How to Market to Expireds the Right Way

Part One: What, Why, and Where

There's no doubt that expired listings can be a profitable and worthy lead generation mechanism for agents new and old. These days, with the proliferation of both agents and tools available to discover expireds, competition is gnawing at returns.

Perhaps most importantly, however, is the effect calling on expired listings has to the reputation of the real estate industry. The most common techniques rely on finding or buying contact information for expired listings and calling on them. As Edward Zorn notes, his statement below is an average experience for a seller with an expired listing:

"She had received more than a dozen telephone calls, the vast majority being robocalls, since her property had expired form the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) earlier that morning. The few telephone calls that she'd decided to answer resulted in awkward conversations with agents who clearly knew nothing about her property..."

In this guide, we explain the reasons why expireds can be high ROI lead opportunities, but describe methods in which agents can stand apart and better deliver value when dealing with expired listings as well as introduce a better overall marketing strategy that still fits with an expireds strategy.