When I started in residential resales in June 1986, I was in an area where I knew no one.
Finding a reliable source of business was my primary concern, and I tried many before I found the one that worked for me.
I was certain that I wanted to be a listing agent and that finding people who wanted to sell would be my methodology.
After some thought into the issue, I came up with the idea that expired listings and for-sale-by-owners were going to be the best sources of people who wanted to sell their homes!
Of the two, expired listings are generally rated the best prospecting method for producing motivated seller leads that will sell in 90 days or less.
So that is what I set out to do. My process was fairly simple. I checked the MLS each morning to get a list of homes that expired overnight. I had a friend in a title company who was able to get me the owner’s name if it wasn’t in the listing. So I called him right around 8 a.m. every day! I took that info, and using Act 1.0 (a database program), I was able to mail merge a letter and print it on my dot matrix printer!
(Of course, we can access tax records on our computers today, so ownership records are readily available!)
I took those letters to the main post office and mailed them on the way to the office. Once there, I used the Haines Reverse Directory to look up the phone numbers associated with that address. I called people to whom I had mailed letters a few days back and attempted to get an appointment. The Haines directory is no longer with us, but a fairly inexpensive way to get phone numbers is the cell phone App “Whitepages.”
Over time, I got better at setting appointments and listing presentations, so within six months of using this method, I found myself in the top 10% of the agents in my office! Not bad for a rookie in his first year!
When asked why I chose expired listings over some of the other methods of obtaining listings, I always answered that these were the people who were telling the world that they wanted to sell their homes!
However, there are a number of other reasons expired listings are generally the best prospecting technique for most people, and I’ve listed them below.
- Motivation to sell: Any homeowner with an expired listing is already very motivated to sell their home. Just because their property did not move the first time around—by itself, in fact —they are probably very anxious to strike out with a different strategy.
- Timeliness: Expired listings are very recent, normally within the past 30-60 days. Hence, these homeowners are wired and set to act quickly to sell their homes in the near term, often within the next 90 days.
- Less competition: Since their listing has expired, these homeowners may be angry and want to vent. Many agents don’t want to confront sellers like that, but there is less competition!
- Proven marketability: The fact that their home was listed in the current market conditions strongly indicates that it must have been a saleable property.
- Urgency: To a homeowner whose home didn’t sell through the last listing period, there can be a sense of pressure—not to mention increased urgency and willingness to sell it fast.
While other types of prospecting, such as FSBO, geographic farming by ZIP code, and absentee owners, all work well and can be very effective, expired listings provide the highest conversion rates and place the most motivated seller leads in a compressed period of time.
The trick is to have a systemized approach that effectively enables quick identification, connection, and follow-up with expired listing owners in one’s local market.
My system worked well for me, but I did it every day, including weekends and holidays. I only called Monday through Saturday, but on Mondays, I called the people who were due for a call on the Sunday just before Monday.
It worked well for me, but I believe that consistency and improving my performance were a large part of my success.
Caveat: Check with your broker and your MLS before contacting expired listings to ensure that you follow ethical conduct rules.
