How to Find and Win Expired Listings

Expired listings are the most motivated sellers in real estate. They already decided to sell, spent 90-180 days on the market, dealt with showings and open houses, and their home did not sell. They are frustrated, but their motivation has not changed — they still need to move.

The agent who understands why their home did not sell and presents a specific plan to fix it wins the listing. This guide covers how to find expired listings, what data to pull before you contact the homeowner, and how to convert that contact into a listing appointment.

Where to Find Expired Listings

1. Your MLS

Every MLS tracks listing status changes. When a listing expires, it moves from “Active” to “Expired” or “Withdrawn.” You can search for expired listings directly in your MLS.

How to set up an MLS expired search:

• Set status to “Expired” or “Withdrawn” (both types are prospects — withdrawn listings were pulled early, often due to agent frustration)
• Set date range to the last 24 hours for daily prospecting
• Filter to your target areas, price ranges, and property types
• Save the search as a daily auto-notification

Limitation: Your MLS shows the listing data but typically does not include the homeowner’s phone number or email. For contact information, you need a data provider.

2. Expired Listing Data Providers

These services pull expired listing data from MLSs and append contact information (phone numbers, emails) through skip tracing.

REDX is the most popular for solo agents due to its combination of reliable data and affordable pricing. Vulcan7 has the highest phone number accuracy but costs 3-4x more, making it better for teams or full-time prospectors.

3. Public Records

County assessor websites and property record databases contain homeowner names and mailing addresses. Cross-reference expired MLS listings with public records to find owner contact information without a paid data service.

Downsides: Manual process, no phone numbers, and time-intensive. Only practical for a small number of daily expireds.

Pre-Call Research: What to Know Before You Dial

The difference between a successful expired listing call and a wasted one is preparation. Before contacting any expired listing homeowner, pull the following data:

The Expired Listing Prospecting System

Daily Morning Routine (6:00-6:30 AM)

1. Check your MLS expired search results — note new expireds from yesterday
2. Check your data provider (REDX, Vulcan7) for phone numbers
3. Pull comparable sales data for each expired listing
4. Review the old listing (photos, price history, DOM)
5. Prepare 3-5 key data points for each property

Call Block (9:00-11:00 AM)

Call every expired listing from the morning batch. Use the scripts from our expired listing scripts guide. Goal: 2-3 appointments per day from expired calls.

Follow-Up (2:00-3:00 PM)

1. Send CMAs to homeowners you spoke with who were interested but not ready to meet
2. Door knock any expired listings in your farm area
3. Send follow-up texts to no-answers from the morning call block
4. Update your CRM with notes, follow-up dates, and status tags

Weekly Review (Friday)

Review your expired listing pipeline in your CRM:

• How many new expireds did you contact this week?
• How many appointments did you book?
• How many listings did you take?
• What is your conversion rate at each stage?

Why Expired Listings Do Not Sell

Understanding the common reasons helps you diagnose the problem and present a credible solution.

Reason	Frequency	How to Diagnose	Your Fix
Overpriced	60-70%	List price significantly above sold comps	Show CMA with correct pricing and market absorption data
Bad photos/presentation	15-20%	Dark, cluttered, smartphone photos in MLS	Professional photography + virtual staging
Poor marketing	10-15%	MLS-only, no digital campaigns, no social media	Targeted digital marketing plan with specific channels and budget
Condition issues	5-10%	Deferred maintenance, dated finishes	Pre-listing inspection + repair recommendations + staging
Agent problems	5-10%	Slow response to showings, poor communication	Your responsiveness as a competitive advantage

In most cases, the answer is pricing. The market does not lie — if a home had 20+ showings and zero offers, buyers are telling you the home is overpriced for its condition. Show this data to the homeowner with comparable sold prices, and the pricing conversation becomes factual instead of emotional.

The Listing Presentation for Expireds

Your listing presentation for an expired listing is different from a standard listing appointment. The homeowner has already been through this process and is skeptical. Your presentation must:

1. Diagnose what went wrong — show them the data, not your opinion
2. Present a specific, different marketing plan — not the same MLS-and-pray approach
3. Price the home correctly from day one — show comparable data that supports your price
4. Set realistic timeline expectations — based on current market absorption rate

What to Bring

Item	Purpose
Printed CMA with comparable sold prices	Establishes correct pricing range
Old listing data (screenshots)	Shows what the previous agent did
Your marketing plan (written, specific)	Differentiates you from the last agent
Testimonials from past sellers	Social proof that your approach works
Pre-listing checklist	Shows what you would do differently in the first week

Converting Expireds: The Numbers

At these rates, an agent who contacts 20 expired listings per week books 1-2 appointments and takes 1 new listing every 1-2 weeks. That is 25-50 new listings per year from a single prospecting channel — more than enough to build a six-figure business.

Tools That Automate Expired Prospecting

Task	Manual Approach	Automated With
Finding expired listings	MLS search daily	REDX / Vulcan7 auto-delivery at 6 AM
Getting phone numbers	Public records, skip tracing	Data provider included with REDX/Vulcan7
Dialing	Manual phone calls	Power dialer (Mojo, Vulcan7 built-in)
Follow-up sequences	Manual reminders	CRM drip campaigns (Follow Up Boss)
CMA preparation	Manual MLS comps	Cloud CMA auto-generated

Related Resources

• Expired Listing Scripts: What to Say to Win the Listing — complete scripts with objection handlers
• Real Estate Cold Calling Scripts That Convert — all prospecting scripts
• Best AI Cold Calling Tools for Real Estate — dialer comparisons
• How to Do a CMA: Complete Guide — preparing CMAs for expired presentations