Expired Real Estate Listing Leads: The Five Ws (and one H)

by | Mar 25, 2015 | Grow to Greatness in Real Estate, Real Estate Moms

Why:
The real estate market is slower right now and more and more home sellers who want and need to sell are not doing so as quickly as in the past.  This means there is a bigger pool of potential clients in the expired listings that pop up every day.
How:
The best place to find your Expired Listing Leads is through a program that will check your MLS System, double check them to make sure they have not been immediately re-listed, cross-reference them with the local tax records, find owners’ names and contact information including telephone numbers, and then check those numbers against the Do Not Call List.  Now, this can all be done by your administrative assistant, or by you, but that would be an extremely time consuming.  It is best to use a service like the one at ExpiredRealEstateLeads.com
Who:
Your assistant can get the list – and apply a preset action plan – and even do the mailings to the Expired Listing, however, an experienced agent or team member that is experienced at calling leads and setting appointments must also be involved.  Once the appointment is set, the agent do the listing presentation must be good converting that appointment to a signed listing contract.  Chances are, you will be in competition for this listing and the potential client has already had their house listed for a period of time and they are clearer on what they want to see from their new agent.
Where: 
The expired real estate listings you are going after will be in the Farm areas you work, in the areas and neighborhoods that are selling the quickest in the current market in your area, and in the price ranges that are currently selling the quickest in your current market conditions.  It is imperative that you stay extremely updated with these ever changing market statistics in order to best direct your efforts.
When:
You need to contact expired listing leads immediately and continuously.  This means your first contact should be the day the property comes up as expired.  Many expired listing leads will want and need to get their house back on the market as soon as possible.  It is also important to note that there will be a multitude of agents contacting this lead on the first day or two after it expires.  For those leads that take time to make up their mind in who they will relist with, it will be important to have continued contact that lessens in frequency of contacts over the next days, weeks and sometimes even months ahead.
What:
A combination of phone calls, mailings, drop-bys and even emails when that information is available.  Different people respond differently to different forms of contact and you are never sure which one will be the best method for this lead.
Remember, the goal of these contacts is to get the appointment and eventually the listing!