If you’re not tapping into expired listings, you’re missing out on one of the best real estate marketing strategies out there…and a major source of revenue. Why? Well, there are many reasons, but I’ve boiled them down to 4 main ones for the sake of brevity.
Maybe they will convince you once and for all that an expired listing script is one of the best real estate marketing strategies.
1. It’s easy to grow expired listings. It’s as simple as logging into your Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and searching for expired listings for the time period of your choice. Go ahead – try it now. It’s simple, easy and almost effortless!
2. Expired listings are some of the most valuable leads you’ll ever get – each one is a known, motivated seller! When a listing expires, that’s usually not a good thing.
Some owners have to sell because they are moving to another city and state to start a new job. Others may have to sell because they were “reduced”. Yet some want to sell because they are transitioning into retirement and trying to reduce their monthly living expenses.
In many cases, for whatever reason, they are more motivated to sell than they were before!
3. Sellers of expired listings are often more realistic about price and terms the second time around! Good agents can take advantage of expired listings to get better prices, terms and conditions. Shrewd sellers quickly realize that they may need to give up their asking price a bit or sweeten their listing by offering other financial incentives to sell their properties.
The more the seller is willing to “give”, and will, the more desirable their new listing with you will be, and the more likely you will be to sell it!
When sellers insist on overpricing their listings, you can politely decline them (which will shock them like you wouldn’t believe) knowing that more opportunities are just a few sends away! Sometimes sellers are so stunned when you decline their offer to list with you that they will start pedaling backwards while trying to get you what you want to list with you. After all, how many times have you actually turned down an ad?
4. Most real estate agents don’t handle expired listings – they assume someone else has already converted them to new listings. But they are wrong. Sometimes no one chases them!
I am constantly amazed at the number of agents who know that expired listings are worth their weight in gold, but market them.
Go ahead and try it for yourself. Go around your desk and see if any of your colleagues have expired! But do it quietly! You don’t want to give them ideas if they don’t already have them!
What you will find is that few, if any, cultivate expired listings. Instead of marketing real estate in this relatively stress-free way, they are hooked on complicated real estate marketing programs that cost a lot of money and offer little return on their investment.
It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. Even veteran agents, who should know how valuable expired listings can be, don’t exploit them. Ultimately, their inability to act is your gain.
So, if you’re not growing expired listings, you should seriously think about it. Don’t continue to be one of those agents who assumes another agent has already gotten the list. Instead, be the one who actually converts expired listings into new ones!