Many companies will tell you that the beginning of January is when you should be focused on expired listings. They’ll even run “Expired Listing Day” trainings and position it as the best way to get traction early in the year.
That’s irresponsible advice. And frankly, it’s a load of crap.
Now, I want to be clear about something right out of the gate: expired listings work.
I made a lot of money working expireds. They are absolutely a viable lead source. I’m not here to tell you not to do them. But if expired listings are your entire plan for getting listings in 2026, then you’re missing what the data actually says about where listings come from, and that’s why this kind of advice ends up hurting a lot of agents.
Most agents don’t sell very many listings. In fact, to be in the top 50% of listing agents in 2025, you only had to sell 2.7 listings. That was it. So if listings are important to you this year, you need to stop chasing what sounds good and start following what the numbers actually tell you.
The Two Stats That Change Everything
There are two data points I want to start with because they explain almost everything about how listings are really generated:
- 65% of sellers choose their agent based on proximity. That means they already know them, were referred to them, or have worked with them before.
- Over 40% of online leads already have a home to sell.
When you look at those two numbers together, it becomes very clear that most listing opportunities are not coming from expired listings. They’re coming from people who already have some kind of connection to you, and from buyers who also happen to be sellers. That is where the opportunity actually is.
So if you want to build a predictable listing business in 2026, here are the five strategies I’d be focusing on.
1. Build a Real Marketing Plan for Your Sphere
The number one pillar for generating more listings is your sphere, or the people you already know. This is the most overlooked part of most agents’ businesses, and it’s also where most of their listings could be coming from if they worked it properly.
You need a real marketing plan for your sphere in 2026. That means layering multiple touchpoints together:
- Social media
- Video
- Phone calls
- Direct mail
For example, if you sent just one video per month to everyone in your sphere about what’s happening in the market, that’s 12 touchpoints throughout the year. If you also send a weekly email, that’s another 52. Even if you do something simpler, like a monthly newsletter plus a monthly market video, you’re still creating 24 touchpoints before you do anything else.
Then add social media. And I don’t mean “Hey, I just sold a house, look at me” posts. Those are useless. You want value-based posts. You want storytelling. You want to explain what you actually did for your clients and why it mattered. An easy way to stay consistent is with BAMx, which provides weekly templates that are relevant and engaging. If you haven’t checked it out yet, sign up for a 7-day free trial here.
Once you start layering in social posts once or twice a week, quarterly calls, and some direct mail, you’re suddenly touching your sphere 70 or more times per year. That’s how you turn people who already know you into listings. And that lines up perfectly with the 65% proximity stat.
2. Use This Simple Script on Every Buyer Appointment
This is one of the easiest ways to uncover listings, and almost no one does it consistently.
Every time you set a buyer appointment, you should say something like this:
“Hey Frank and Wendy, I’m really excited to see you at 3:00 over at 123 Banana Street. One more thing, many of our clients really appreciate a free home equity review, so they know how much money they’re working with on their purchase. Would you like one?”
That one line tells you if they have a home to sell. And remember, over 40% of online leads already do. If you’ve worked 100 online leads this year, more than 40 of them probably have a listing inside them if you simply ask the question.
3. Make Video CMAs a Daily Standard
Video CMAs are one of the most predictable listing tools in the business. They typically convert at about 17 to 1, meaning for every 17 you send, you’ll get one listing.
If you committed to doing just one video CMA per day, that’s about 20 per month and 240 per year. Divide that by 17, and you’re looking at roughly 14 listings just from that one daily discipline.
The point here is not the exact math. The point is that this is repeatable, scalable, and predictable. That’s what you want your listing strategy to be built on.
4. Leverage Every Sale and Every Open House
Any time you sell a home or list a property, you should be pulling another piece of business out of it. Open houses, in particular, are not just about attracting buyers, they’re about meeting homeowners.
Here’s the play. Host open houses every weekend, and on the Friday before it, go door-knocking around that home. Friday afternoons are statistically one of the best times to do this because people are actually home.
You can say something like, “I just sold a home in your neighborhood and there’s been a lot of interest. I brought some recent MLS data so you can see what’s happening here,” or “We beat out three other offers on your new neighbor’s home. Who else do you know that might want to take advantage of the momentum we’re seeing?”
That’s sweat equity, and it works.
5. Use Direct Mail to Own a Neighborhood
Direct mail still works if you do it right. Reminder Media ran a study where they mailed postcards featuring a fake agent to a neighborhood every week for eight weeks. By the end of the study, homeowners believed that fake agent was the local expert.
That tells you everything you need to know about consistency.
Direct mail costs money, and you have to be willing to go 12 months without seeing a direct return. But if you’re willing to invest, itz you can absolutely own a geographic farm. And often the best place to start is the neighborhood you already live in.
Why Expired Listings Are the Wrong January Focus
Expired listings can work. I’ve done it. But they’re competitive, they’re emotionally hard, and in many markets there are fewer of them than there used to be.
More importantly, they don’t line up with the data.
Sixty-five percent of people list because of proximity. Over 40% of online leads already have a home to sell. The five strategies above are built around those realities. Chasing expired listings in January is not.
If you want more listings in 2026, stop chasing what’s loud, and start building what’s predictable.
