Withdrawn, expired, or canceled: what your listing status actually means

When a home leaves the market, the MLS records how — and the three exit doors are not interchangeable. Knowing which one your listing went through tells you what you're free to do next, and when.

Expired

Your listing agreement reached its end date without a sale. The agreement is over: you owe no ongoing exclusivity, you're free to relist with anyone (or by owner), and the sixty-day clock toward a clean days-on-market slate is running. Expect attention — agents watch expired listings closely, and your phone likely already knows it.

Withdrawn

The home came off the market, but the listing agreement is usually still in force until its stated end date. Practically, that means your current brokerage still represents you: if you want to change course while withdrawn, the conversation starts with them — a release from the existing agreement — not with a new agent. It also means the days-on-market clock typically pauses rather than resets. A withdrawn listing is a timeout, not an ending.

Canceled

You and your brokerage formally ended the agreement before its expiration date. Like an expiration, this closes the relationship (check your release paperwork for any protection-period terms — a window during which a sale to a buyer the listing introduced may still owe a fee). From the market's perspective, canceled behaves like expired: fully off-market, sixty-day clock running.

Why the difference matters in practice

• Freedom to act: expired and canceled sellers are free agents; withdrawn sellers generally are not yet.
• The reset: only a full exit (expired/canceled) starts the sixty-day path to a zero-day relaunch — how that works.
• Your obligations: protection periods and release terms live in your paperwork. Read them before signing anything new — any agent worth hiring will ask to see them first.