Expired Listing Letter That Gets Callbacks (Sample)

The day a listing expires, the owner's mailbox fills up. Letter after letter says almost the same thing: "Sorry your home didn't sell. I'm the agent who can get it sold. Call me." Most of them go straight in the trash, and you can see why. They're about the agent, and the owner has heard it all before.

A letter that gets callbacks gives the owner something they don't have: a clear, honest explanation of why the home didn't sell. This guide covers what to put in an expired listing letter, a sample you can adapt, when to send it and how the follow-up call fits.

Why most expired listing letters fail

Picture the owner's week. They had strangers walking through the house for months. They kept the kitchen spotless for showings that didn't produce an offer. The listing ended, and now their phone rings all morning with agents who all say they're different.

Three problems sink most letters:

1. They're about the agent. Awards, sales volume, "#1 in the region." The owner wants to know what went wrong with the house.
2. They criticize the last agent. Even if the seller is angry, attacking their former agent makes you look like the kind of agent they don't want. It also insults the seller's judgment for hiring them.
3. They ask for too much. "Call me to list your home" is a big commitment to ask of a stranger. A smaller ask gets more replies.

What a strong expired listing letter includes

A specific reason to open it

Put the property address on the envelope and handwrite it if you can. A plain envelope with a handwritten address looks like personal mail.

An honest read on why it didn't sell

Homes that expire usually have one of a short list of problems: price, condition and presentation, photos and online marketing, access for showings, or the timing and strategy of the launch. Our guide on why listings expire walks through each one.

You can't diagnose their home from a letter, but you can name the usual suspects and offer to look. That's more useful than a promise.

Proof that you know the area

One or two numbers about their neighborhood go a long way: what sold nearby in the last 90 days, the price per square foot, how long those homes took. Owners respond to specifics.

A small ask

Offer a second opinion, a short review of what happened, or a pricing update. Those are easy to say yes to. The goal of the letter, like the goal of a first expired call, is to earn the next conversation.

A way to respond that isn't a phone call

Some owners won't call a stranger but will scan a QR code. Link to a short page with your review checklist, or a short video you recorded explaining what you'd check first. An idea worth testing is a one-page "why didn't my home sell?" checklist the owner can work through on their own.

Sample expired listing letter

Adapt this to your market and your own voice.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Carter,

I noticed your home at 412 Oak Street came off the market this week. After months of showings, that's frustrating, and you're probably hearing from a lot of agents right now. I'll keep this short.

When a home in a neighborhood like yours doesn't sell, the cause is usually one of five things: the price relative to recent sales, how the home showed in person, how it looked online, how easy it was to schedule showings, or how it was launched in its first two weeks. Most of the time it's a combination, and most of it can be fixed.

Here's what's happened near you since your home was listed: three homes within half a mile sold, at an average of $287 per square foot, in an average of 24 days. [Replace with your real numbers.]

I'd like to offer you a second opinion. No obligation and no pressure to list. I'll walk through the home, look at how it was marketed, and give you a straight answer on what I think kept it from selling and what it would take to sell now. If the answer is "wait," I'll tell you that.

You can reach me at (555) 123-4567, or scan the code below to see the checklist I use when I review an expired listing.

Sincerely, Jordan Lee [Brokerage] | [License number]

Notice what's missing: no attack on the previous agent, no sales volume, no "act now." It sounds like a person who knows the market and wants to help.

Check your brokerage's advertising rules and your state's disclosure requirements before you mail. Article 16 of the NAR Code of Ethics bars soliciting a listing that's still held exclusively by another broker, so make sure the listing has actually expired. A withdrawn or temporarily off-market listing may still be under agreement; hold the letter until you've confirmed it ended. Not legal advice. Check your state rules and your broker.

When to send it

Speed matters with expireds. The agents who reach the owner first usually get the best conversations. A letter that arrives five days after expiration lands in a pile of others.

Two ways to stand out:

1. Be early. Set up an MLS saved search for expired, withdrawn, cancelled and terminated status changes with delivery set to "immediately," and mail expireds the same day (hold withdrawn ones until you confirm the agreement ended). The expired listing leads guide covers that setup.
2. Be late. Mail owners whose listings expired three, six or twelve months ago and never relisted. Few agents are still writing to them, some of them still want to sell, and your letter may be the only one in the box.

The second approach is underused. Owners who expired six months ago have had time to cool off, and they aren't hearing from anyone.

The letter is step one

On its own, a letter is easy to ignore. As part of a sequence with a call, it works much better. A practical sequence:

On the call that follows the letter, refer to it lightly:

"Hi Mr. Carter, it's Jordan with [Brokerage]. I sent you a short letter about 412 Oak this week. I'm not calling to pitch you. I wanted to ask one question: what's your take on why it didn't sell?"

Then listen. Most owners will tell you, and their answer tells you which problem you're solving. The expired listing call guide covers the rest of that call, including the objections you'll hear.

Before dialing, scrub every number against the National Do Not Call Registry and your state's list (at least every 31 days), and call between 8am and 9pm local time. The cold calling and DNC rules guide explains how.

Make the second opinion worth their time

If the letter works and you get the appointment, deliver what you promised. Bring a CMA built from truly comparable sales, not whatever came up in a radius search. The guide to CMAs sellers trust covers how to pick comps. Bring a written plan for what you'd change: price, prep, photos, showings and the first week back on the market.

Run the follow-up in AVEX

AVEX doesn't print or mail letters. It runs the calls around them. Import your MLS hotsheet of expired, withdrawn and cancelled listings into the call list, where you can look up owners' phone numbers (numbers on a Do Not Call list are flagged) and log every outcome. The prebuilt Expired Listing Follow-Up action plan schedules calls on days 0, 1, 2 and 7 plus three emails, and pauses when the owner replies. When you get the appointment, the listing kit drafts a relist plan covering why it didn't sell, pricing, prep, photos, marketing and the first week back on the market.