It's true. I listed two homes last week. The sellers were former expireds that called me from a letter I sent them in the mail. Now, I'm sure you are thinking this doesn't work. But, it does. My assistant mailed this simple letter to all of the expireds we have gotten over the last month.
Four people called about having me list their home and I took two of the listings. The other two I had to turn down because the sellers just weren't motivated enough. The first house I listed was previously listed at $349,900. I got a six month listing at $285,000 and I feel they will reduce even further. The second listing is priced very competitively at $250,000 (formerly at $349,900) and will sell fairly quickly.
I found that mailing the expireds worked better than calling them. See, when you call someone up completely cold they have a lot of "sales resistance." But when you send them a simple letter in the mail they will read thru it. I have worked the expired market for the last few years with good success. But, in the last 6 months our expired marketing really took off.
Expireds are disappointed that their home didn't sell and are looking for answers. And they are better to list than FSBOs because they are much more realistic on pricing. And when you send them a letter that shows them how you can get the home sold, they respond. My name is Jim Curry and I work at Re/max here in Lake City, Florida. My son, Ben Curry, has been helping me with my marketing and wrote an expired letter that works great.
If you go to my website, www.JimCurryHomes.com, you can see a few of the former expireds that I have listed. See that mobile home park listed for $375,000? That was an expired. When Ben first talked to me about these letters I thought this would never work. Even though I tried to be nice and optimistic about it, I didn't think it would work from what I have seen doing sales for over 25 years. I have always done the cold calling, door knocking, and belly to belly sales.
Here is one of the best things about mailing expireds versus calling them. What would previously take an hour to do in a presentation is already done in my sales letter. When I go to an appointment that has responded from a letter most of my work is already done. They have already made up their mind to do business with me. I just have to go in, negotiate a little on the listing price, commission, and the length of listing. Which they were ready for, again because of my letter, it has to be the best thing I ever did.
I average a 6% to 7% commission, 6 month+ listing agreement, and most important, a competitively priced listing.
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Ben & Chris Curry The Short Sale Agent's Advocate
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