Mary’s home was on the market for several months. She eagerly watched potential buyers coming and going, hoping one of them would feel at home and make an offer. Once the listing expired, her hopes started to diminish.
Many realtors can get discouraged and shy away from a home that doesn’t sell. But a smart realtor can recognize that Mary’s situation is a great opportunity to pick up an expired listing.
How-to Qualify an Expired Listing
As all real estate agents know that listings have an expiration date. The seller agrees to a time frame that their home will be listed for. Obviously if the home isn’t sold in that time, it expires. There can be a number of reasons the house doesn’t sell, but the most common is that the asking price was a little bit too high. This tends to make the seller fairly unhappy, prompting them to get a new real estate agent - that’s where you come in.
Why Expired Listings Have More Motivated Sellers
The seller’s house could have been on the market for months without any offers and that can make them anxious. Often times they were looking to sell and move out by a certain date, and if things don’t go according to plan, it can get pretty frustrating. The downside is that since their last real estate agent failed to sell the home for them, they can sometimes get a little skeptical about realtors. But that brings us to the second reason why you should go after expired listings.
Brand Yourself as a Sales Guru
Expired listings are a great opportunity to prove to the world that you can sell a house that someone else couldn’t. It’s important for you to go through the entire process with the seller to try and identify why the home didn’t sell the first time and use your skills as a realtor to get the job done.
The Tricky Part
Expired listings can be a steady source of lead opportunities, but keep in mind that sometimes they didn’t sell the first time for a reason. Be selective when choosing an expired listing and make sure it’s something that you can actually work with.
You also have to make sure that you are on your “A” game. Most sellers have had a bad experience with an agent unable to sell their home, so you really need to set yourself apart in order to give them all the confidence that you can get the job done. Expired listings can often be an “all or nothing” opportunity.
What are You Waiting For?
Being successful in real estate is all about creating as many leads as possible and selling every home in town if you can. Cold calling, billboards, social media are all ways of generating leads, but there is one other source that some agents are hesitant to undertake - expired listings. They are a great way to find a motivated seller who is eager for someone to help them sell their home.
It will take hard work and determination, but if you can master the art of prospecting expired listings, you can take your real estate business to a whole new level.
Not sure of the best way to ensure you’re the first choice for an expired listing? Check out this article on winning expired listings for the go-to steps you need to take.
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