While there has been no shortage of debate and discussion regarding Zillow’s new “coming soon” feature, there is one certainty: buyers want a way to find properties not yet on the market.

Zillow is the largest real estate site in the United States, by a fairly large margin. And coming soon is pay to play, either by being a Zillow Premiere Agent or by sending a direct feed of listings to them. This is a smart strategy for Zillow, on many fronts and their entry into pre-market listings will put stress on the power MLS’ historically held.

But, in the shoes of a broker or franchise owner…how do you combat “Coming Soon” so as to not be stuck paying for eternity?

A private “coming soon” network, populated by your agents – and exclusive to their clients (& clients to be).

While this certainly won’t work for an individual agent or small boutique brokerage with only a handful of agents, I can imagine this working quite well for regional brokerages like Windermere or Coldwell Banker Bain in Seattle, @Properties or Baird and Warner in Chicago, or Edina Realty in Minneapolis. And, certainly at the franchise level for Century21, RE/MAX, Better Homes & Garden, etc. Or even within the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World network of independent brokers. [PS: is someone already doing this in New York City??]

This would be a new call to action on your website certain to drive buyer leads. You could manage the whole entire thing via a simple email newsletter, or you can play the long game by deploy an amazing mobile app showcasing the coming soon properties in your private network. If you run a fairly large regional brokerage or franchise, a private “coming soon” network is certainly a strategy worth evaluating.

Now, who is going to get the second mover advantage (1st mover in your local market) with an amazing app built for showcasing pre-market MLS listings…any takers?