Expired listing scripts give real estate agents a repeatable way to convert frustrated homeowners into signed clients. In 2026, with inventory still tight and seller expectations higher than ever, expired listings represent one of the most overlooked and underworked lead sources in the business. These are homeowners who already raised their hand to sell. They hired an agent, prepped their home, and went through the process, only to watch their listing sit and eventually expire. They are not cold leads. They are motivated sellers who need a better plan and a more capable agent to execute it.
This guide is your complete expired listing playbook for 2026. It covers the mindset you need, the systems to build, the research to do before you pick up the phone, the exact scripts to use on first contact, the follow-up cadence that wins listings on the third or fourth touch, and the objection responses that keep the conversation moving forward. If you are willing to do the work, expired listings can become your most predictable source of new business this year.
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Key takeaways
- Expired listings in 2026 are a high-intent lead source that most agents ignore because the conversations feel uncomfortable, which is exactly why they work for agents who prepare.
- Your expired listing system starts with daily Multiple Listing Service (MLS) alerts, a CRM workflow for tracking and nurturing, and pre-call research on every property before you dial.
- The best expired listing scripts lead with empathy and curiosity, not a sales pitch. Your first call should feel like a consultation, not a cold call.
- Follow-up wins the listing. A five-touch cadence across phone, email, video, and direct mail over 21 days converts far more expireds than a single call ever will.
- Objection handling is a skill you can practice. The three most common objections from expired sellers have clear, non-defensive responses you can rehearse and internalize.
- Delivering a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) with visual proof of your marketing approach separates you from every other agent who called that seller the same morning.
Why expired listings matter in 2026
The real estate market in 2026 continues to reward agents who prospect with discipline. With more agents leaving the business, more homeowners are searching for professionals who can actually get the job done. In a Q3 2024 survey of real estate professionals, 32 percent said they expected an increase in agent attrition over the following 12 months (Luxury Presence, 2024 State of Real Estate Marketing Report). That trend has only accelerated into 2026, creating a gap in service quality that prepared agents can fill.
As of 2026, the top marketing goal among agents remains generating higher-quality online leads. But while most agents pour money into ads and wait for inbound inquiries, expired listings offer a direct path to high-conversion conversations with almost no ad spend required. The seller already wants to sell. The previous attempt failed. Your job is to show them why the next attempt will be different.
Here is why this matters for your business right now: every expired listing in your market is a seller who has already been qualified by the market itself. They own a home. They want to move. They signed a listing agreement once before. The only question is whether they will sign with you or with the next agent who calls.
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Understand the psychology of an expired listing seller
Before you pick up the phone, you need to understand what the person on the other end is feeling. Sellers of expired listings carry a heavy emotional load. They staged, prepped, and possibly even moved out of their home, only to watch their listing sit and eventually go stale. When a listing expires, the seller’s confidence in real estate professionals expires with it.
These sellers may be experiencing any combination of the following:
- Feeling abandoned or misled by their previous agent
- Embarrassed that their home did not sell when neighbors’ homes did
- Exhausted by the process and hesitant to go through it again
- Convinced the market is to blame rather than the strategy
- Defensive because they have already received calls from five other agents that morning
Your approach to every expired listing lead must be rooted in the understanding that this is not just a business transaction. It is a recovery conversation. Your role is not to critique the prior agent or pitch your services aggressively. Your role is to listen, validate their frustration, and provide clarity on what went wrong and what can be done differently. As top producer Ben Belack has said, “Agents say they don’t want to make calls because they don’t know what to say. When you know what you’re going to say, you don’t feel salesy. You feel like an advisor.”
Agents who succeed with expireds lead with trust, not tactics. Trust is built when a seller feels heard, not sold.
Step 1: Set up your expired listings system
You cannot work expired listings consistently without a system. Sporadic effort produces sporadic results. Here is how to build the infrastructure that makes this a daily discipline rather than an occasional experiment.
Set up daily MLS alerts
Most MLS systems allow agents to generate a daily list of expired listings filtered by price range, location, property type, and days on market. Set up automatic email notifications so that every morning, before you do anything else, you have a fresh list of expired listings waiting in your inbox. This is your call sheet for the day.
Build your CRM workflow
Once you have the data, you need a place to track it. Build a CRM workflow that allows you to tag expired listing contacts, log call attempts, schedule follow-ups, and track where each lead sits in your outreach cadence. Agents who work expireds treat this as both a numbers game and a relationship game. You need the volume of outreach and the systems to nurture leads over weeks and months.
Presence CRM is purpose-built for real estate workflows and tracks the entire client journey from first contact to closing. It integrates with your marketing efforts so that every touchpoint, from your first call to your follow-up emails, stays organized and nothing falls through the cracks. The key is that you review and approve every communication before it goes out, so your personal touch stays intact even as you scale your outreach.
Step 2: Research before outreach
The agents who lose on expired listings are the ones who dial the number without doing any homework. The agents who win are the ones who already know the story of the listing before they say hello.
Analyze the listing history
Before calling, pull up the expired listing and study it. Was it overpriced from day one? Were the photos taken on a phone in poor lighting? Did the listing description read like a generic template? A quick review of the listing history, photos, and description will tell you most of what you need to know about why it failed.
Look for these specific red flags:
- Multiple price reductions, which signal a poor pricing strategy from the start
- Low-quality or too few listing photos
- Generic descriptions that lack compelling, property-specific copy
- Days on market well above the neighborhood average
- No digital presence beyond the MLS, meaning no property website, no video walkthrough, no social media promotion
Research the seller’s situation
Next, check the seller’s circumstances. Is this an absentee owner? Was the home occupied during showings? Use public records and skip tracing (the process of locating a person’s contact information through public and proprietary databases) to learn more about their motivation and confirm they are reachable.
Tools like Spokeo, LexisNexis, or REIPro can help you identify mailing addresses or phone numbers not listed on the MLS. Once you have your research, add detailed notes in your CRM on what failed and what your approach would do differently. These notes become the backbone of your first conversation.
Step 3: Use these expired listing scripts for first contact
Scripts are the most misunderstood tool in real estate prospecting. Agents hear the word “script” and think “robotic.” But a good expired listing script is not about memorizing lines. It is about having a clear, confident starting point that helps you connect with the seller, stay on message, and handle objections under pressure. Think of it as scaffolding. You build your own voice around it.
Phone script for the initial call
This script leads with empathy and an open-ended question. Your goal on the first call is not to get a listing appointment. Your goal is to get the seller talking about what happened.
Voicemail script
Most of your first calls will go to voicemail. That is normal. Your voicemail needs to be short, specific, and give the seller a reason to call back.
Why scripts work even if you hate scripts
You are not alone if scripts feel unnatural at first. The purpose of a script is not to turn you into a telemarketer. It is to remove the friction of figuring out what to say in real time so you can focus on listening. The best agents practice their scripts until the words disappear and only the conversation remains. Roleplay with a partner, record yourself, and refine until the script sounds like you, not like a script.
Step 4: Deliver value that separates you
If the seller agrees to meet or continue the conversation, this is your moment to separate yourself from every other agent who called. You do that by showing up with specific, visual proof that your approach is different from what they experienced the first time.
Prepare a CMA
Come to the conversation with a CMA built around their specific property and neighborhood. Do not hand them a generic market report. Show them:
- Listings that sold at a similar price point with stronger presentation, such as professional staging, twilight photography, or video walkthroughs
- A side-by-side comparison of their expired listing against homes that sold during the same period
- Specific pricing strategy adjustments based on their home’s features, condition, and location within the neighborhood
Show visual proof of your marketing
This is where you win the listing. If their previous listing used dark, phone-quality photos, show them side-by-side examples of your professional imagery. If they had no property-specific website, show them your single property websites and how they capture buyer attention and convert inquiries. If buyer traffic was low, explain how your targeted digital campaigns drive visibility from day one of the relaunch.
Luxury Presence clients averaged $24 million in annual sales volume based on 2024 platform transaction data. That is nearly 10 times the national average. The difference is not luck. It is the marketing infrastructure behind every listing, from custom listing pages and branding tools to home valuation pages and lead capture forms that work around the clock.
Positioning lines that work
When you are sitting across from an expired listing seller, you need a clear, confident way to frame your value. Here are two positioning lines you can adapt to your own voice:
- “My last expired listing sold in 16 days with zero price reduction. The difference was strategy, not luck.”
- “The market did not fail your home. The marketing did. I would love to show you how we can reposition it for a different result.”
Step 5: Follow up with a system, not a hope
Here is the truth most agents do not want to hear: the first call almost never wins the listing. Most expired listing conversions happen after the third, fourth, or fifth touch. The agents who win expireds are not the ones who make the best first impression. They are the ones who keep showing up with value after everyone else has stopped calling.
Your 21-day follow-up cadence
Build this cadence into your CRM so it runs automatically and you never have to think about what comes next. Set reminders, schedule email sequences, and track every touchpoint.
| Day | Touchpoint | Details |
| Day 1 | Phone call + voicemail | Use the initial call script above. Leave the voicemail script if no answer. |
| Day 3 | Email with CMA or market snapshot | Include 2-3 comparable sales and a brief note on what you noticed about their listing. |
| Day 7 | Personalized video | Record a 60-second video referencing their specific property. Mention one standout feature. |
| Day 14 | Value-add postcard | Mail a postcard with a success story, client testimonial, or before-and-after listing photos. |
| Day 21 | Text or call with new market data | Share a new comparable sale, a price shift in their neighborhood, or a buyer demand update. |
Video ideas for your follow-up
- A 90-second local market update with data specific to their zip code
- A personalized tip referencing their property: “Your backyard is a standout. Here is how I would market it.”
- A short introduction to you, your team, and your marketing approach
Email drip themes
- Case studies of expired listings you successfully relisted and sold
- Market shifts that explain why 2026 may be a stronger window to relist
- Tips for better staging, open house strategy, or pricing adjustments
Postcard ideas
- Before-and-after listing photography showing the difference professional marketing makes
- Testimonials from clients who had failed listing attempts before working with you
- A QR code linking to a home valuation landing page or a recent local market report
Sample follow-up email
Here is a follow-up email template you can send on Day 3 of your cadence:
Subject: A few ideas for [property address]
Hi [name],
I enjoyed our quick conversation and wanted to follow up with a few ideas that could help you sell your home faster and closer to your asking price. I have included a brief market snapshot below with recent comparable sales in your area. Let me know if you would like to schedule a time to walk through next steps together.
Best,
[your name]
Common objections from expired listing sellers and how to respond
Even with the right mindset and preparation, you will face pushback. That is part of the process. The goal is not to overcome objections with force. It is to respond without defensiveness and keep the door open. Here are the three most common objections from expired listing sellers in 2026 and how to handle each one.
“I’m not ready to list again”
This is the most common response, and it is completely valid. Do not push. Instead, position yourself as a resource for whenever they are ready.
Your response: “That is completely understandable. I am not here to rush you. I just wanted to offer a second perspective on what may have gone wrong and how we could approach things differently when the time is right. Even if you choose to wait, I would love to leave you with a few takeaways that might help.”
“I had a bad experience with my last agent”
This objection is an invitation to differentiate yourself. Do not criticize the previous agent. Instead, describe how your process is different in specific, concrete terms.
Your response: “I am really sorry to hear that. Unfortunately, it happens more often than it should. My approach is built on proactive communication and transparency. You will always know what is happening with your listing and why. I would be happy to walk you through exactly what that looks like so you can decide if it feels like a better fit.”
“I think the market just isn’t right”
Sellers who blame the market are often protecting themselves from the possibility that the strategy was the problem. Your job is to gently reframe without dismissing their concern.
Your response: “It may feel that way, and I understand why. But homes in your neighborhood are still selling in 2026. The question is what those sellers are doing differently. I would love to walk you through a few examples of homes similar to yours that sold recently and show you what set them apart.”
Your expired listing quick-reference checklist
Use this checklist as a daily reference to keep your expired listing system running. Print it, pin it next to your desk, and check every box before you move on to the next lead.
- Morning: Pull your daily expired listing report from the MLS before 9 a.m.
- Research: Review listing photos, price history, days on market, and digital presence for each property before calling.
- Skip trace: Confirm phone numbers and email addresses for any sellers not reachable through MLS data.
- First call: Use your phone script. Lead with empathy and an open-ended question. If no answer, leave the voicemail script.
- CRM entry: Log the call, add notes on what you learned, and set the next follow-up task in your cadence.
- Day 3 email: Send a CMA or market snapshot with 2-3 comparable sales.
- Day 7 video: Record and send a personalized 60-second video referencing their property.
- Day 14 postcard: Mail a value-add postcard with a success story or testimonial.
- Day 21 follow-up: Call or text with a new market insight or comparable sale.
- Roleplay weekly: Practice your scripts and objection responses with a partner at least once per week.
Turning Expired Listings Into New Opportunities
Expired listings work when you combine preparation, empathy, and consistency. If you research each property, lead with a conversation instead of a pitch, and follow up with a clear system, you give sellers a better experience than they had the first time. The agents who win these listings are the ones who stay organized, keep showing up, and prove they can market the home differently.
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About the author
Kate Evans is a content marketing strategist at Luxury Presence, the leading growth platform for high-performing real estate professionals. She develops data-driven editorial content and supports SEO strategy and brand voice frameworks that help agents attract qualified leads and establish market authority. Her published work covers topics including CRM strategy, social media marketing, and digital growth, supporting thousands of agents in scaling their businesses through modern marketing.
