Listing Marketing Launch Checklist

Capture price band, household stage (first-time, move-up, downsizer, investor), commute corridor, and school priorities. Keep it as marketing context only — never use protected-class framing in any client-facing copy.

Use Cloud CMA or RPR with sold and active comps from the last 90 days, filtered to similar bed/bath/SF. In a moving market, six-month comps mislead — note current absorption rate and median days on market in the seller-facing CMA.

Lead with the home's best two features and the lifestyle it enables. Strip any fair-housing-risk language — no "perfect for families," "safe neighborhood," "walking distance to church," or references to age, religion, or national origin. Stay within the MLS character limit.

Produce a punchy headline for syndication portals plus 5-7 short feature bullets for the flyer and social graphics. Reuse the same bullets across Zillow, Realtor.com, and your own site so the listing story is consistent.

Schedule for after staging and decluttering are complete — reshoots eat margin. Confirm drone permission with the seller and check FAA airspace if the property sits near a controlled airport.

Walk the seller through the syndication options and document the choice in the file. "Coming soon" must follow your local MLS rules — many MLSs limit duration and prohibit showings during the coming-soon window.

Target a Thursday or Friday MLS go-live so the first weekend captures peak portal traffic. Block out the 7-day coming-soon window if the seller chose that route.

Broker preview Thursday or Friday morning, public open house Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Set up the open house in ShowingTime and Spacio so visitor capture flows straight into the CRM.

Document the seller-funded vs. agent-funded split in writing — postcards, paid social boosts, premium photo packages, and signage often blur. State advertising rules require any seller-paid promotion to align with the listing agreement.

Split the budget across boosted social, geo-targeted Facebook ads, postcard farm to the neighborhood, and premium portal placement (Zillow Premier Agent or Realtor.com Showcase). Hold back 20% for mid-listing refresh if needed.

Export ShowingTime requests and feedback for the first 72 hours and send the seller a written summary. Day-3 traffic is the strongest leading indicator of whether the price is right.

Check views, saves, and share counts. Compare against neighborhood medians from your MLS dashboard — high views with low saves usually points to bad photos or overpricing rather than poor reach.

Compare the listing's DOM to the rolling 30-day median in the same zip and price band. If the listing is past 1.5x median DOM with fewer than 10 showings, flag as underperforming and trigger the refresh path.

Reorder MLS photos so the strongest exterior or kitchen shot leads, swap any seasonal images that have aged out, and reshoot if staging has changed. Photo refresh alone often resets portal placement in the "new" feeds.