Most real estate agents try to pull their main income from referrals and repeat clients. However, there is another (dare I say more successful) way to make big money off of selling real estate, and it’s pretty simple.
The method I am referring is: Recently Expired Listings.
Even the most veteran real estate agents can benefit from expired listings by going to MLS and finding expired listings.
Why is that?
Most expired listings don’t expire because the owner doesn’t want to sell their real estate, they expire because the owner didn’t have success in selling their home or other types of real estate listing.
These types of leads are on the warm to hot level. They can easily be put back on the market, and as a real estate professional, you can easily gain new leads through expired listings. Here are the steps to successfully gaining new clients through expired leads.
Step 1: Come Up with an Amazing Script
Before even looking for leads, you need to come up with an amazing script to draw the potential customer in.
The most important thing is to make sure to be personable when creating the script.
Almost anyone is willing to take a cold call if the person they are speaking to sounds genuine.
Here Are A Few Tips:
Start by saying “Hi, is this_________”.
If it’s the right number, they might say something like
“Yes.”
or
“Who is this?”
The reason they may ask who is calling before confirming their identity is to avoid being taken advantage of by con artists.
People are now weary when answering the phone because robocallers and scammers can take a person’s voice when they say “yes” and use it as a form of authorization for fraudulent credit or debit card charges.
Don’t feel off-put if someone is weary when picking up the phone.
Here’s the best way to make them feel at ease:
- Introduce yourself and what you do.
- Tell them that you noticed their house is off the market and ask them when they are going to interview agents again for the job of getting their house sold.
This is the beginning of a good script. As a real estate agent, you need to establish that you aren’t simply a scammer trying to rip them off in some way, you are a professional who can be trusted.
This also opens the door for the potential client to feel comfortable asking questions. The focus shifts from you trying to get new leads to them trying to sell their house.
By using the script above or one similar, you will have opened the door for a great phone conversation with your potential client.
It's important to make any lead feel like their business really matters.
You need to assure each potential client that if they chose you as their new real estate agent, you would be attentive to their needs and concerns.
Once you set up the script, practice through it several times and get familiar with what you want to say. Add your personality to it. You will need to be 100% prepared before you start looking for expired listings. There will be other realtors trying to do the same thing you do, and you need to be more memorable and professional for all of them.
Step 2: Find Expired and Cancelled Listings
Finding expired and cancelled listings is a pretty simple process. Navigate to your local MLS and search for recently expired and canceled listings.
So far, so good right?
But here’s the hard part for most agents: finding the contact information to get in touch with the homeowner of the expired or canceled listing!
Even more difficult and more important, how do you find the right contact information?
Step 3: Lookup Owner Contact Info Using a People Search Service
You use MLS (a real estate search website) to find real estate leads.
Why wouldn’t you use a website that specializes in people searching to get the most up-to-date and accurate information about the leads you want to connect with?
It’s pretty simple once you have the address that you need to look up.
Our website has a reverse address search to look up any address.
Simply click on the address search link at the bottom of our homepage, perform a search and in a few moments, results will be available.
You can perform multiple searches if you need more than one person’s contact information.
Step 4: Call the Home Owner
Once you have the results, go over your script one more time and give the current homeowner a call!
Make sure to call them at an appropriate time and set an appointment.
Try to get more contact information if you can.
Step 5: Email the Home Owner
If you had a great conversation on the phone, make sure to send the homeowner a follow-up email.
If you weren’t able to reach them via phone, you could still send them an email because our address search report will include email addresses (if available).
To Sum It All Up
If you are a real estate professional and are not taking advantage of expired listings, you are missing out on some major business opportunities.
Use the tips shared above to find accurate information that will get you in touch with prospective clients.
Remember that in order to be a successful real estate professional, you need to go above and beyond what everyone else is doing.