The ultimate list of 70+ strategies to generate listings in today's market

There’s so much noise out there on how to navigate a challenging market. This April, let Inman help you cut through the clutter to make smart business decisions in real time. All month long, we’re taking it Back to Basics and finding out how real estate pros are evolving their systems and investing personally and professionally to drive growth.

This article was last updated on Apr. 19, 2023.

Over the past couple of years, one of the biggest pain points for real estate agents — and their buyer clients — has been the dearth of home inventory in most real estate markets. Now, though homes are beginning to sit a bit longer, they have a long way to go to reach levels that would ease the shortages that have built up, especially in places where demand is generally high.

To ensure that you can keep the listing side of your business healthy and your buyer clients happy, it’s essential for you to keep plenty of potential sellers in your pipeline. We’ve put together the best advice from our listing masterminds so that you can reach out and step up your listing lead gen game — both now and in the future.

That said, here’s our roundup:

• Whenever you get a buyer lead, check to see if they have a current property to sell.
• Provide solutions for homeowners who need to sell before they can buy a new home.
• Nurture your sphere of influence and past clients as referral sources.
• Look for opportunities to schedule face time with your top potential listing leads.
• Stay in touch with past clients to take advantage of the rehire potential repeatedly identified in NAR’s buyer/seller profiles.
• Monitor social media accounts for life changes that might inspire a change in address.
• Prospect expired listings from one to three years ago.
• Focus on homeowners between the ages of 50 and 60 years old for relocation or second home purchases.
• Focus on newer remote workers who may need larger spaces more conducive to home offices.
• Focus on non-owner-occupied homes.
• Prospect expired rental listings.
• Prospect 100 homes surrounding an under-contract listing in your market.

Looking for more? Check out 12 ways to generate listings in a low-inventory market

• Send unsolicited video CMAs to homeowners in your sphere of influence.
• Use Homebot to send personalized home value reports to past buyers.
• Use Slybroadcast to let homeowners know about recently closed sales in a neighborhood.
• Use social media marketing to look for home-needed buyer requests.
• Prospect for probate listings.
• Cultivate a real estate farm in the neighborhood where you live.
• Utilize SmartZip predictive analytics to determine who may be ready to sell.
• Prospect owners of long-term rental properties.
• Use the tried-and-true circle prospecting strategy.
• Prospect 3- to 7-year-old tract-built neighborhoods.
• Hold well-planned open houses.
• Use BoldLeads to find homeowners who are looking for a home valuation.
• Work with divorce attorneys and offer services for divorcing couples.
• Prospect with out-of-town homeowners.
• Prospect with for sale by owner (FSBO) sellers.
• Prospect among out-of-town lot owners.
• Build a relationship with new homebuilders in your market.
• Work with leads groups or referral groups.
• Regularly contact expired listings, even those that are newly expired.
• If you feel comfortable and can do so safely, consider door-knocking.
• Create a top 25 VIP list for special attention and prospecting.

Looking for more? Check out 22 ways to generate real estate listings in 2022

• Play matchmaker with buyer most wanted posts on social media for buyers in your pipeline.
• Generate listings with a robust geographic farming strategy.
• Use this script to make door-knocking more effective.
•  Create a circle prospecting strategy around your latest listing.
• Gather information from open house attendees and follow up with a handwritten note.
• Look for orphaned neighborhoods and become their top-of-mind agent of choice.
• Reach out to past buyers who may be ready to sell.
• Capture and cultivate online seller leads.

Looking for more? Check out Low inventory? 11 ways to generate more listings ASAP

• Build a real estate database and fill it with homeowners.
• Automate the process of sending your database information about comparable home sales in their neighborhood.
• Email your database with a monthly newsletter.
• Leverage the tool Homebot to provide additional information to your database.
• Send an unsolicited CMA to your database every six months.
• Reach out to your database by phone every three to six months.
• Utilize an Adwerx sphere of influence campaign to stay top of mind with homeowners in your area.

Looking for more? Check out 7 simple steps for getting more listings in 2022

• Focus on setting face-to-face listing appointments to maximize your chances of converting seller clients.
• Incorporate listing messaging into your buyer lead follow-up to ensure that you convert buyers who need to sell prior to their purchase.
• Learn about home trade-in and iBuyer programs in your area to help streamline contingent sales for buyers who need to sell first.
• Understand high probability listing targets to ensure more effective marketing.
• Ensure that you stay in touch with past clients so that you don’t lose out on a sale through a failure to follow up.
• Avoid being a secret agent. Create opportunities for people to ask you about the market by wearing a name tag or piece of clothing that identifies you as a Realtor.
• Offer an equity checkup to homeowners in your database, online and on social media.
• Communicate with the 75 percent of online searchers who are searching in a language other than English.
• Generate listings from your database with Likely.Ai.
• Use multiple offers to create buyer most wanted requests and generate potential seller leads.

Looking for more? Check out 10 unique strategies to create listings where there are none

• Optimize and utilize your CRM
• Personalize outreach and direct mail
• Cultivate your professional network
• Go through your phone contacts
• Master alternative lending strategies to provide options to relocating sellers
• Work your referral network
• Buy seller leads through paid ads
• Look into abandoned properties
• Become familiar with apps like DropOffer and Vulcan7
• Make a hard pitch for leasebacks
• Look for poorly marketed properties
• Look for estate sales to find potential listings

Looking for more? Check out: A comprehensive guide to finding inventory in today’s market