Why is My Phone Number Still in MLS on an Expired Listing?

Client asking, why is my number in MLS when my listing has expired?

Like an expired listing, my time in Hawaii has now expired and it’s time to come home. I received the gift of a few more unexpected days in Hawaii when last Tuesday I missed my flight on Hawaiian Airlines. However, I was able to rebook for Friday without much trouble. Which is how I came to find myself sitting on my lanai enjoying my last 24 hours in Hawaii when a new client called. She asked: “Why is my phone number still in MLS on an expired listing?”

See, wherever I am, I answer my phone. Especially when a client calls. Yet another simple way to minimize or eliminate client frustrations. It’s the little things, like answering your darn phone, that keeps people happy with you. Happy clients = 5 star reviews. This particular property, I should point out, is not MY expired listing. I don’t have expired listings. My listings sell. This was an out-of-area listing agent who let the listing expire.

I smiled at my cellphone. Explained I probably won’t find her number in MLS and offered to check for her. We take out personal info as standard protocol when listings move from active to sold (or to expired listing). She wanted to know: Well, then how are they calling me?  Sure enough, no publication of personal information. No phone number on the expired listing.

Then I launched into my explanation of the expired listing ambulance chasers. These can be experienced agents, but generally not. It is usually a brand new agent trying to find business. The rationale is the seller wanted to sell at one time, so why not go after that dead business, just lying in the bushes? These agents buy personal information data through brokers who sell it. They can also buy that information online. Everything is available for a price.

To work expired listings, they use an aggressive approach. Agents know the the tough competition from those who chase expireds. Aggressive behavior like that is often a turnoff to sellers. It’s a different approach to selling than focusing on what is best for the client. It’s more of an approach of what is best for the agent.

I always warn my sellers about what will happen if we pull a new MLS number to reset the days on market. It’s like a flood gate opens. Once a listing is re-listed, sellers in Sacramento can expect their phones to blow up because agents don’t bother to check if it’s back on the market. Some of them don’t check the National Do Not Call registry, either.