How to find expired listings: 9 proven strategies by Gina Baker, Emile L’Eplattenier for HousingWire

I noticed that your home at [Property Address] recently came off the market without a successful sale. I understand how frustrating and disappointing that can be—especially after investing time, money and energy into preparing and listing your property.

The truth is, homes don’t fail to sell because they aren’t desirable. More often, they fail due to poor marketing, ineffective pricing strategies, limited exposure or lack of agent communication. That’s where I come in.

As a local real estate professional specializing in helping homeowners relist and successfully sell expired listings, I offer a fresh approach and a clear plan designed to sell your home quickly and for top dollar.

Here’s how I do things differently:

• –Custom marketing plan: Showcase your home to the right buyers across the most powerful online and offline channels.
• –Professional staging and photography: Make your home stand out from the competition.
• –Smart pricing strategy: Based on real-time market data, not guesswork.
• –Frequent updates and communication: Via email, phone and/or text, whatever you’re comfortable with, so you’ll never be left in the dark.
• –Proven track record: I have worked with [X number] of individuals in your situation and have turned expired listings into sold homes—fast.

I’d love the opportunity to sit down with you, no pressure, and walk you through exactly what went wrong and how I can help you get the result you were hoping for.

Let’s turn this into a fresh start. Call or text me at [Phone Number] or email me at [Email] to schedule a free, no-obligation home evaluation.

Your next offer could be just around the corner—with the right strategy.

Sincerely,

If you won an expired listing that needs to be relisted with beautiful photos ASAP, check out Collov AI. It uses AI technology to virtually stage a room or remove unwanted objects from photos. Plus, it’s affordable and takes minutes to adjust multiple photos.

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6. Use expired listing-focused marketing

Time invested: Ongoing
Cost: $100 to $1,000 per month, depending on marketing materials

Just like luxury real estate agents market themselves for their audience by highlighting gorgeous multi-million dollar listings and top-of-the-line finishes, if you’re trying to attract expired listings, you need your marketing to show that. The messaging on your website, social media, marketing materials, email campaigns and any other platforms needs to use language and images that resonate with those who have expired listings.

Notice the wording and images on the Wise Pelican postcard. It employs empathy by recognizing the owner being “Tired & Frustrated,” but also is straightforward in saying that “I can sell it!” and includes your contact information. If this is emulated across the board on all of your marketing materials, you’ll be known as the go-to agent for expired listings in no time.

7. Reach out to old expired listings

Time invested: 1 hour per week
Cost: Free

Not all expired sellers relist right away. I’ve seen plenty who don’t relist for months or even years. Since most agents who use expireds as their main lead generation source will be calling the new expireds, try focusing on older listings instead or in addition to the new ones. This will also set you apart, as those homeowners won’t be inundated with calls.

Filter your MLS or CRM for expired listings from six months to one year ago. Research the listing first before calling to make sure the property hasn’t been relisted or sold with another agent before you get a chance to call again.

If all signs indicate that the listing has not been sold and the same owners are still living there, take the time to review the property’s details and identify the reasons why it didn’t sell the first time around. Having all of this information will make you well-informed and give the prospects more reason to speak with you. Then, go ahead and give them a call. Here’s what you can say:

Hi [Homeowner], I’m [Name] with [Brokerage]. I saw your home at [Address] was listed in [Month/Year] and never ended up selling. Did you decide to stay put?

8. Target FSBO properties

Time invested: 1-2 hours per week
Cost: Free

For sale by owner sellers are a unique breed of people. These individuals have decided to take on the job of being a real estate agent themselves. While many FSBOs are successful in selling their homes, we know it is a job and takes a significant amount of knowledge, money, time and effort to get a home sold for the price people want. Unfortunately, for these owners, this means the listing often sits on the market, essentially making it “expired.” This is where you come in.

Owners don’t have access to the MLS, so do a quick search on Zillow or Realtor.com to see all the properties that are owner-listed (there will be quite a few – a search on Zillow in my town showed 16). Look into each listing to review some factors:

• Days on market: Has it been on the market for 90+ days? Yes
• Price point: Is it over- or underpriced compared to other homes in the area? Yes
• Photography: Are the pictures eye-catching? No
• Description: Does it describe the home and its best features? No
• Marketing and advertising: When you type in the address, does it appear on other listing sites? No

If your answers echo the answers above, it’s time to make a call to the owner to let them know their listing is practically expired. However, you want to approach with caution. A typical holdup for FSBOs is that they don’t want to pay commission, they’ve had bad experiences with agents in the past and/or they think they can do it themselves (even though their listing is proving otherwise). Try this casual and helpful script:

Agent: Hi, I’m [Name] with [Brokerage], and I saw your listing on Zillow for [Address]. It’s a beautiful home, you’re selling it by yourself?

FSBO seller: Yes, I’m not interested in any help.

Agent: I completely understand that involving someone else in the transaction can be a pain. If you could just give me a few minutes, I’d love to share some thoughts I had when I saw your listing. No pressure, just wanted to help you if that’s ok. What’d you say?

FSBO owners don’t realize they need your services until they do. If you open the door with honest help, not a sales pitch, they are more likely to trust and lean on you. While it might not always sway them into using your services, it may open the door for other opportunities.

9. Speak with absentee homeowners

Time invested: 1-2 hours per week
Cost: Free; if using a lead generation platform, cost could be from $100 to $1,000 per month

Similar to FSBOs, properties that have been left sitting vacant were often once expired listings. Unfortunately, since they didn’t sell, homeowners have left them to sit, becoming absentee owners. Maybe they were waiting for the market to pick back up, or they were trying to find a tenant. Either way, they need an agent’s help to sell the property.

A lot of agents find vacant homes by “driving for dollars.” This is literally driving around the neighborhood looking for signs of vacancy, like overgrown lawns, boarded-up windows and piled-up mail. Jot down the address and search for the owners in public records.

However, a predictive analytics platform like Smartzip is also an excellent resource to find individuals who are most likely to sell, as well as owners of vacant properties. Smartzip uses algorithms to predict who in your specific location is getting ready to sell and puts them at your fingertips.

Visit Smartzip