Byron Lazine opens his four-step expired listing framework with the question agents need to answer before they pick up the phone.
“Every expired listing call should answer one question before you dial: ‘What value am I bringing to this seller today?'”
Byron shared the framework in a recent BAMx Role Play Mastermind. It starts with pulling a weekly market snapshot from the MLS and bring one stat into every call on their list.
Today, we’re looking at which numbers to pull for that value-first local stat. Without those numbers, calls tend to open with “just following up,” a phrase Byron has dragged (repeatedly) because it hurts an agent’s credibility, and wastes everyone’s time.
You and your sellers deserve better.
So, here are nine MLS numbers, grouped by what each one tells an expired seller. The last section covers how to pick one for the day’s calls.
The Four Numbers From Your Weekly Market Snapshot
Step 2 of the framework names four numbers agents should know before dialing their list. Each one answers a question an expired seller has about their own listing.
- Active listings compared to the same time last year. Tells the seller whether they were up against more homes or fewer than a year ago.
- Median list price. Where sellers in the area are pricing their homes this week.
- Months’ supply of inventory. How long it would take to sell every active listing at the current pace of sales. Byron says a seller doesn’t need the math behind it, so give them the number and what it means for a home like theirs.
- Median sold price. What buyers are paying, which the seller can compare with what other sellers are asking.
The weekly data pull takes 15 to 20 minutes, since every MLS has this report built in. You’re reading a report that exists and picking out the numbers you need.
Two Numbers That Show How Fast Homes Are Selling
An expired seller wants to know whether time on market or price was the problem. Two MLS numbers speak to both.
- Median days on market. How long homes in the area take to go under contract. Put it next to the number of days the seller’s home was listed before it expired.
- Sale-to-list price ratio. The sold price as a percentage of the list price. A ratio of 100% means homes are selling at asking.
Days on market can be counted two ways. Standard days on market resets when a home is relisted. Cumulative days on market (CDOM) keeps the count going across relists, and some MLSs don’t report it, so check which one yours uses before you quote it.
Three Numbers That Explain What the Seller Was Up Against
Expired sellers want to know why their home didn’t sell when others did. These three numbers describe the competition around their listing.
- New listings this week or month. Fresh competition coming on the market. If your MLS lets you set a date range, pull it for the weeks the seller’s home was active.
- Share of active listings with a price reduction. Tells the seller how many other sellers in the area are cutting their price.
- Expired and canceled listings in the same area. Tells the seller whether their home was one of many that didn’t sell.
Number three in this list comes from the same search that builds your call list in Step 1 of Byron’s framework.
For buyer-side context, U.S. home purchase cancellations are at a record high.
Turning One Number Into Your Fact of the Day
Step 3 of the framework asks agents to pick the one stat from their snapshot that an expired seller in their market would want to hear. Keep it local, and pick a number the seller can picture without needing it explained.
The fact you pick goes into the OFQ framework (Opening, Fact, Question), borrowed from Phil M. Jones, co-author of Exactly What to Say: For Real Estate Agents.
For the opening, Byron introduces himself and names something true about the listing.
“Hey, it’s [Your Name] with [Your Brokerage]. Your home just came off the market, and I was kind of surprised it didn’t sell.”
The fact from your MLS pull comes second. Follow the fact with a question that ties the number to the seller’s life.
“How would that impact your plans over the next six or twelve months?”
After the question, he stops talking and lets the seller answer.
Every call has one job, which is setting the appointment. When an appointment isn’t possible, the call should end with a defined next step, meaning a specific reason for the next time the seller will hear from you.
Build Your Weekly Pull Into a Routine
Save each of the nine searches in your MLS so the weekly pull stays within 15 to 20 minutes. Bookmark the list for the weeks you want to change which number leads your calls.
Rotating the lead number helps on repeat calls to the same list. A seller who hears a new local stat each time has a fresh reason to keep talking with you.
Byron hosts the BAMx Roleplay Mastermind with Lisa Chinatti and Tom Toole every week, where they practice expired listing calls and other scripts for scenarios agents are facing right now. BAMx members get access to all the replays and scripts, as well as the Script Advisor, built on those roleplays and updated every week. Sign up for full access.
