Selling with Terence
The Compass 3-Phased Marketing Strategy
Most homes get one launch. A Compass listing can get three: a private phase, a public preview, then the full market. You choose how far each one goes, and you can go straight to the MLS at any time.
Why phases
The public record starts on day one.
Once a home goes active on the MLS, its days on market start counting and every price change shows in its history. Buyers and their agents read both. A home that sat, or had to cut, starts to look like a problem house even when it isn't.
The phases give you a quieter start. You can learn what buyers think of the home and the price before that public record begins, and launch to the whole market once the home and the price are right.
The three phases
Private, then preview, then the full market.
Phase 1
Compass Private Exclusive
In Atlanta, your home is shared privately with agents at Compass and Ansley Real Estate and their buyers, not on the MLS and not on the public home-search sites. Photos and floor plans stay inside that private channel.
Why sellers choose it
- Privacy, when you would rather not have your home on every site.
- Time to finish repairs, paint or staging while it is already being seen.
- A way to test a price and hear what buyers say, without a public price cut if you adjust.
How long
Until you tell Compass in writing to move on, within the limits the MLS sets.
Phase 2
Compass Coming Soon
Your home goes public on compass.com and on Redfin.com, where Redfin shows it as Early Access with premium placement. Every serious buyer inquiry comes straight to Terence, and buyers can see the home and make offers.
What buyers don't see
- No public days on market and no price-drop history on those sites.
- No automated value estimate on the listing.
Then
When the Coming Soon period ends, the listing goes into FMLS and Georgia MLS as Active. You can opt out of the Redfin listing at any time.
Phase 3
The full launch
The home goes active on the MLS and, through it, on the major home-search sites, priced and presented with what the first two phases taught you.
From here
Days on market count, and price changes show in the listing's public history.
In Atlanta
Two kinds of “Coming Soon.”
Compass Coming Soon and the Coming Soon status inside Atlanta's two MLSs share a name, not a set of rules. Here is the difference.
Compass Coming Soon
A public preview on compass.com and Redfin.com. Buyers can see the home and make offers. When the period ends, the listing goes into FMLS and Georgia MLS as Active. This is the one Terence uses.
The MLS Coming Soon status
A status inside the MLS itself. FMLS allows up to 30 days and Georgia MLS no more than 21, and in both the home may not be shown. FMLS also bars offers while a listing is in it.
The full launch
Active in FMLS and Georgia MLS, and through them on the major home-search sites. Days on market start counting here.
An office exclusive
Both MLSs also allow a listing that is filed but kept off the public feeds, with the seller's signed permission. FMLS calls it Registered.
MLS rules: FMLS knowledge base, “Understanding the Coming Soon Status” and “All About Our Registered Listing Contract Status”; Georgia MLS Rules and Regulations, Article IV, sections 3 and 25 (posted copy revised August 1, 2024). Read November 14, 2026. Rules change; check the current version before you rely on a date.
Compass's own numbers
What pre-marketing did for Compass sellers.
- 4.6%higher sale price²
- 34%faster to contract²
- 29%less likely to have a price cut²
² Compass analysis of 70,809 closed Compass residential sales listed April 1, 2025 through March 31, 2026, comparing listings marketed before the MLS with listings that went straight to it. The 4.6% counts closed sales only, not listings that were withdrawn or expired. The other two figures are descriptive. All three are Compass's own figures and have not been checked independently, and Compass describes them as no prediction of any one home's result.
Before you choose
Questions sellers ask.
Do I have to use the phases?
No. You choose which phases to use, or none and straight to the MLS. You can also move to the MLS at any point.
What do I sign?
Nothing separate. How your home is marketed is a choice you mark in the Georgia REALTORS listing agreement you sign with Terence, the seller brokerage engagement agreement. You can change course and move to the MLS at any point.
Can buyers see my home during Coming Soon?
Yes. During Compass Coming Soon, buyers can see the home and make offers. That is different from the Coming Soon status inside Atlanta's MLSs, which bars showings, and it is not the one Terence uses for this phase.
Does this get my home on Zillow sooner?
No. Compass names compass.com and Redfin.com for Coming Soon. The home reaches Zillow and the other major sites through the MLS at the full launch.
Let's plan your launch.
Whether your home should start private, go to Coming Soon or launch straight to the MLS depends on the home, the price and your timing. That is the first thing Terence works out with you.
