This is an estimate for planning. It is not a quote, an appraisal, an offer, a loan offer, or tax or legal advice, and Rudy is a real estate agent, not a lender or tax professional.
The five paths, in plain English
Open-market listing
The home is entered in the MLS and sent to public home-search sites. Photos, showings and open houses follow, and every buyer and buyer’s agent gets the same look at the same moment.
When owners often choose it: When you want the most buyers and a full test of price, and your move date leaves room for prep, showings and escrow.
Tradeoffs: Expect more showings and a price history the public can see. Prep is paid for ahead of the sale, and escrow after an accepted offer usually lasts somewhere between 30 and 45 days. After an inspection, a buyer may ask for repairs or credits.
Pre-market or Coming Soon
A smaller circle of buyers sees the home first, either ahead of a public launch or instead of one. That first look might come through Coming Soon, through delayed marketing, or through an office-only listing that stays within one brokerage.
When owners often choose it: When privacy, a say over when and how buyers see the house, or staying a bit longer before move-out matters more than the biggest possible audience.
Tradeoffs: With fewer buyers looking, you may see fewer offers and a lighter test of price. In SDMLS, Coming Soon tops out at 30 days, and in CRMLS at 21. In-person tours aren’t allowed, and a seller form gets signed before it starts. Zillow’s rule: if a home is marketed publicly and isn’t in the MLS within one business day, Zillow and Trulia won’t list it for that listing agreement.
As-is or cash offer
A cash buyer purchases the home as it stands, often after a single walkthrough. You enter an actual offer, so this column runs on that buyer’s figure.
When owners often choose it: When a quick close, fewer contingencies, or skipping repairs and showings counts most.
Tradeoffs: You gain speed and certainty, and in return the cash price is often lower than what the open market would bring. Each buyer’s offer will be different. Confirm which costs the buyer pays and which are yours. A close in 1 to 3 weeks is common, though each buyer sets its own pace.
Rent it out, sell later
You move out, a tenant moves in, and you sell after however many years you pick.
When owners often choose it: When the rent would pay for much of the monthly cost, selling some years from now suits your plans, or this move might not be permanent.
Tradeoffs: You pay a manager or give your own time, plus repairs and the months between tenants. Local rent and notice rules apply. Your federal home-sale tax exclusion may shift after years of renting, because it looks for at least two years of ownership and two of living there within the five years before a sale. Your CPA can tell you more.
Keep the home
You stay put and keep owning the home. Nothing is sold, so selling costs today are zero.
When owners often choose it: When the house still fits your plans, you’d rather keep the loan you have, or there’s no date yet for your move.
Tradeoffs: Your equity stays in the house instead of becoming cash. The loan, tax, insurance and upkeep keep coming due. Future value is up to the market, so treat any growth rate you enter as a guess, not a forecast.
Pre-market and coming-soon sales: the rules
Three layers decide how quietly a home can be marketed: national REALTOR® policy, the MLS and the brokerage. Home-search sites like Zillow set standards of their own as well.
Nationally, the Clear Cooperation Policy of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) still applies. Any public marketing, be it a flyer, a public website, an email blast, a yard sign or a network that more than one brokerage shares, gives the listing broker one business day to put the home into the MLS. Since March 25, 2025, NAR has also offered two alternatives to a full public listing under its Multiple Listing Options for Sellers policy. Delayed marketing lets other agents find the listing in the MLS. Public home-search sites have to wait out a period the MLS sets. An office-only listing goes on file with the MLS, yet stays hidden from agents at other brokerages and off public marketing. Both start with a disclosure the seller signs.
Coronado is part of San Diego County, and island homes are listed with one of two MLSs: CRMLS, which is the California Regional MLS, or SDMLS, which is the San Diego MLS. The two follow different rules.
SDMLS gives a Coming Soon listing a maximum of 30 days. MLS agents can view it, and the seller can advertise it and accept an offer, but in-person showings and open houses aren’t allowed. SDMLS keeps Coming Soon listings out of IDX feeds, which place listings on other brokers’ websites, and off public portals. After a listing goes Active, it can’t return to Coming Soon. SDMLS handles NAR’s delayed-marketing option with an Active status that’s kept off the internet, which can run with no time limit while allowing in-person showings.
Over in CRMLS, Coming Soon can stay open for up to 21 days, and the listing moves to Active once that time is up. Showings of any kind aren’t allowed, and ads must be labeled Coming Soon. These listings usually reach IDX feeds as well as portals, Homes.com and Realtor.com among them. A form added in 2026 lets the seller keep them out of IDX feeds. A listing that leaves Coming Soon can’t go back to it. CRMLS has no delayed-marketing option. Its guidance is that a listing kept out of the MLS can’t be publicly marketed beyond the brokerage.
In California, a seller’s MLS decisions get written on the MLSA, which stands for Multiple Listing Service Addendum. C.A.R. issued a revision of it in September 2025, and any MLS can also call for paperwork of its own. When the seller signs the NAR disclosure, they confirm they know the trade-off, for example losing broad, instant MLS exposure.
Zillow’s Listing Access Standards set one more condition. If a home is marketed publicly but hasn’t gone into the MLS within one business day, Zillow and Trulia won’t carry it while that listing agreement lasts. For a home that isn’t publicly marketed, Zillow also wants a seller-signed waiver that spells out the drawbacks.
Since 2025 the rules have shifted more than once, and brokerages can add policies of their own. Rudy will confirm which MLS and which rules fit your home and your moving dates.
Rules as of 2026-10-30. Sources: NAR: Multiple Listing Options for Sellers; NAR: MLS Clear Cooperation Policy (Policy Statement 8.0); NAR: Multiple Listing Options for Sellers FAQ (May 27, 2025); NAR: Office Exclusive Listings, Pre-Marketing Guidance; SDMLS: DMEL & DMLE: What’s the Difference? (Coming Soon Status, revised July 2026); SDMLS: The SELM Is a Discontinued Form (use the C.A.R. MLSA); CRMLS: Coming Soon Status; CRMLS: Limited Exposure for Coming Soon FAQs; CRMLS: C.A.R. Form MLSA (Multiple Listing Service Addendum) FAQs; Zillow: Listing Access Standards (PDF). Your agent will confirm what applies to your home.
About these numbers
- All the figures here are planning estimates drawn from what you typed. Treat them as a guide, not an appraisal, offer or forecast.
- Commission isn’t fixed: you negotiate it, and the listing agreement sets it. The selling costs shown use the rates you typed.
- Each month before closing carries holding costs: the loan’s interest, property tax, insurance and any HOA dues.
- A dollar at closing isn’t the same as a dollar years later. For the rent and keep paths, the tool doesn’t factor in income tax, depreciation or what your cash could earn while you wait.
- Tax on any gain is left out. Your CPA can say how the home-sale exclusion would apply, and that’s most important when the home spends time as a rental first.
Questions owners ask
My move date is set. How do I compare the timing of each path?
Use the months fields. For an open-market sale, count prep and time on the market, then escrow, which commonly runs 30 to 45 days from the accepted offer. Coming Soon can last up to 30 days in SDMLS or 21 days in CRMLS. Cash sales often close within 1 to 3 weeks, though you’ll want that buyer’s own timeline. Every added month brings more holding costs, and the columns show how timing shifts your net.
Can a buyer make an offer before my home hits the public sites?
Sometimes, within MLS rules. An SDMLS Coming Soon listing isn’t sent to public portals, and you’re allowed to accept an offer, though no one tours it in person and it can run as long as 30 days. CRMLS is different: its Coming Soon listings usually do reach sites such as Realtor.com and Homes.com. Showings of any kind aren’t allowed there, and the status lasts 21 days at most. A signed form comes before any of this, and Rudy will confirm the rules for your home.
Should I rent the house out while I live somewhere else?
The rent column lets you test it. It weighs the rent against what a landlord pays: a property manager while you’re away (or your own time), upkeep, the gaps between tenants, the loan payment, and property tax, insurance and HOA dues. Local rent and notice rules apply. The federal home-sale exclusion, worth as much as $250,000 ($500,000 on a joint return), depends on having owned the home and lived there for two or more of the five years ahead of your sale, so a long rental stretch can affect it. A CPA can line it up with your dates.
Does commission work the same way in every column?
Commission is always negotiable and goes into your listing agreement. The rate you enter is used for the open-market sale, the pre-market sale and the later sale after renting. For a cash sale, put any commission from your agreement into the fees field, along with escrow, title, transfer tax and any service fee. That column adds no commission by itself.
What if this move might not be for good?
Look at the rent and keep columns. Renting can make sense when the move may not be permanent and the rent would handle much of the monthly cost. Keeping means no selling costs today, while the loan, tax, insurance and upkeep carry on. Both columns use a growth rate you choose, which is a guess rather than a forecast, so run several, starting with 0%.
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