing without finalizing the listing price?
Hello Efren,
List Price is required in order to place a property in CSN status. The Listing Agent will be able to change the price at any time while the property is in CSN status.
Hello, I’m reposting the follow-up question Rosanne posted because I think it is the most important question regarding the Coming Soon listing. Can you please reply directly about the following question….
So, to clarify, an agent can no longer take a listing as an Office Exclusive and market it as Coming Soon on Zillow until it becomes ACT? The choices are ACT, CSN, or exclude it for the entire listing period? Thanks!
Thank you so much for this change. Coming Soon has become almost an epidemic here in Eugene/Springfield area and it makes us all look either incompetent or unethical (or both). I’ve had loyal buyers ask if they should call the name on the sign in order to not “miss out”. I look forward to a return to clarity and better, true cooperation among Realtors.
I understand there are new penalties being introduced for agents who attempt to use the CSN and then still try to market their properties on Facebook, Zillow, etc… Can you let us know what they will be.
Thank you!
Hello Christopher, The existing sanction for Marketing of Listing Prior to RMLS™ Publication carries with it a fine of up to $1,000 would address those who attempt to use the CSN status and at the same time market the listing on social media sites. In addition a new sanction will be added — Showing a Property in Coming Soon‐No Showing Status: Showing a property that is in Coming Soon‐No Showing status carries a fine of up to $1,000 and would be assessed to the Listing Broker and/or Selling Broker.
We all know there are rules and fines and blah, blah, blah. Have they ever been enforced, or a fine levied? Who will monitoring this?
Hello Whitney, Rules are enforced and fines are levied. In a recent article by Heath Bennett, our Data Compliance Manager, he shared the number of formal violations that RMLS™ received in the first half of this year along with the amount of fines that were sanctioned. http://rmlscentral.com/2017/10/13/if-a-rmls-rule-is-broken-what-happens/
At the request of the RMLS™ Rules and Regulations Committee, these statistics will be published throughout the year.
Thank Goodness! I’m tired of getting sand kicked in my face by Redfin and Zillow. This will even the playing field a little. These folks have been playing hardball and we have been playing softball!
I assume Craigslist will be treated the same way, correct? What will be the process for reporting violations?
Thanks for giving some power back to the buyers, what little they have in this market.
Hello Justin, Subscribers can submit formal violations to RMLS™ using document #1452 (http://rmlscentral.com/2017/10/06/the-new-coming-soon-no-showing-status-is-coming/#comment-1391). In a previous post by Vallerie Bush, she describes the variety of ways RMLS™ processes violations. http://rmlscentral.com/2011/02/02/rmls-rules-and-regulations-process/
So this means that the photos and marketing materials must be complete prior to the Seller signing the Listing Agreement?
There have also been times when the Seller expects to place their property on the market in the next 3 days, but something occurs where we need to delay the Active status. Will we be able to extend the CSN status if something changes?
Gail – Per the statement from Christina Smestad above: “This new status indicates that there is a valid listing agreement between the seller(s) and the listing agent/firm, but that the listing is not ready to be shown.”
So you must have a signed listing agreement to enter the property in the RMLS under the CSN status. The signed listing agreement would probably have a future date for when it would become active.
Just to clarify, will the new CSN status be included as a status option for prospecting? I would like to know ahead of time of any future listings that a client may have interest in without searching daily for just CSN listings.
Well it certainly makes it a lot easier for a company to double end the transaction. Ive maintained for 37 years that dual agency should never have been legal. Ive seen to many violations, tricks and plans by offices that want all the commission. It may not be showable, but the listing office will be known and buyers will be calling to be put on a list. The listing agent will of course know all about the property and probably have photos to show. Offers can be made contingent upon viewing. You may just as well make all properties office exclusives. I’m betting in this market none of them will ever see full listing status. How does prove that the property needs to stay in that category? I’m just playing devils advocate here. These are potential problems between RMLS members, don’t you think?
So, unless I didn’t see it addressed, can the listing office sell it while its in the do not show?
Bad idea. I perceive there to already be an issue with agents attempting to double-end transactions. This facilitates that. Additionally, any time a home is marketed unofficially (you put up a sign…available or not…it’s marketing), it only serves to hurt the seller by not exposing the property to the open market. What does having a sign up have to do with preparing a home for the market or preparing marketing materials?
I have to agree with Whitney on the sign issue….
Whitney,
Marketing the property on the internet as a coming soon IS exposing the property to the market!
It is the job of the listing agent to find a buyer- not to find a listing for a buyers agent. Doubling ending it before it hits the market is not fair to seller- but telling buyers to get ready to shop the property when it comes on the market is a good idea for the seller and the buyer. Buyers agents are able to call on a coming soon listing. We take those calls every day.
Limiting pre market info to agents is in the best interest of agents, not sellers.
I should expose any listing that I take to as many buyers as possible!
This more than great news! There is one question I will need to get help with.
Once the plans for repairs are made and the seller asks the broker to start coming soon as a status, there is a high chance that a contractor may experience delays. It happens all the time. If about 15 days into the “Coming Soon” status, the typical unanticipated delay happens, I assume nothing will prohibit an extension of “Coming Soon”. I could see how this could be abused but the chance of contractor delays is as high as 50% chance. So, extensions that are valid are acceptable, correct?
Thanks again for the much needed new status!
I would much rather see “Coming Soon” banned than have this new status/rule. Delays happen all the time in preparation of getting a listing active. While my sellers love the “coming soon” riders on a sign prior to having an active listing, enforcing a 30 days max until “Active” and not allowing any showings prior will be a major stress to many. You also tie the hands of listing agents in securing a listing agreement early in the process. You’re basically telling us that we have to help sellers get ready to list without the security of a signed listing agreement until we’re within a 30 day window. Furthermore, what is to prevent a seller from letting someone into see their home prior to it going into “ACT” status? Nothing. Would you then fine the listing agent that had no idea this was taking place, or would you fine the seller who has every right to let anyone into their home that they wish to? The more you regulate what a seller can/cannot do in order to be represented by an agent and be listed in RMLS, the more you encourage them to do a FSBO.
I appreciate that you are trying to do something to benefit all of us, but I think this is a rule that will open up a huge can of worms and hurt a lot of us in the process.
Hey Christina,
One follow-up question on this, when a property is in CSN status, can it then be posted on other real estate sites? (Zillow, Realtor, Redfin, etc)
My understanding is if in CSN status the ONLY marketing allowed is a sign and flyers in the home. If you want to market on those sites, you will need to have it ACT or an Office Exclusive. However, Office Exclusive must be for the ENTIRE listing period. At the end of that period, neither the agent NOR the office of the agent can place it in the RMLS for 30 days. So using Office Exclusive will cut you off of the RMLS for a period of time.
Christina- did I get that right? Or have things changed?
Hello C., Rosanne is correct. If a listing is in CSN status, the only marketing allowed is a sign and/or a flyer at the property and within RMLSweb as a CSN listing. A CSN listing cannot be marketed on any website other than RMLSweb.
You are handing the keys to the kingdom to Zillow. Why would a seller list if they can continue to advertise on, you know-the internet?
Prohibiting listing agents from sharing a listing on Zillow before it is active is a bad idea. The attempt to retrain the power of the internet will result in a new system emerging. The market has the tool. You cannot take the power of the internet away from people. Forcing an active date at the end of coming soon? Wow, that will go over well with a home owner.
If a listing is CSN, can the listing agent share a flyer or give out information regarding size, # BR’s, price etc. to a caller or do they just need to tell the caller this listing will be active X date and that they will be happy to send info at that time? Can they make an appointment for the first day of marketing to begin?.
Hello Lynda, While a listing is in CSN status the seller’s agent can only share information about the property with other RMLS™ subscribers. If a consumer calls asking for information on the listing, let them know that you can send them information once the listing is active and published with the MLS and at that time a showing can be scheduled.
What time of day does it switch from Coming Soon to Active (12:01am)?
Yes, 12:01 Pacific.
Do we have to set the price while in coming soon status?
Hello Marisa, Yes, listings in Coming Soon-No Showing (CSN) status must have a price. The price can be edited at any time while in CSN status, prior to the listing transitioning into Active (ACT) status.