How long should you keep a listing video up on social media?

An underrated question in real estate video marketing: after a listing sells, what happens to the video? Delete it? Leave it up? Repost with "SOLD"? The answer varies dramatically by platform and depends on what you want each video to do for you long-term.

Here's what actually works.

The three lifecycles

Any listing video passes through three phases:

1. Active phase — property is on the market. Video's job is to attract buyers.
2. Under-contract phase — offer accepted, closing pending. Video's job shifts to attracting sellers (social proof) and building your brand.
3. Sold phase — closed. Video's job is portfolio + evergreen SEO + market analysis reference.

Different platforms handle these phases differently. Some reward keeping videos up forever; others punish it.

Platform-by-platform

YouTube (long-form and Shorts)

Keep. Forever.

YouTube is the one platform where videos genuinely appreciate with age. A well-titled listing tour posted in 2024 can still get views in 2027 — because it targets a search ("3 bedroom in Jersey City under $700K") that people keep making.

Practical:

• Update the title once the property sells: "SOLD at $685K — 3 bedroom in Jersey City tour"
• Update the description with sale price and days-on-market
• Do NOT delete. Leaving sold listings up builds your channel authority for searches like "what recently sold in [neighborhood]"
• Playlist strategy: create a "Recently Sold" playlist. Move sold listings there.

Instagram (Reels)

Keep, but organize into a Highlight.

Reels don't decay the way TikTok does — they can pull in views months later from Explore. But your Reels feed also acts as a portfolio, and a feed full of "SOLD" content can look old to a visitor.

Practical:

• Keep sold listings live in your Reels feed indefinitely
• Create Story Highlights like "Sold in Jersey City" and add each closing as a highlight cover
• Do NOT delete; the algorithm treats deleted content as a signal of low-quality content
• If a Reel is causing confusion (buyers DMing about a sold property), edit the caption to say "SOLD - representing sellers in [neighborhood] - DM for similar listings" and lock the video

TikTok

Keep, but expect them to fade.

TikToks mostly stop earning new views after ~30 days. The "keep or delete" question matters less because they're already invisible after a month. But:

• Never delete. The algorithm penalizes accounts that delete content frequently (reads as low-quality)
• Consider a "sold" TikTok post 2-3 weeks after closing with the original video + a "sold at $X" overlay. Fresh algorithm push, retention win.

Facebook feed

Keep the "SOLD" repost, hide or archive the original.

Facebook feed content decays quickly but stays visible on your profile. A profile littered with expired listings looks stale to profile visitors.

Practical:

• Post a "SOLD at $X — closed in Y days" update 3-5 days after closing
• Move the original active-listing post to "hidden from timeline" (visible only from your dashboard)
• Or keep as-is if it wasn't a paid post — organic Facebook posts have almost zero long-term visibility anyway

LinkedIn

Keep and repost as a case study.

LinkedIn is a professional portfolio. Sold listings are your proof.

Practical:

• After closing, write a new post with the story: original list, days-on-market, final sale, one insight from the transaction. Include the original video.
• Do NOT delete original posts; they're evidence of active work
• Consider one summary post per quarter: "Q2 2026 — 8 listings sold in [neighborhood], average [X] days, average [Y]% of list"

Zillow, Realtor.com, MLS

Follow MLS rules — usually auto-archived.

Most MLSs move sold listings to a separate "sold" or "off-market" status. Video sometimes stays attached, sometimes gets removed. Check your specific MLS:

• Bright MLS: video removed 90 days after closing
• CRMLS: video moved to sold listing archive, still visible to agents but not consumer sites
• NTREIS: video removed when listing becomes "closed"

You cannot usually override MLS behavior. What you can do: save the video files locally before the MLS auto-removes them.

When to actively remove a video

Almost never, but some cases:

Seller specifically requests it. Post-close privacy requests. Respect them; the reputation cost of ignoring is huge.

The video is factually wrong. Price shown was incorrect, bedroom count listed wrong, misleading claim. Delete and repost corrected.

Compliance violation surfaced. Fair Housing issue, MLS rule violation. Delete immediately, don't wait for enforcement.

The property had a serious issue not disclosed at listing time. Rare, but if a foundation issue or major defect surfaces post-sale that you unknowingly marketed around, take down the marketing.

Otherwise: keep.

Reposting sold listings

The "SOLD" repost is a specific content type worth executing intentionally:

Timing: 3-7 days after closing. Wait until closing is fully done (not just under contract) — cancelled contracts happen.

Content:

• Original listing video (or a 15-second highlight cut of it)
• Overlay text: "SOLD at $[X]" or "SOLD in [Y] days"
• Optional: closing timeline stats ("Listed [date], 4 offers by [date], closed [date]")

Caption: Short story format. What was interesting about the listing, how it was marketed, key stats. Not "another one sold!" bragging.

Frequency: Every closing gets one. Do not skip — closings are the highest-social-proof content you produce, and consistency builds market authority faster than any single viral post.

The 30-day "just sold" campaign

For agents who take listing marketing seriously, plan the full 30-day content arc:

• Day 1: Listing goes live. Vertical + horizontal video posts across all channels.
• Day 5: "Coming to open house Saturday" post.
• Day 8: Feature detail post (kitchen, backyard, whatever's special).
• Day 12: "Price improved to $X" if applicable, or "In the neighborhood: [comps]" post.
• Day 20: Under contract announcement (if it happens).
• Day 45-60: SOLD post with results.

Each of these can use the same source footage. Different hooks, different angles, same video. You get 6+ posts per listing without shooting anything new.

What agents do wrong

Mistake 1: deleting sold listings. Wipes out portfolio, doesn't help anything, hurts algorithm.

Mistake 2: leaving "SOLD" out of the description forever. A year later, a buyer inquires about a listing that sold in 2024. Bad look. Update titles and descriptions.

Mistake 3: not archiving the video files locally. MLS-hosted video files get deleted eventually. Always keep an original copy of every listing video on your own drive.

Mistake 4: posting "SOLD" the day after closing without permission. Some sellers want privacy, especially high-net-worth. Ask.

Mistake 5: making every sold post about you ("another one for [Your Name] Realty!"). Make it about the property, the market, the story. Your name in the caption is enough.

The archive practice

I recommend agents keep a personal video archive:

• Local drive or cloud folder organized by year → address
• Both the horizontal-long and vertical-short cuts saved
• The MLS listing data as a text file alongside (price, days-on-market, closing date)

This is your permanent portfolio. In 3 years when a seller asks "what have you sold in this price range in [neighborhood]?" you have every video, every stat, at your fingertips.

Services that produce video for you should let you download the files, not just watch them online. If you use GenHomeVideo or similar, the MP4 files are delivered as email attachments — save them to your archive folder immediately, not just your email.

The one-line summary

Almost never delete. Update titles/descriptions to reflect status. Repost as "SOLD" 3-7 days post-close. Archive everything locally.

Listing videos are an appreciating asset if you treat them that way. Every listing you keep online adds to your searchable footprint, your market authority, and your listing-presentation ammunition. Deleting them is the marketing equivalent of throwing away receipts.