Expired Listing Scripts That Work in 2026 (And the Rules Most Skip)

The pool of expired listings is the largest it has been in years, and most expired listing scripts ignore the one thing that decides whether your call is even legal. This guide fixes both. You get the market data that proves why right now matters, the conversion math that justifies the time, the compliance rules that keep you out of a class action, and the scripts that turn a frustrated seller into a listing appointment.

How many listings are expiring right now

Start with the supply, because almost no script guide does. REDX tracked 78,395 listings expiring in a single week across the United States in April 2026, up 83% from 42,712 weekly expirations in May 2024 . The surge is sharpest in the big states. Texas expired listing volume rose 155% over two years, Florida 80%, and California 66% . These are REDX's own MLS tracking numbers, not an audited third-party study, so read them as a strong directional signal rather than gospel.

The withdrawal data points the same way. In April 2026, 5.8% of all US home listings were taken off the market, tied with December 2025 for the highest share since March 2020 . And in February 2026 there was $347 billion worth of stale inventory, homes sitting 60 or more days, the highest dollar amount on record for that time of year .

Put those together and the picture is clear. Sellers listed, the home sat, and the agreement ran out. NAR's 2024 data put the median time on market at 3 weeks . That number is a memory now. The expired pipeline feeding your phone is wider than it has been in years, and the Unvelo Pendulum market read tracks the local pressure behind it.

What an expired listing really is

An expired listing is created when the listing agreement between a seller and their agent reaches its end date, typically 3 to 6 months, without a sale, which automatically removes the property from active MLS status . That is different from a canceled listing, which is pulled before the contract term ends. The distinction matters on the call: an expired seller has waited out the full term and watched it fail, so the emotional starting point is frustration, not a quick change of plan.

Why listings expire (and why 2026 makes it worse)

The number one reason listings expire is overpricing. When a home is priced above comparable sales, it deters buyers, and that effect is sharper with 30-year fixed mortgages above 6%, which makes buyers more price-sensitive . Secondary causes follow: thin marketing, weak presentation, restricted showing access. But price leads the list across every credible source.

2026 makes the pricing problem worse. J.P. Morgan Global Research forecasts US home prices will stall at 0% growth nationally this year, with fixed-rate mortgages projected to stay above 6% . A seller who overpriced cannot wait for appreciation to bail them out, because the forecast says there is none coming.

The psychology is the real story. Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale framed it in July 2025: "This year's market is a study in contrasts. Buyers are seeing more choices than they've had in years, but many sellers, anchored by peak price expectations and upheld by strong equity positions, are deciding to step back if they don't get their number." That is the expired seller in one sentence. If you want to read the local read on this, see whether your market favors buyers or sellers.

Are expired listings worth calling? The conversion math

This is where expired listings beat almost every other cold lead, and where the data is strongest. REDX analyzed 2.7 million listings tracked from May 2024 to January 2026 across all 50 states and found expired listings re-list at a 44.4% rate, against 31.8% for FSBO leads, with an average 39-day cycle from expiration to re-listing . Nearly half of expired sellers put the home back on the market. Your job is to be the agent they pick.

Timing is the lever. REDX reports 43% of expired listings re-list within 90 days and 60% within one year . Most of the opportunity is gone fast, which is why the agent who reaches the seller first usually wins. These are REDX figures from a vendor with a commercial interest in expired leads, so weight them accordingly, but the direction is consistent across their datasets.

The intent is not in doubt. NAR's 2024 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers found 90% of home sellers used a real estate agent and FSBO sales fell to a historic low of 6% . Expired sellers are not planning to go it alone. They are deciding which agent gets the second attempt, and you can score motivated sellers before you dial so the calls you make are the ones worth making.

Before any script: the compliance rules most guides skip

Here is the section seven out of ten script guides leave out. It is also the one that can cost you the most. Start with the ethics. NAR Article 16, under Case Interpretation 16-5, confirms that once a listing agreement expires, the previous broker has no continuing claim on the client, and any agent may solicit the seller without violating Article 16 . You have the green light to call. One caveat: under Standard of Practice 16-4, you cannot data-mine MLS expiration alerts as a targeted solicitation tool, so general prospecting is fine, but DM campaigns built from MLS notices are not .

The phone is where it gets sharp.

Can I legally call expired listings on the Do Not Call list?

Maybe, and you have to be careful. Some coaches argue agents may manually dial expired owners even if the number is on the National Do Not Call Registry, on an established-business-relationship basis for listings that expired within 18 months . Coach Darryl Davis makes this case, and Florida Realtors' legal library confirms expireds are covered by DNC rules with an 18-month prior-relationship exception . But this is an informal interpretation, not regulatory guidance, and the argument is contested. Scrub your numbers and follow your broker's DNC policy. The downside is not small: violations can carry fines up to $16,000 per call, and $51,744 per call if you call after being told to stop .

Automated contact is a different rule. The FCC adopted one-to-one consent rules for automated calling and texting in December 2023, with implementation delayed from January 2025 to January 26, 2026, pending the IMC court case . In plain terms: autodialers, AI voice, and prerecorded messages need individual written consent before you use them on an expired number, even when a manual call to that same number might pass. For the latest status, check your broker's compliance policy.

The stakes are not theoretical. TCPA class actions rose 112% in the first quarter of 2025 versus the same quarter of 2024, climbing from 239 to 507 class actions filed . And in January 2023, Keller Williams settled a TCPA class action for $40 million over allegations that its agents called and texted more than 2 million people without consent, including people on the DNC list . A $40 million reminder is enough to make any expired listing script start with compliance.

Expired listing scripts that work

Now the scripts. Notice that none of them open with a pitch.

What the best first-call script does

The strongest opener earns permission before it asks for anything. Krys Benyamein, founder of Estate of Grace Real Estate, whose team closes roughly 100 homes a year, opens like this: "Hi [Name], this is [your name]. I'm a Realtor, and I wanted to ask you a quick question about the home for sale. Would that be ok? ... I saw that it came off the market unsold and I didn't know if you had sold it privately? Or is it still available?" The "Would that be ok?" does the work. It hands the seller control, which lowers resistance on a call they were braced to hang up on. The full 11-step script lives at the source; the opener is the part you can use today.

Adapting the script for voicemail, text, and letters

The same logic carries across channels. A widely reproduced empathy-first pattern opens: "I noticed your home at [address] recently came off the market, and I can only imagine how frustrating that must be. I was calling to see if you had a moment to talk about what might have gone wrong." Three moves are doing the work. You name the address, so it is personal. You name the emotion, frustration, so the seller feels seen. You ask what went wrong, which is a diagnosis, not a pitch.

Drop that into a voicemail and you have a 15-second message worth a callback. Shorten it for a text. Expand it for an expired listing letter, where naming the address and the frustration reads just as well on paper as on the phone. The channel changes; the empathy-first structure does not. And the reason it works ties back to Danielle Hale's read: these sellers anchored to peak prices and pulled back, so the agent who leads with understanding gets further than the agent who leads with a price cut .

Handling the three objections every expired seller raises

Three objections dominate expired calls. Handle them with empathy first, then evidence.

"We had a bad agent." Do not pile on. Acknowledge it, then move to what you would do differently, and let the overpricing data lead the diagnosis, since price is the number one reason listings expire . "We're not selling anymore." Fair, and often temporary. Ask what would have to be true for them to try again, and let the seller talk. "We're re-listing with the same agent." Respect the loyalty, then offer a second opinion on price and strategy with no pressure.

There is a 2026 angle no objection script mentions. Sellers who listed before August 17, 2024 came up under the old commission model. The NAR settlement now prohibits offers of buyer-agent compensation on the MLS and requires listing agreements to carry a conspicuous disclosure that compensation is fully negotiable . An expired seller re-listing today faces a different commission conversation than the one they had last year. The agent who can explain that clearly, without spin, is the one who sounds like the expert in the room.

The honest limits of scripts and expired data

A guide that only sells you the upside is not worth trusting. So here are the limits. The supply and conversion numbers that make the case, the 78,395 weekly expirations and the 44.4% re-list rate, are REDX figures from a vendor that sells expired leads . They are the best dataset available, but they are not independently audited, so treat them as directional, not precise. The DNC manual-dial exception is contested, not settled, which is exactly why every line of this advice points back to your broker's policy . And a script is a starting point, not a substitute for a real conversation. Read it word for word and you will sound like a robot. Internalize the structure and you will sound like someone worth re-listing with. If you want the deeper read on how local market pressure varies, see how Unvelo measures local market pressure.

Work the moment, not just the script

The script matters less than the three things around it. You are calling into the largest expired pool in years, with 5.8% of listings withdrawn in April 2026 . The conversion ceiling is real, with a 44.4% re-list rate behind your effort . And the compliance path is clear if you walk it. Call the right sellers, in time, within the rules, and the empathy-first opener does the rest. To make sure the sellers you call are the ones worth calling, score motivated sellers before you dial.