How to Get Real Estate Listings

In this article:

• Reconnect with past clients to become a natural referral
• Network with your sphere of influence
• Ask your broker for former buyers’ contact info to prospect
• Search the MLS for withdrawn or expired listings
• Identify homeowners who are renting out their homes after failing to sell
• Capture listings of divorced homeowners with advertising
• Collect visitor information from open houses
• Look for “huge garage sale” signs in your market
• Introduce yourself to FSBO sellers in your area
• Search Zillow for homeowners ready to downsize
• Filter on social media for #ReadyToMove

Real estate agents can struggle to capture new listings due to experience, seasonality or market fluctuations. When it’s no longer prime selling season, it’s especially challenging to convince a homeowner that they should list their home for sale.

In fact, over half (60%) of sellers¹ lowered their list price once and about a third (34%) lowered it two times or more.

If inventory is low in your market and you’re struggling to convert homeowners into clients, consider these 12 strategies to get more listings as a new or experienced real estate agent:

1. Reconnect with past clients to become a natural referral

Keep in touch with your past clients — even those from 5, 7 or 10 years ago. Referrals are the best way to get real estate listings in your market. You can reconnect with past clients by:

Calling to check in. Show your past clients you remember them and care about their buying or selling experience by catching up every so often.

Emailing monthly newsletters. Send market updates, reports and content like “when is the market best for sellers?” and “tips for selling your home.”

Hosting get-togethers. Go to coffee. Invite a past client out for dinner. Nurture your past clients and see if they’re ready to trade up to the next house. If they are, you’re in luck! If they’re not, see if they know anybody who is.

Sending anniversary cards. Send your past client a congratulatory card on the anniversary of their closing date.

2. Network with your sphere of influence

Your sphere of influence consists of everyone you interact with on a regular basis. In fact, 27% of buyers find their agents through referrals² from family, friends or social connections — and an additional 10% choose agents they’ve previously worked with.

Here are some easy ways to get real estate listings:

Socialize with local professionals. Handymen, landscapers and painters have the inside scoop on homeowners who are fixing up their home to sell.

Connect with friends and family. You already talk to them regularly — make sure they know you’re always looking for more listings.

Befriend listing agents. Listing agents are often looking to send their out-of-market listings to referral agents for a percentage of the commission.

3. Ask your broker for former buyers' contact info to prospect

If you work in a broker office, you have a slight advantage in acquiring listings — the ability to use the broker's clients for prospecting. Ask your broker for their files of past buyers, and then call those buyers and let them know you’re taking over for their past agent. Who knows — some of them may be getting ready to move again.

4. Search the MLS for withdrawn or expired listings

One way to find listings is to scour the MLS for homes that were listed in the past but never sold. A lot of homes fail to sell because they were overpriced at the time. Chances are the owner doesn’t realize how much the market has picked up — and they might still be open to selling their home.

Contact the owner and express your interest in helping them sell their property. Explain the benefits of selling their home in a growing market; when they see that they might not be able to sell at premium prices for much longer, you’ll likely get a response.

5. Identify homeowners who are renting out their homes after failing to sell

Think about the scenarios in which a homeowner might want to rent out their primary residence — it could be motivated by a life-changing event coupled with a failure to sell the property in the past. Don’t overlook people who are renting out their primary homes after failing to sell. Here’s your opportunity to get more listings.

Maybe the market has changed and the homeowner can now sell for their original asking price — 66% of sellers³ wish they’d done something differently. For example, 24% would start the process of preparing to sell sooner — so contact these homeowners and see what you can do to help sell their house.

6. Capture listings of divorced homeowners with advertising

First things first: Never mention divorce as the reason you’re targeting this demographic — and use the same ad you’d use anywhere else. But because 68% of those who have separated or divorced⁴ say the event drove a change in their living situation, this is another potential source of listings. Be creative with how you get the listings of divorced homeowners — set up Facebook ads that target relationship status and use landing pages to collect their contact information.

7. Collect visitor information from open houses

Open houses are a great way for real estate agents to meet new buyers. Have you considered that these buyers could also be potential sellers? Many will likely need to sell their current home before buying their next one.

Download the Open Home Pro app on your tablet and use it at your next open house to check people in and collect their information. The app asks valuable questions, including:

• Do you have an agent?
• Do you need to sell your house before purchasing the next one?

Using this tool at open houses will allow you to meet, qualify and connect with potential home sellers — without being a pest. You can also target for sale by owner listings in your area.

8. Look for “huge garage sale” signs in your market

If you’re open to new ideas on how to get real estate listings, try hunting for signs or advertisements that say “moving sale,” “estate sale” or “huge garage sale.” Did you know that 45% of sellers⁵ report that a life event influenced their move, compared to 25% who say market dynamics did? More often than not, these large sales are done in preparation for a move, and you can offer your services as their listing agent.

Collect the addresses for these sales, run them through the MLS and see how many of the homes are listed for sale. Find out the stories of the ones that aren’t listed, and give those homeowners a call and offer a free home-value analysis report. This can lead to solid seller contacts.

9. Introduce yourself to FSBO sellers in your area

When you see a “for sale by owner” sign in your area, knock on the door and say hi. The most common reasons sellers choose to sell on their own include to save money (49%) and confidence that they could sell without an agent (35%).⁶ This means there’s a huge opportunity to get real estate listings when people find out just how hard it is to self-market and sell.

Ask them if they’d like to talk, or ask them more specific questions like how they’re advertising their home and if they need help handling the paperwork. If you’re not comfortable knocking on doors, try another method:

• Host workshops
• Host free meetups
• Invite FSBO sellers to open houses and events
  

10. Search Zillow for homeowners ready to downsize

Filter your data source to zero in on large properties — look for homes with 5+ bedrooms, 3,500+ square feet and multiple stories, and focus on ones purchased 20+ years ago. The likely scenario here? A couple bought a big place for their three children to grow up in, and now the children have moved out. The empty nesters are ready to downgrade and move into something that’s more convenient and suitable for their new lifestyle. Ask if you can help them with the transition.

11. Filter on social media for #ReadyToMove

If you really want to get creative, search Twitter and Instagram for #LookingToMove and #IWantToMove. Yes, you might get tenants complaining about their landlord or someone on vacation wistfully sharing their dream house. But you might also find a serious buyer or two looking for their next home. It only takes a few minutes to search these hashtags, but the payoff can be immediate and rewarding.

Most active buyers spend months looking for a new home, and real estate agents can spend the same amount of time looking for their next listing. Try these tips for getting real estate listings and start getting more listings in a low-inventory market. Remember, this is a people business. Be proactive, make new connections, be smart about marketing and use data to your advantage.

 

Sources:
1. Zillow Group Consumer Housing Trends Report 2019 survey data
2,4. Zillow Group Consumer Housing Trends Report 2018
3,5,6. Zillow Group Consumer Housing Trends Report 2019