The Short Answer
An MLS listing goes live the moment the listing agent changes its status to Active. MLS alerts to agents and their buyers go out within minutes. The MLS’s public site usually shows the listing within a few hours. Zillow, Realtor.com and Redfin usually pick it up within about 24 hours, occasionally up to 48.
You only get one first day. Here’s what happens when you press the button, and how we pick the day and time.
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▼What Happens When a Listing Goes Active
Three waves of attention start on their own, and none of them can be redone:
- Agent alerts. Within minutes, the MLS sends new-listing alerts to agents and to the buyers they’ve set up searches for. These are the buyers most likely to book a showing first.
- MLS site subscribers. Buyers with saved searches on the MLS’s public site (HAR.com in Houston, for example) get alerts next, depending on their settings.
- Portal syndication. If your broker syndicates, the listing flows to Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin and the rest, usually within 24 to 48 hours. Buyers with alerts on those portals are the third wave.
If the photos are missing, the remarks have a typo or the showing instructions are wrong, every one of those people sees it, and that first look doesn’t come back.
Pick the Day First
What we’ve seen across years of residential listings. The day is your call:
- Thursday: what we’ve seen work best for most listings. Buyers see it, talk it over with their spouse or partner, and have time to get their agent to book weekend showings.
- Friday: for hot areas where homes sell in single-digit days. Buyers in those markets are ready to move the moment a listing hits. Expect same-day showings, and offers that night, often with a short deadline or well over asking, to get ahead of weekend competition. Whether to respond now or wait for the weekend is your seller’s decision.
- Monday to Wednesday: fine, depending on the area.
- Saturday and Sunday: the weakest days we’ve seen. Most active buyers have already made their weekend plans, and a missed showing can be a missed sale.
Distressed listings are the exception. For short sales and foreclosures, we don’t pick a day. The listing goes live the day the paperwork is complete.
Then Pick the Time
- Morning, 8 a.m. to noon: best, in our experience. Buyers and their agents read alerts early, and a morning listing doesn’t get buried under the rest of the day.
- Afternoon, noon to about 4 p.m.: OK, but it can get lost after lunch and in afternoon appointments.
- Evening: a lot of agents call this a good time, since buyers are heading home. That’s exactly why we skip it: dinner, family time and competing showings bury the alert.
- Late night: never. Overnight emails land in a pile of junk, and plenty of people have do-not-disturb on. If someone suggests a midnight go-live, ask them why.
Holidays and Seasons
Travel holidays: wait until after. Buyers and their agents need to be in town to book showings.
A non-travel holiday on a Friday: treat Friday like a Saturday. Hot-area listings move up to Thursday and everything else to Wednesday.
Seasons: in our experience, summer brings the most buyers, qualified or not, and many of them want to move. From September through December, there tend to be fewer buyers but more who need to move, often for a job relocation. Pricing for condition and the market matters far more than the season.
Finish These Before You Set It Active
- Listing agreement fully signed, and checked against your broker’s requirements
- Seller’s disclosure and the other required disclosures and addenda uploaded
- Professional photos in, reviewed and ordered, with photo descriptions
- Remarks, room dimensions, schools and HOA/MUD information double-checked
- Showing instructions set up in your showing service
- Sign and lockbox installed (or scheduled for go-live day)
- Any pre-MLS marketing checked against your MLS’s rules (Clear Cooperation and coming soon posts)
- Go-live day and time agreed with your seller
How We Handle Go-Live
This is the core of our Listing Coordination service. Before a listing goes live, we:
- Check the listing agreement for initials, signatures, names, addenda and disclosures, and against your broker’s requirements if you give them to us
- Schedule the photographer, stager, sign and lockbox
- Upload photos with descriptions and attach virtual tour links
- Upload the disclosures, survey, T-47 and other approved documents
- Enter the showing instructions in ShowingTime
- Send you the MLS listing to review and approve before anything goes Active
The go-live day and time are your call. Once the listing is active, we send the go-live emails, then post open house dates and update the listing as you direct.
