For years, real estate agents have relied on informal office conversations, private Facebook groups, and scattered WhatsApp chats to share preliminary information about properties that were soon to hit the market. While the digital age transformed how everyday consumers search for homes online, the behind-the-scenes networking tools used by professionals remained remarkably fragmented and traditional.
Now, Ottawa-based Derek Hooper, a third-generation real estate agent, believes he has found a significantly better way of operating. He is the driving force behind FirstList, an innovative real estate technology company aiming to take pre-marketing far beyond individual brokerage offices and closed agent networks. The platform allows upcoming properties to appear smoothly on major real estate websites before they are officially listed for sale on standard multiple listing services.
FirstList, which was acquired by property technology firm myAbode last November, has officially launched a specialized "coming soon" distribution network. This new service enables agents from any participating brokerage to advertise their upcoming properties through prominent digital platforms, including heavy-hitting consumer websites such as Property.ca and Condos.ca, both of which are owned by myAbode. Under this system, the service allows agents to publicly market upcoming listings for up to three days prior to their official public launch. This gives unique properties a valuable window of opportunity to build anticipation and attract eager buyer interest well ahead of time.
How the Network Works
The operational mechanics of the platform are designed to bridge the gap between private agent communication and broad consumer exposure. Agents and brokerages can seamlessly display the network’s upcoming listings by embedding a specialized live feed directly onto their own corporate or personal websites.
For prospective buyers browsing these pages, the experience is streamlined. Users can view essential neighbourhood details and comprehensive property specifications without the immediate friction of registering. However, the system requires visitors to register their contact information in order to view exact street addresses and asking prices. These user registrations subsequently convert into valuable, high-intent prospective leads for the individual agent whose website is hosting the active feed.
Throughout this process, transparency remains a priority. Hooper emphasizes that the original listing brokerage remains clearly identified wherever its properties appear across the expanding network, ensuring brand recognition and accountability stay with the originating team.
From Office Conversations to a National Network
Hooper notes that the genesis of FirstList grew organically out of the everyday frustrations he encountered firsthand as a working agent. In the normal rhythm of business, agents often begin working closely with home sellers months before a property is physically ready to be launched to the general public. Some homeowners require substantial time to complete necessary home repairs, professional painting, or interior staging, while others must navigate complex personal or financial circumstances that complicate the precise timing of a sale.
During this preparatory window, agents frequently want to share valuable information about upcoming properties with trusted colleagues without initiating a full public marketing campaign. Historically, that meant leaning on antiquated communication methods.
"Some were doing it by standing up at their office meeting talking about what they had coming down the pipe," Hooper recalls. "Others were putting it in WhatsApp and Facebook groups."
Despite rapid advancements in consumer-facing property search technology, Hooper saw little comparable progress in how professionals shared upcoming opportunities with one another. That enduring professional frustration led Hooper and Andrew Paliga, a former Shopify product leader, to establish FirstList in 2023. The foundational system was carefully engineered to facilitate secure, efficient collaboration among agents while granting brokerages strict control over who could access and view their sensitive listing data.
The platform’s strategic acquisition by myAbode in November 2025 provided an invaluable vehicle to scale that collaborative model on a much larger scale. Hooper came to realize that the enterprise was as much about building a robust multi-sided marketplace as it was about writing software code—connecting active agents with incoming properties and finding innovative ways to distribute listings more widely without violating industry norms.
Pre-marketing strategies have also increasingly captured the spotlight in the United States, most notably through the high-profile efforts of Compass and CEO Robert Reffkin, who has heavily promoted the concept of private exclusive listings. Hooper notes that the growing prominence of pre-marketing south of the border helped shine a much-needed spotlight on the demand for similar, structured services within the Canadian real estate landscape.
With thousands of active agents already utilizing FirstList across Ontario, the company quickly recognized a prime opportunity to build upon its existing framework by distributing eligible "coming soon" listings across wider channels, including high-traffic, public-facing property portals.
Navigating Canada’s Listing Rules
This ambitious expansion unfolds as Canadian real estate professionals operate under the strict regulatory framework of the Canadian Real Estate Association’s Realtor Co-operation Policy, which was originally introduced in January 2024 and subsequently refined through policy amendments.
The national policy draws a sharp, clear distinction between private exclusive listings and properties that are publicly marketed. It requires the latter category to be submitted to the local multiple listing service within the applicable local real estate board’s strict deadline, a timeframe that cannot exceed three days.
Hooper acknowledges that the introduction of the policy addressed legitimate industry concerns regarding how some agents historically handled coming soon properties.
"There was a lot of inconsistency in the market with how coming soon and off-markets are being handled," he observes.
He recalls that in past years, certain properties were advertised informally as coming soon for weeks or even months without ever formally appearing on the multiple listing service. In specific instances, sellers may not have fully understood the nuances or implications of the aggressive marketing strategies their chosen agents were deploying.
Nevertheless, Hooper firmly believes those questionable practices represented a relatively minor portion of the broader industry, while the vast majority of real estate professionals were simply seeking legitimate, compliant ways to better serve their clients.
To ensure complete regulatory alignment, FirstList integrated CREA’s complex requirements directly into its underlying software architecture. This compliance-first design allows agents to share sensitive listings privately within restricted circles or distribute eligible coming soon properties publicly within the legal three-day window. The company explicitly clarifies that true exclusive listings and property assignments remain safely within its restricted private network and are never pushed into the public-facing feeds.
"We took all of the rules in the policy and we built them into the sharing logic of our platform," Hooper explains.
Building Beyond Ontario
FirstList soft-launched its ambitious new distribution network in Ottawa on October 13 and is actively expanding its footprint into the competitive Greater Toronto Area.
Hooper reports that more than 10,000 real estate agents already utilize the platform in their daily operations, a user base that includes professionals from several prominent, high-volume brokerages such as REVEL Realty and Harvey Kalles Real Estate.
The business operates primarily on a straightforward subscription model, charging individual agents a flat fee of $49 per month, while offering discounted enterprise plans tailored to brokerages based on their overall agent headcount. Under this structure, participating brokerages are granted their own dedicated internal listing-sharing networks, while individual agents retain the flexibility to distribute eligible inventory through the broader network ecosystem.
Looking ahead, Hooper states that the company has set its sights on full national expansion, positioning its proprietary technology as a sophisticated solution that individual real estate brokerages would find cost-prohibitive and difficult to replicate on their own.
"We really felt like we’re in this unique position that most brokerages won’t be able to build what we’ve built in terms of the cross-brokerage sharing capabilities," Hooper concludes.