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Working with Expired Listings. How much follow up do you do?

You're cruising the MLS and you see a great house Expired Listings in Gig Harbor that has expired. You fire off that letter, or call the owner or possibly drop by. Any of the three might lead to a conversation. Do you drop it at that? Or do you press on?

Today in my office we were sitting around the water cooler having a discussion. I brought up that I think expired listings can be a great method to get listings quickly. I was the only one that held this opinion. I was told that listings are liabilities in this market. I was told expired listings are simply a waste of time. I was told that the owners are frustrated and will take it out on me. I'm sure that each of those statements can be true. I also believe that expired listings can be very valuable if approached in the right way. Briefcase of Money

My current plan is to send out a letter first and then if the house is one that I feel very strongly about as being a quality candidate to be listed and sold I follow up with a phone call. Sure this does not always lead to success but it certainly is better than not trying at all. Persistence is one of the keys. I'm just wondering what the line is between persistence and pestering?

One of the trends in my area is for the expired listing to be owned by an out of state owner. This makes pursuing an expired a bit more challenging. After all, I cannot drop by and visit if the owner lives in California for example. What I am noticing is that the out of state owners do not seem to be getting all of the efforts of their listing agents. I was in a house this weekend that had expired. I had sent out a letter to the owners and did not hear anything back. They relisted the house with the original agent. This weekend I went into the house to show it and my business card from December (I put the date I visited on the back of my cards) was still on the counter. Now what has the listing agent been doing? Would this expired (relisted as of now) benefited from a more pro-active agent? I think yes. How do you explain that to the expireds you have been going after?

How much follow up do you do with expireds? What do you do for follow up? Lets share our thoughts and just maybe we can help the sellers who have been neglected by their previous agents. In this slower market every seller needs their agents best efforts.

Contact Scott Cowan, Rainier Real Estate. Licensed real estate salesperson in Washington at 253-219-1194 to list your property for sale or purchase a home in Tacoma, Gig Harbor, Puyallup, and the rest of Pierce County Washington. Gladly accepting referrals.

Call us today at 253-219-1194. Contact us by email if you prefer by using the email link on the right side of this page under my profile.

Disclaimer: Information provided within this post and blog is supplied by several sources and is subject to change without notice. All information is provided without warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied. Entries on this blog are the opinions and ideas of the author and are not necessary those of Rainier Real Estate, Inc.

Posted by Scott Cowan -Tacoma & Pierce County Area on 05/05/2008 07:16 PM

Comments (16)

expired listings, marketing, sales

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16 Comments on Working with Expired Listings. How much follow up do you do?

Great Post Scott, I have just started working on expireds, mainly because of one of your previous posts. I am sending them 1 letter a week, changing the content of course and will probably call on the third and sixth weeks. I am checkiing before I send out each letter that the house has not been relisted. So far I have not gotten a nibble, but it sure feels good being proactive rather than not doing anything with them. My county also has a website for sheriff's sale houses. I am in the process of writing letters to them as well. I did sheriff sale letters when I first got started but didn't stick with it long enough to get anything done. I did receive one phone call from a homeowner who already listed her house but didn't know it was really listed (??). And of course I got most of the letters back because they had moved already.

Don't listen to the nay-sayers. They probably haven't even worked the expireds, most people don't! They are just going off thier own opinions or opinions of others who tried and didn't stick with it and reap the rewards.

05/06/2008 06:32 AM

by Elkhart-Evelyn Johnston (Prudential One Realty)

Thanks for the comment and the kind words! Keep going and I am sure that things will pay off! I'm starting to see some results and I am hopeful that listings and sales are just around the corner.

Best,

Scott

05/06/2008 02:46 PM

by Scott Cowan -Tacoma & Pierce County Area (Terry Wise & Associates)

Thanks for the post. I have been trying to figure out how and when to contact these people.

05/06/2008 03:13 PM

by Tony Brust, REALTOR ABR e-PRO Pekin/Peoria IL (Coldwell Banker Devonshire)

Great Post! Isn't amazing how so many agents out there are just accepting that the market is poor and that working hard right now is a waste of time? And then they feel sorry for themselves when they don't have any business. In this poor market, I'm as busy as ever doing mortgages. And I've done it just like you are, by going back to basics and working hard at it. I'm adding new realtor referral partners every month - by calling them and offering them value-added services, by constantly communicating loan flow, by being there for them on weekends and evenings if needed (I have one new client now that can only talk to me after 10:30 pm - that's okay - I'll get that loan).

The pie may be smaller now, but you won't get a bite unless you bring a fork.

Glenn

05/08/2008 03:37 PM

by GLENN LEACH (THE LEGACY GROUP)

Scott, I too am just starting to hit the expired listings, I sent out some letters and nothing. I will have to get a better letter.

05/08/2008 04:03 PM

by BART WHITMORE REAL ESTATE CONSULTANT (THE REALTY MARKETPLACE)

Great post. At his time in the business, we need to tackle every possiblity of getting business. Just make sure that you do not take it overpriced.

05/08/2008 04:45 PM

by Linda Tremblay, Bucks County Real Estate (Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc, PA License #AB065488)

Tony- Thanks for dropping by.

Glenn- I agree 100% If you work in this market you will have plenty of business. If you want to cry the blues... well be a lounge singer.

Bart- The letter is important. Katerina Gasset had a series on the expired listings letter. Take a look for it. Great stuff!

Linda- Working every opportunity is vital to everyone of us.

Thanks for stopping by,

Scott

05/08/2008 06:26 PM

by Scott Cowan -Tacoma & Pierce County Area (Terry Wise & Associates)

Scott- I had taken some time off to spend with my children. Now I'm back and expireds are a key part of my strategy to get back into the business. Thanks for sharing your experience!

05/12/2008 03:16 PM

by Keishia Louis: Suwanee, GA Real Estate Agent (Metrobrokers/GMAC)

Thank you for the great post. Some grate feedback from your comments as well.

05/13/2008 05:10 PM

by Andy Laughlin (ConnectRealty.com)

I think it goes for any occupation really...you will get people that won't work to their full capacity and then complain about how bad everything is. Rediculous.

05/14/2008 05:10 PM

by Spokane Home Loan -- Casey Brischle -- Mortgage Professional (Bank of Whitman)

Scott, this post should have been featured. The post and the comments were an excellent read.

Glenn Leach - Bring a fork? LOVED IT!

06/22/2008 10:00 PM

by AMANDA HALL*Broker*HALL TEAM HOMES* FORT WORTH REAL ESTATE (Serving all of DFW and surrounding areas within N Texas)

Scott great post. I'm busy now, but know it'll end real fast, I too have been thinking of a better approach as I sent the letters and made the calls, to no avail. I'll follow this post for ideas.

06/22/2008 11:07 PM

by Frank Bailey (Prudential Classic Realty)

I am in the process of developing a system for these expired listings myself. I'm trying to think of things that will set me apart from the pack.

06/23/2008 10:03 AM

by Kathy Anderson of KenMeadeRealty - Located in the heart of Sun City Grand (Ken Meade Realty)

I call them .. Ithink that if you get them involved in conversation and listen to them they can trust you.

06/23/2008 04:31 PM

by Sharon Harris (AllQuest Real Estate)

I am in the process of developing a system for expireds myself. I find the tracking of the mailings to be a bit daunting, however.

06/23/2008 05:33 PM

by Stacey-Ann Baugh (Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc)

Chuck Yancey's post addresses this and it's well worth the read. I had a question and he answered me very promptly; I sure appreciate his generosity.

06/23/2008 10:55 PM

by Julie Q. Fuelling, Real Estate Consultant, (Keller Williams Katy @ Cinco)

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