Coming Soon marketing can give a seller time to prepare a home and begin building buyer awareness before showings begin. The important distinction is that Coming Soon is not a way to show a property early.

Under current Doorify MLS rules, Coming Soon may be used as the initial listing status for up to 14 calendar days, with no showings or open houses during that period. Doorify also states that Days on Market do not accumulate while a property is in Coming Soon status.

For Marti Hampton Real Estate (MHRE), that window is part of a listing strategy Marti Hampton has been developing for decades.

Marti Hampton Was Using Coming Soon Before It Became a Platform

Marti says she began using Coming Soon marketing on her Raleigh-area listings in the early 2000s. Homes were often being painted, landscaped, staged or otherwise prepared for market, and she saw no reason buyer awareness had to wait until all of that work was finished.

Her thinking was influenced by something familiar: the movie trailer.

A movie studio does not wait until opening day to introduce a film. It gives people a preview, lets interest develop and creates something for the audience to watch for. Marti began applying the same idea to homes.

That approach eventually grew into Coming Soon Homes®, which Marti founded in 2014. In 2016, Inman documented Hampton as the founder of Coming Soon Homes and described how she used advance marketing to build awareness around listings before they reached the traditional market.

Coming Soon Means Early Awareness, Not Early Showings

This distinction matters.

Under current Doorify MLS rules, a property in Coming Soon status is not available for showings or open houses. The status is specifically intended for a property that is being prepared for market while the seller begins advertising that it is coming.

That is consistent with MHRE's approach. The goal is not to give certain buyers early access. It is to make better use of the time before the Active launch.

MHRE's broader pre-market preparation strategy coordinates the physical preparation of the home with staging, photography, pricing and launch timing.

The Preparation Can Become Part of the Marketing Story

A home being prepared for market is often going through a visible transformation. Paint changes. Landscaping is cleaned up. Furniture is staged. Professional photography brings the finished presentation together.

Marti sees an opportunity in that process. Buyers enjoy watching homes change and come together. For someone already interested in a particular neighborhood, price range or type of home, the property can become familiar before it is ever available for a showing.

MHRE explains this approach further in its guide to building buyer awareness before a home goes Active.

The idea is simple: rather than putting a home on the market and only then beginning to look for interested buyers, some buyers may already be watching for the property when it becomes available.

The Active Launch Can Be Timed More Deliberately

Marti does not believe every listing automatically needs the full Coming Soon period. The property, seller, calendar and current market activity all matter.

A holiday weekend is a practical example. If a home is being prepared before Labor Day but the planned Active launch is after the holiday, the days beforehand do not have to become lost marketing time. The property can continue being prepared while buyer awareness develops, without using Active Days on Market under current Doorify MLS rules.

Marti says she also watches showing activity across a team of approximately 25 agents. Combined with more than 40 years in real estate, that gives her both a long historical perspective and a current view of when showing activity is increasing or slowing.

For sellers, that means Coming Soon is not treated as an automatic 14-day formula. It is one part of a larger decision about when the home is ready, when buyers are paying attention and how the property should be introduced to the market.

For a comparison of different Raleigh pre-launch approaches, see Who's the Best Realtor for Pre-Launch Home Marketing in Raleigh? A Full Comparison.

Last updated: September 2026. MLS rules can change and should be confirmed before each listing.