How to contact expired listings on Mac: a week-long plan for realtors in 2026

What an expired listing means for you

An expired listing is a home whose listing agreement reached its end date without a sale. Redfin describes it this way, and the MLS then removes the home automatically. A canceled listing works differently. The listing ends early, so it leaves the MLS before the contract date.

This matters for your search. An expired home drops out of the active feed you probably watch each morning. You need an expired status search in your MLS, or an export, to see it at all. Each board names its statuses and filters a little differently, so check your own menus.

How many expired sellers relist

Nobody has a clean number for this. No independent survey measures how many expired sellers relist. Vendor blogs publish relist rates, but those figures conflict, and none came with a method you can check. Treat any single percentage you read as a hint, not a rule.

The best hard number comes from one state. A 2025 study in the Journal of Housing Economics used Massachusetts MLS PIN records from 2000 to 2019, about 670,000 transactions. It found 45,000 relisted homes, or 6.7% of the sample. The figures here come from a RISMedia summary of that study. The sample only includes homes that eventually sold, so it cannot tell you how many expired homes never sell.

Relisted homes spent far longer on the market before a sale. That time is a cost the seller already paid. It can make an owner tired, skeptical, or ready to try a different plan. Let that shape your tone, not your pitch.

The study also gives a 90-day rule. MLS PIN treats a gap longer than 90 days as a new listing, not a relisting. If your sheet uses a different rule, your counts will not match the MLS. Pick the MLS rule and use it everywhere.

Price results depend on timing. The study says most periods showed some price discount. The exception was a peak from May 2005 to March 2006, when relisted homes sold at a premium of up to 13.7%. Do not promise a higher price on a relist. Your market may not look like that peak.

How to contact expired listings, one step at a time

Work through these steps in order, because each one changes the next. Check status first, then find a contact, then send, then track. Skipping the first step sends you to homes that already moved on.

A worked example: one expired home, start to finish

Say a three-bedroom in your farm area expired on a Friday. Your MLS status search shows it as expired, and the active feed shows nothing. You search the address for a newer listing and find none. Now you know the home is open for outreach.

Next, find a contact that you are allowed to use. Public tax records often list the owner name and mailing address. Your brokerage may have its own tools for this. Use those first, and follow your brokerage rules before you dial or text.

Then write one message. It names the address, says you saw the listing end, and asks one open question. For example, you might ask what the owner wants to do next. Log the send with a next date a few days out. If there is no reply, follow up once. If the seller relists with a new agent, mark the row and stop.

Speed matters, but a fast reply is not a fast list

Speed matters once an owner writes back. Answer the same day, from a phone you check often. An owner who replies has opened a door, and a slow answer can close it.

Speed does not fix a weak list. Calling expired homes before you check for a relist wastes time and annoys owners. Put the check first, then move fast.

Lazur runs on macOS, on Apple silicon and Intel Macs. Windows is planned, not available. Lazur is not a plugin or add-in for Gmail, Google Sheets, or any MLS, and it has no partnership with any app maker. It helps you work inside the apps you already use.

Mistakes that waste expired-listing outreach

• Calling a home before you check for a relist or a new agent.
• Opening with the price the owner did not get, or with blame.
• Sending one blast to every expired seller, with no personal detail.
• Logging nothing, so you forget who you already told.
• Setting no next date, so the owner never hears from you again.
• Using a personal phone or account for owner contact your brokerage does not allow.

Most of these share one cause. People treat outreach as a single event. Outreach is a sequence, so plan the second and third touches before you send the first.

Privacy, brokerage rules, and client data

Your brokerage, your MLS, and your state set the rules here. Lazur does not replace them. Before you paste owner or listing details into any AI tool, check whether your brokerage allows it. If it does not, leave owner details out and describe the situation in general terms.

Here is how Lazur handles data, as Lazur describes it. Lazur listens and looks at the screen only while you hold the shortcut. Audio and the screenshot go to AI providers to answer you, and they are not stored. Content is never used to train AI models.

Tools for tracking: Sheets, Apple Contacts, or a CRM

A sheet is enough for a small list. Start with columns for address, expired date, relist check, first touch, next touch, and outcome. The Google Sheets setup for realtors covers the basics on a Mac.

Apple Contacts can hold your owner list as a Smart List. Apple's Contacts guide covers creating Smart Lists, and importing and exporting contacts. To bring in a file, go to File > Import in Contacts. If your menu differs, check Apple's guide for your version.

A CRM adds automated follow-up, but read the fine print first. Follow Up Boss lists automated drip emails on its Grow, Pro, and Platform plans. Grow is $69 per user per month, or $58 with annual billing. Its pricing page does not mention expired-listing features, so check that before you buy.

Measure whether your outreach works

Count four things each week: messages sent, replies, appointments, and listings won. Compare the replies from your new message with the old one. Change one thing at a time, or you will not know what helped.

Do not chase rates you cannot check. Vendor figures for conversion and mail response have no published method here. Test a small batch of a new approach, and keep the old approach as a comparison. Your own replies tell you more than a vendor chart.

When to stop, and when to nurture

Stop active outreach when the owner says no, or when a new agent signs the home. Do not argue. Thank the owner, and ask whether you can check in later.

Some owners need a season. Move them to a slow list with a monthly check. Keep short notes on what they said, so your next message fits their situation. Set a reminder on the row, so the check does not depend on memory.

If you want the email side, the Gmail setup for realtors covers templates, scheduled sends, and voice help. When you are ready to compare plans, see pricing.