I have honed my expireds program to this:

* I look 2 weeks ahead to see what is about to expire in my target area. Then I print out envelopes for an expired letter and stuff it, ready to go. I mark in pencil the date of the expiration on the envelope and mail it the day BEFORE it expires, so that it arrives the morning it is no longer listed. I ALWAYS have a disclaimer at the bottom - "please disregard if..." I include a short letter, 2 cards, and a brochure, and advise them that I will follow up by phone to answer any questions in the next 2 days. (Check your Do not Call list!!!) I have done very well with this.

Sounds good, but how do you look ahead to see what is gonna expire?

On our MLS no one EVER puts the owner's number. The only time we see the owner's phone number is on the flat fee listings where they just put the house on MLS and the selling agent does all the work.

Do you know how to track when listings expire?
On our MLS, you can see the Listed Date price, etc...but Expiration is blank. Do listing agents leave this out on purpose? The Exipred date only shows up on listings after they have expired.

Joey -

The MLS system probably only shows the expiration date of your own listings under your log in but not of other agent's expiration dates. You can call the listing agent and ask when their listing aggreement expires. If they do not give this info up you can call the owner directly and ask them. Another trick of the trade is to pull a brochure out of the brochure box if there is one.

Often times Realtors will put a print out of the MLS in with the flyer. When they print a copy of the listing under their login they sometimes forget to white out the expiration information. Maybe this helps.

good info

I note comments about listing agents using their phone number in place of the homeowners number in the MLS. I consider this an act of dishonesty, at least one of the MLSs I belong to prohibit doing that without the signed permission of the owner!

I have heard of listing agents being required to tell another agent when their listing will expire. Is this true?

Also, why is it a big deal to take out the owner's number in the MLS when it expires? I can't seem to understand this.

Rereading the posts I note you are sending your letter the day before it expires to arrive the first day it has expired. I don't think that qualifys as contacting an expired but may be viewed as contacting an active listing and therefore interferring with the relationship between the listing agent and his client (a Code of Ethics violation). If the client provided the listing agent with your envelope, clearly showing a postmark prior to expiration, you might have some serious explaining to do!

I agree....it could be very messy.

I agree, especially when you never know if the seller might actually relist with the original agent before the expiration date.

I hope you do get big returns, but I don't think you will! Keep in mind every new agent and half the old ones in your area also sent them a letter. Those letters go straight to the cicular file, usually.

-jeff

Mr foreclosure - I checked on that, and as they did not receive the solicitation until the listing had expired, it is fine. I also have a disclaimer to the effect of 'if you are still listed or have renewed your contract, please disreguard for reasons of ethics, yadda yadda"

Joey - My MLS service has an expired listings report under the miscell reports section. I can choose the dates to search and it will give me all the listings to expire in those dates. I am sure to double check all the addresses for renewal or extention the day I plan to drop my letter in the mail.

Besides, if you are using property maps to send out mailings about you and your service to a specific neighborhood (out here you need a map or grand list since #s are not consecutive) you have no way of know which may be listed without driving it, and then what if they had no sign? That is the purpose of a disclaimer - in bold, italisiced and starred - to indicate no interest or intent to solicit if the listing is under contract.

I am contacting my local board on this to be sure, and bumping my mailing up one date, just to be safe. It seems to be a gray area, and I want to be completely in the clear, ethically.