Writing an Effective Expired Listing Letter

Experienced real estate agents understand the unique challenge posed when working with new expired prospects. These homeowners are (rightly so) often frustrated and discouraged. They’ve likely spent months dealing with last-minute, inconvenient showings, any number of open houses and probably a certain number of shifting pricing strategies. And, after all of this “activity,” they have nothing to show for their time and effort.

Luckily, if you’re an Espresso Agent client, you have access to some of the best Expired listings each morning. So, maybe you’ll start your day on the phone, trying to connect with a new Expired. Perhaps you can be the agent who is able to break through and make a good first impression with someone who may have an urgency to sell, but is possibly not in the greatest frame of mind.

While the phone represents your greatest opportunity to break through, you’ll likely consider other ways to engage your new Expired prospect. One of the most common of those other tactics is the expired listing letter.

Before you write to your new Expired, it helps to put yourself in their frame-of-mind. You can assume the prospect is motivated, perhaps urgently so depending on their upcoming plans. You must (delicately) convince the prospect that you are the person to help the achieve their goal. And you need to navigate this process while ensuring you don’t make them feel as if they made a huge mistake in their previous efforts.

If you’re lucky, you’ll connect over the phone, using your scripts to engage and secure a time for a listing presentation. But it’s not always that easy. Perhaps the homeowner has shut down for the time being, and doesn’t want to talk to another real estate agent. Or, even if you are able to connect, the client might not be ready to move forward on anything at that moment.

Which gets you to your Expired listing letter. The Expired letter represents your formal sales pitch. It’s your opportunity to introduce your services and experience, and hopefully make a good first impression. A letter’s not as personal as a well-crafted, scripted phone conversation. But it can round out your sales pitch, and maybe even help get your foot in the door.

What to write on a letter for an expired listing? Here are a few tips for crafting a winning Expired listing letter:

• Timing is everything: Even if you don’t connect by phone, get your letter out soon after you get the new Expired listing from Espresso Agent. If you do connect by phone and promise a follow-up letter, get that letter out quickly. Don’t make them wait.
• Be understanding: Remember, a new Expired is discouraged and probably frustrated. Empathy helps to build trust, which is critical at this phase of the process
• Be insightful. Share your perspective and insight as to why their home may not have sold. Use this as a jumping-off point to reinforce your knowledge of the market conditions. Make them confident that you have the experience necessary to sell their home.
• Share your strategic vision: Outline how you would market their home, using case studies from recent sales to show how you approach marketing.
• Cut to the chase: Don’t ramble on. Be succinct in telling your story. Use bullet points instead of lengthy paragraphs to make it easy for the prospect to follow along.

A lot of agents will be reaching out to these new Expired. That’s why a well-crafted letter can help differentiate you from your competitors. In the absence of a phone conversation, or as an addendum to one, your letter is a great way to build initial trust with a prospect, giving them the confidence that you know your stuff.

Doug Spak

Doug Spak joined Espresso Agent as a Content Marketing Specialist in 2016. Doug brings nearly four decades of experience as a copywriter, blogger, and screenwriter to his role with Espresso. Since joining our team, Doug has actively updated website content, published more than 300 blogs, and created countless social media posts.