Expired Listing Scripts — Calls, Objections & Follow-Up (Free PDF)

The first call

Assume they are annoyed. Earn the next ninety seconds.

Opening: Hi [Name] — I know your listing came off the market and I know your phone has been miserable today. I'm [Name] with [Brokerage]. I'll be quick and I'll be honest: are you planning to try again, or are you done?
If "we're done": Understood, and that's a real answer. Can I ask what went wrong? Not to pitch you — I sell in this neighborhood and I'd genuinely like to know what buyers said.
The diagnostic question: How many showings did you get in the whole listing period? That one number tells you almost everything about whether it was price, condition, or exposure.
Reading the answer aloud: Lots of showings and no offers is a condition or a price problem at the very end. Almost no showings is a price problem at the front. Which one sounds like yours?
The soft close: Here's what I'd like to do: put together what I'd have done differently, in writing, and drop it by. If it doesn't say anything new you've wasted twenty minutes and I'll leave you alone.

Objection handling

The objections are predictable. Your calm is the differentiator.

"We're going to wait until spring": That can be the right call. Two things to weigh: the buyers looking right now are the serious ones, and in spring you'll be competing with every neighbor who waited too. Can I show you both scenarios side by side?
"We're relisting with the same agent": Good — loyalty matters and they know the house. Only thing I'd say is walk in with a written plan of what changes this time. If the plan is the same, the result usually is too.
"You're the tenth agent to call": I believe it, and I'm not going to pretend I'm special on the phone. I'll do one thing the other nine didn't: send you the actual showing feedback pattern from your listing period and let you decide.
"Our house is worth more than they said": It might be. Value isn't what any of us say — it's what a buyer with financing will sign for. Let me show you the three homes buyers compared yours to. If they're wrong comps, I want to know.
"Just bring us a buyer": I'll bring you any buyer I have. What I can't do is bring you the buyers other agents are holding, and that's most of them. Want me to walk through how that exposure actually works?

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The price conversation

Take the listing at a price that can sell, or do not take it.

Framing: I want to be the agent that tells you the truth on day one instead of the one that asks for a reduction on day forty. Can I be blunt with the numbers?
The three-comp method: Here are the three homes a buyer will open in the same browser tab as yours. Yours has to be the best of the three at the price we pick, or we're just advertising theirs.
Testing willingness: If we're sitting here in three weeks with four showings and no offer, what's your appetite for adjusting? I ask now so neither of us is surprised later.
The walk-away line: If we can't agree on a number that gets us showings in the first ten days, I'd rather not take it. Taking it and failing costs you another three months.
Pre-agreed reduction: Let's write the trigger into the plan today: if we're under [X] showings by day fourteen, we move to [price]. No argument, no meeting, just the plan we already agreed to.

Free through September

Studying alone is the hard way. Sit in on a live Deal Clinic — free.

Reserve with your email and we'll send the link each week. Unsubscribe anytime.

More playbooks

FSBO Scripts: What to Say to a For Sale By OwnerThe first call, the door knock, the commission objection, and the six-week follow-up.The Price Reduction Conversation, Word for WordSet the trigger on day one so the reduction is a plan, not a fight.The Buyer Consultation Script: Qualify Before You DriveOne hour at the table saves forty hours in the car.The Low Appraisal Playbook: What to Do in the First 24 HoursBoth phone calls, the five ways out, and a rebuttal that gets read.

Contacting expired listings is regulated differently in each state and by each MLS. Verify do-not-call status and your MLS rules before prospecting.