Expired Listings, Real Estate Marketing Tools

I Need a Sample Expired Listing Letter

Thursday, May 10th, 2007 | Expired Listings Tips | 1 Comment

“I need a sample expired listing letter to send out. I am new and want to make sure that I send out the right letter to the homeowners. Thank you.” wrote a real estate agent from California recently.

I spent two years perfecting my expired listing letter I sent to the expireds with my resume. Re-writing, testing, editing… Constantly looking for that perfect paragraph that would finally make the phone ring with “Come list our house, please!” But it never did. Here is the problem…

When a listing expires, the owners get from 20 to 50 expired listing letters within 48 hours! That is one BIG pile of mail. It doesn’t matter how powerful my letter is, how well written it is, it will get lost in the stack of others. That’s the bad news…

The answer is not in ONE letter. One expired listing letter will never do. If you really want to list a bunch of expireds, you must use multiple contacts using multiple methods. Let me give you an example…

Some sellers prefer letters. They open every one, read it carefully, and are influenced by the message. Others respond better to post cards. They prefer the short and sweet message, and they like the interesting visual elements.

Others sellers review your resume page by page. Some will closely read your web site. Some will read your emails you send them. Some only engage over the phone. And some like to meet you in person. It just depends…

And then there is another group of sellers that you need to approach using a mix of all the real estate marketing tools. Since you don’t know what will work with whom, you have to do it all, do it well, and do it consistently. For how long? Until you (or somebody else) list the house.

It was not unusual for me to list a house that had expired 12 months ago. Most agents give up after a few mailings. If you stay persistent, keep sending well written expired listing letters, postcards, updates – anything that’s interesting, it will pay of handsomely.

X-Plus Update

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007 | Expired Listings Tips | 1 Comment

Finally the materials are done! According to the UPS tracking, they should be delivered on Friday, April 25. Stay tuned for details.

I Want the X-Plus, NOW!

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007 | Expired Listings Tips | No Comments

The good news, friends, is it’s coming soon. All letters are done, and so is the X-tracker projection and tracking. Right now I’m converting all the marketing materials (resume, postcards, and market updates) into Microsoft Publisher so it will be easy to customize and edit them. Both manuals are done, I received the final revision from the editor and it will be ready for print next week.

I found a good printer and I’m hoping for quick turnaround (10 to 14 days). I will be doing a final re-write of the Quick Guide. Then it all should be ready for shipping by the end of March. We’ll see. I will not release it until it’s complete, and perfect. Not a day sooner.

It’s About The Seller!

Sunday, March 4th, 2007 | Expired Listings Tips, Marketing Tips | No Comments

Ten Reasons to List With Me!
Today I received a great letter from a very ambitious, hard working agent. Nice headline, well-thought out points why this particular agent is a head of the completion. It’s a very good letter. Strong impressive selling points, and all the facts that are important. There is, however, one fundamental problem with it. It’s not a good first contact letter. Here is why…

When a listing expires, sellers are bombarded by agents with letters and calls. And the message is always (or most of the time) the same:
1. “I know why your house didn’t sell. You had the wrong agent and wrong price.”
2. “List with me, I’m different/better/expert/specialist/top producer, etc.”
3. “I sold many homes”

Now, those are all relevant messages, but why don’t they work on the first approach? I’ll give you an example…

Let’s say you want to buy a car. You walk into a dealership, look around, and a salesman approaches you: “Hello, my name is Joe Carguy, I’ve been in business ten years and I’m the top producer of this dealership, I won three awards this year, and I sell to 93% of all customers that walk in.”

What’s wrong with the picture? The first contact is all about Joe. I don’t care about Joe. I care about a car. Do they have what I want? Is it a good choice? Is it priced well? Can I test drive it? How much can I get for my trade in?

So back to expireds… the first contact (actually several early contacts) need to be all about them. On the phone, in letters, postcards, in any contact, make it about the seller, because that’s what they care about, and that’s all they want to hear. The rest is simply an advertising noise that ends up in the trash.

It’s that old saying slightly modified: Show us how much you care first, then we’ll care who you are and what you can do for us.

How to Write a Great Expired Listing Letter

Sunday, February 18th, 2007 | Expired Listings Tips, Marketing Tips | 1 Comment

The trouble with most letters (and not just to expireds) is they sound too stuffy, too professional, too much like a loud and cheap radio commercial. You may be better off writing it yourself rather than recycling what has been said and trashed thousands of times. But it’s not an easy task to come up with a fresh letter that would get seller’s attention and persuade them to call you.

Here is a method that has helped me come up with some good marketing writing. I use a small Sony digital recorder, but a mike and a computer would do just fine. First I come up with a list of seller’s questions. Here is an example:

I think about the questions a bit, maybe jot down an idea or two on how to answer them. Then I turn on the recorder and simply answer the questions as if I had a pleasant conversation with a nice home owner on the porch of the house.

Next, I listen to the recording and write down ideas and thoughts that stand out; first in just a skeleton outline, then in a letter form. Then I take a break, get a cup of tea, and let it go for a while.

As they say - There is no great writing, only great rewriting. I go over the first draft, rework it, polish some ideas, discard others, change and edit the piece. It helps me to read it out loud, or have somebody else read it back to me (my wife Monique helps me with each marketing piece I create, bless her patient soul). Does the letter flow? Does it make sense? Is it interesting? Is it compelling?

Many times I end up with material for more than one letter. Try this method and you’ll discover that your expired letter is better than 99% of the recycled “professional” sales letters out there, that expireds get all the time and trash right after “Dear Homeowner, I know why your home hasn’t sold”.

One final tip: I spell check, grammar-check, and proof read it several times. Even the best writing will get crushed by typos.

Seal, sign, send off… done.

Do you have a writing tip that has worked for you? Share your ideas.