When you approach a homeowner of an expired listing (find out how to farm expired listings with our article ‘Prospecting for Expired Listings‘), your opening line should go something like this: “Hello Mr. Homeowner, I just wanted to introduce myself and let you know I specialize in helping people in difficult or stressful situations and my job is to help people in a position like yours get their home sold.” This works better the longer the home has been on the market because the homeowner is likely to get more and more stressed as the months pass (usually by the time a listing expires it’s been on the market a good six months).

Once you’ve got your foot in the door, it’s time to gauge their opinion of their last agent with small talk. When the opportunity presents itself, ask them if the agent who listed their home had a 21 point marketing plan when they had their listing appointment. If the homeowner says no, you can say that’s probably why the home didn’t sell, then go through each point of your own marketing plan – at this point, they’ll probably be blown away by how detailed and comprehensive your marketing would be.

The other agent probably did the same type of marketing to sell the home, but did not present it in as impressive a manner as you just did. Sometimes the home didn’t sell because the agent wasn’t any good. Sometimes it didn’t sell because it was overpriced (and it will be up to you to tell the homeowner that) and still other times the home didn’t sell simply because the right buyer didn’t come along in the first six months. Once you’ve got the listing, odds are good the right buyer will come along during your six months without you having to do anything different.

If the home is overpriced, you can’t be afraid to tell the homeowners that. Tell them it may actually help their case however, because you can put it in your MLS for that price, if within two weeks it doesn’t sell, you can lower the price. When you change something with a property in the MLS it gets sent out as an updated listing, so making adjustments keeps it from getting stagnant and keeps getting the listing sent to other agents. Get a listing change form and have the seller agree to lower the price in two weeks time if the property doesn’t sell. You can date the agreement two weeks in advance and put it through so the seller can’t change their mind later on.

Recommendation: Co-founder Rory Wilfong would actually take expired listings and sometimes UP the price. If a home was priced at $189,500 (which would make the 160K – 190k range in the MLS) he would raise it to $191,500. Since agents and people are search for homes usually in 5K increments, this made the listing pop up for a whole new group of people, possible pulling in a whole new group of potential buyers. Of course, if no one’s interested in the home for that price, you lower it back down, but the point is that a whole new slew of potential clients just saw a property you listed.

If you can’t convince the homeowners to list with you during that initial meeting, your chances do lessen over the next few days or weeks, however long before they choose another agent. If you want the listing bad enough, be willing to negotiate, whether it is a lower commission than the last agent would have taken, or if it is to waive the long-term listing contract, so they can back out if they feel uncomfortable. Once you walk out of that first meeting WITHOUT a listing agreement, it’s time to kick follow-up into high gear.

Send them useful information on how to choose the best agent for them, how to get top dollar for their home, etc. Make yourself available as a resource if they have any questions at all. Do everything you can (within reason, and without being too pushy) to get yourself in front of them to sell them on your services. Do this until they list with you, list with another agent, or decide to take their home off the market altogether. But hey, even if they do that, you’ve got one more lead to add to your pipeline, and chances are they’ll be looking to sell again within the year!

Here are a few Expired Listing Scripts to try:

1. Hello, I am calling to inquire about your home at (address) which did not sell. You do realize that the 2 most common reasons that a home does not sell in these market conditions is Overpricing and Lack Of Marketing?! My name is (your name) with (company name) and I have dedicated myself to exceeding my clients expectations however, I must know that I am dealing with a realistic homeowner? Great! Let’s schedule a day and time so I can go over the plan of how I am going to get your home sold. Remember, there is no need for frustration….you just need a better game plan.

2. Hello my name is (your name) with (company) and I was recently notified that your home at (address) has expired from the MLS and I would assume that your ultimate goal still remains to get the home sold. I would appreciate the opportunity to introduce myself and discover the reasons why your home did not sell and see how my company and I can help get your home sold. Would Friday at 4pm or Saturday at 10am work for a meeting?

3. Hello this is (your name) with (company) and I see that your listing at (address) has expired with (other realtors name and company) and was hoping to find out a little more about what you feel could have been done better and get your opinion as to why it did not sell. Even though you were listed with a good agent and company before, sometimes a fresh perspective with a new agent can be all that it takes. I would like to schedule an appointment with you and (other decision maker, if any) to go over in detail my marketing plan for the successful sale of your home. Please let me know some days and times you are available.