Get hired by the expired

ORLANDO, Fla. – Nov. 14, 2008 – About 64 percent of homeowners with expired listings end up listing with another brokerage within 30 days, according to a Hofstra University study.

“Buyers are frustrated and angry that their home didn’t sell, and they’re looking for someone to blame,” Joe Meyer, GRI, of Joe Meyer Presentation, Lake Grove, N.Y., told a rollicking crowd Monday at the 2008 Realtor Conference & Expo in Orlando.
So even if it’s no fun for you, let owners with expired listings vent before you try to list them ¬– and then list them if you can, said Meyer.

Use these tips when trying to woo expireds:

• Prospect homes you’ve already shown or seen at a broker open house. That way, you’ll be able to tell the owner that you already know a lot about the house.

• Look for expired listings near homes you’ve already sold or ones that are similar to your recent sales. That way, you might still have buyers in your database who liked your last listing but didn’t buy, said Meyer.

• Choose an expired listing where you have a distinct competitive advantage over the last agent that had the listing. “Homeowners whose homes didn’t sell often look for agents the exact opposite of their last salesperson, so if the last agent came from a larger company, for example, being from a smaller brokerage may be your advantage,” said Meyer.

• Focus on homes that have been marketed poorly and then go in with a strong plan that shows how you’d do it differently. For example, maybe the last agent didn’t put enough pictures of the house online or failed to hold effective open houses.

Last but not least, said Meyer, respect your local Multiple Listing Service’s rules and don’t prospect any homeowners until the listing has actually expired.

“We all know some people do it, and they may even get some listings, but they won’t have successful real estate careers if they act unethically,” said Meyer.

Source: NAR, Mariwyn Evans

© 2008 FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS

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