A coming soon listing is a home that's signed with an agent but not yet open for showings. The seller is still finishing prep — repairs, paint, cleaning, staging, photos — and the status exists to build a line of interested buyers before the market clock starts ticking. For buyers, it's early notice. For sellers, it's a head start.
By Rachael Smith | September 8, 2026
Every so often a coming soon listing gets a proper video tour. This one got something else entirely.
I was setting up to film the walkthrough for a home about to hit the market when my daughter Nora decided she was better qualified for the job. She took the camera. She gave the tour. She spent a meaningful portion of it discussing a stuffed bear's glasses.
It is not the most informative property tour I've ever put out. But it does raise a question I get asked constantly, and almost nobody explains well: what is a "coming soon" listing, and what are you supposed to do about it?
Here's the practical version.
When a home goes into coming soon status, the seller has signed a listing agreement, but the property isn't yet available for showings. In most MLS systems, that status has rules attached — a time limit, and a prohibition on showing the home while it sits there.
That sounds like a delay. It isn't. It's a runway.
Think about what actually happens in that window. The seller finishes the punch list. The painter gets a second coat on the trim. The photographer waits for the right light instead of shooting on a gray Tuesday because the listing has to go live. And critically — buyers start noticing.
The alternative is what I see far too often in Big Bear: a home goes active before it's ready, gets photographed in poor conditions, sits for three weeks while the seller fixes things they should have fixed first, and then carries "days on market" that make every future buyer wonder what's wrong with it.
Days on market is one of the few numbers a buyer can see before they ever walk in the door. Once it climbs, it works against you. The coming soon window protects that number by making sure the home only starts counting when it's genuinely ready to be seen.
If you're weighing when to list at all, that timing question deserves its own look — I broke it down in this post on whether now is a good time to sell in Big Bear Lake.
Most buyers see "coming soon," feel a small spike of interest, and then do nothing. That's the mistake.
You usually can't tour it. You usually can't offer on it. But you can do the three things that matter:
The buyers who win coming soon properties aren't lucky. They did the work during the window while everyone else was waiting for the listing to appear on Zillow.
Want more straight answers about how the Big Bear market actually works — listing strategy, buyer timing, and what homes at every price point really get you? I break it down every week on my YouTube channel. Subscribe here so you catch the coming soon listings before they go active.
If you're the seller, the coming soon window is the most valuable unpaid time you'll get in the whole transaction. Spend it on the things that change the first impression.
Start outside. In a mountain market, the drive up and the first thirty seconds in the driveway set the entire tone — and the mistakes are usually cheap to fix and expensive to ignore. I've written about the specific ones I see most often in this piece on Big Bear curb appeal mistakes.
Then handle the interior in this order:
One honest qualifier: the coming soon window works because it's short and it's intentional. If you use it to procrastinate, you get the worst of both — the market knows about the house, and the house still isn't ready. Set the go-active date at the start and work backward from it.
Here's what the coming soon status really tells you, whichever side of the deal you're on: someone is being deliberate about this launch.
That's a signal. A seller who is using the window well is a seller who is taking pricing, presentation, and timing seriously — which usually means the home will show well, and the pricing will be defensible. As a buyer, that's not bad news. It means fewer surprises.
And if you're a seller trying to decide who should run that window for you, the answer matters more than most people think. The agent sets the go-active date, the price, the photo plan, and the showing strategy. That's the whole ballgame. If you're still deciding, start with how to choose the right agent to sell your cabin in Big Bear Lake.
The clients I work with in Big Bear get the coming soon list before it's public, because that's the point of the window. It exists so the right buyers are already paying attention on day one.
That's the whole strategy, and it costs nothing to use it well. If you want to see the homes I'm getting ready before they hit the open market — plus the market breakdowns, tours, and occasional four-year-old guest correspondent — subscribe to the channel. That's where the coming soon listings show up first.
About Rachael Smith
Rachael Smith is a top-producing real estate agent with RE/MAX Big Bear, specializing in mountain homes, short-term rental investments, and luxury properties in Big Bear Lake and surrounding areas. With over a decade of experience and hundreds of homes sold, she helps buyers, sellers, and investors make smart, strategic real estate decisions. Through her strong online presence and data-driven approach, Rachael connects clients with opportunities both on and off the market.
RE/MAX Big Bear · DRE# 01923537 · 909.744.2190
