It’s true. You can generate an abundance of real estate leads by farming expired listings. Of course some listing systems are better than others, but if you get a hold of a good one it can be the difference between an abundance of leads or a woeful few; success and failure; or another month of paying out more money in monthly fees than you earn.
Unfortunately, many agents find themselves in the unenviable position of the latter – spending out a lot of money every month with nothing to show for it but a growing balance on your credit card.
I was there once too, so I know how difficult it is shelling out hundreds of dollars a month in MLS fees, office dues, advertising expenses and miscellaneous costs when you aren’t earning anything.
However, you can turn things around with an expired listing system and generate more leads and listings than you are right now. And now is a good time to start increasing your inventory, because there are arguably more listings expiring in today’s market than ever before.
Why? Because the collapse of the real estate industry under the weight of over a million foreclosures has made it very difficult to sell regular home listings. So they go unsold and expire from the respective MLS.
A recent report indicated that there are approximately 1200 foreclosures per week in Broward County, Florida and more than 1,000 per day in the state of California. And these are just two isolated examples.
These alarmingly high numbers serve to point out how difficult it can be to sell average home listings in an ultra competitive market. But it’s understandable when you think about it. Whose going to pay full price for a home when they can buy the home next door at a steep discount?
Still listings are the name of the game, and even though you’ll never sell all of the ones you have the more you have the more secure you’ll be when the market turns around and it becomes a seller’s market again.
Yes, the the real estate market is eventually going to turn around and agents with a sizable inventory of homes will prosper. And one of the best ways to generate more real estate leads is with a good real estate marketing system.
My vote is for an expired listing system. It’s still one of the best lead generation strategies going and once it’s up and running you’ll be able to keep it humming with as little as 30 minutes of your time a day adding new names to your growing list of prospects and printing and mailing letters.
So, how many leads and listings do you want? Or as a good friend of mine would say; whatcha gonna do?