Guide
How to win an expired land listing
Win an expired land listing by finding why it didn't sell (price, presentation, reach or follow-up) and bringing the owner a plan that fixes that reason.
By Jordan Johnson, Founder, Kedron Co.Updated 7 min read
You win an expired land listing by working out why it didn't sell (price, presentation, reach or follow-up) and bringing the owner a plan that fixes that specific reason. A general promise to "do better" won't work on an owner who has just spent six months or a year hearing nothing.
This guide is part of our winning listings library.
When can you contact the owner?
Only after the listing has ended. The REALTOR Code of Ethics is direct about this. Standard of Practice 16-4 reads: "REALTORS® shall not solicit a listing which is currently listed exclusively with another broker" (NAR Code of Ethics, 2026 edition). The standard has a narrow exception: if the listing broker refuses to tell you the expiration date and type of listing when you ask, you may contact the owner to find out, and may discuss a future listing or take one that starts when the current one ends.
The phone has its own rules. The National Association of REALTORS says you may not call an owner whose listing with another agent has expired if "the person's telephone number is on the National Do-Not-Call Registry and the purpose of your call is to offer to list the homeowner's property," and that you need to check the registry every 31 days (NAR, Telemarketing and Cold-Calling). Your state and your broker may add rules of their own. Ask your broker before you start.
A letter is often the better first contact anyway. A letter that names the property and shows you've studied it reads very differently from a form letter.
Why do land listings expire?
When a land listing expires, look first at four things: price, presentation, reach and follow-up. The old listing itself usually shows which ones failed.
| Reason | What you'll see in the old listing | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Price per acre well above recent comparable sales; one or more price cuts late in the term | A price conversation built on comps, before you sign |
| Presentation | A handful of photos, no aerial, no boundary map, a short description, all winter shots of summer ground | New photos, aerial, film and a map or 3D model; a rewritten description |
| Reach | Only on the MLS, or on land portals with a bare listing | Land portals, social and a plan to reach the buyers for this kind of property |
| Follow-up | The owner says they heard about few showings and little feedback | A response-time commitment and a weekly written report |
For a sense of what a complete listing looks like, Land.com's listing guide asks for a clear title and primary image, a description with "useful, specific information," photos that show the property "from multiple perspectives," and video or a virtual tour where it helps (Land.com Network, Anatomy of a Perfect Land Listing, July 2026). Hold the expired listing up against that and the gaps are usually obvious.
Time on market tells you something
Land that sells tends to sell early. In the REALTORS Land Institute and NAR survey of 2023 land transactions, "most land sold within 60 days" and 25% closed in under 30 days (RLI, April 1, 2024). That's a national survey of REALTOR land sales, not a Midwest days-on-market figure, but the direction holds: a parcel that sat on the market for a year was telling everyone something, and the owner needs someone to say what.
Research the old listing before you reach out
Do the homework first. It's what separates you from the next three agents who call.
- Pull the listing history. Original price, every price change, days on market, the photos, the description and which sites it appeared on.
- Price it yourself. Recent sales in the township or county with price per acre, and what made each different: tillable share, timber, water, access, buildings.
- Look at the ground. County GIS for boundaries and access, aerial imagery, soils for tillable ground. Drive by if you can.
- Check what's attached. CRP acres, Managed Forest Law in Wisconsin, SFIA or 2c in Minnesota, a farm lease, recorded easements.
- Write down the one or two reasons you think it didn't sell. That becomes your opening.
How do you approach the owner?
Owners of expired listings are often tired and skeptical. Some are angry at the last agent, and some are embarrassed that the land didn't sell. Either way, they've heard pitches.
- Don't criticize the last agent. The owner picked that agent. Blaming them blames the owner.
- Ask before you tell. How many showings were there? What did buyers say? Did anyone make an offer? What would they do differently? Their answers tell you which of the four reasons you're dealing with.
- Name the problem plainly. "Every photo was taken in March. Buyers never saw the summer cover that makes this hunting ground."
- Show the fix for that problem. Not your full list of services. The one or two changes that answer what went wrong.
For the questions that open this kind of conversation, see the first conversation with a landowner.
The plan you bring to the kitchen table
Bring it in writing, on one page, specific to this property.
- Price. Your number, the comparable sales behind it and their dates. If you think the old price was the problem, say so here. Our guide to telling a landowner their land is overpriced covers how.
- A relaunch, not a repost. New photos in the right season, aerial and a film tour, a boundary map or 3D model, a rewritten description, a new listing title. Buyers who saw the old listing should see something that looks new. Kedron shoots the media for that kind of relaunch (the film, the photos, the property book and the social media assets) for independent land firms, under the firm's name (how it works).
- Reach. Which land sites, which social campaigns, which buyers you'll contact directly.
- Follow-up. Who answers inquiries, how fast, and what the owner hears each week. Land.com lets agents print or email a report of searches, views and inquiries on each listing (Land.com Network). Add showings and buyer feedback in your own words.
- A review date. Agree now on when you'll sit down and look at inquiries, showings and price together.
Should you take it at the same price?
Only if the old listing failed for reasons other than price. If the land had good photos, reached the right buyers and still drew few inquiries over months, the price was a big part of the problem. Taking it back at the same number puts your name on the next expiration.
Say it plainly and early: "I can fix the presentation and the reach. I can't fix a price that's $1,000 an acre over the last three sales, and I'd rather tell you now than in six months." Some owners will go with the agent who agrees with their number. Let them. The owner who listens is the one whose land you can sell.
Timing the relaunch
Season matters in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. Plan the new photos and film for when the land shows best for its buyer: green cover and water for hunting ground, the crop or clean fields for tillable, leaf-off for timber and terrain, when a buyer can see the stems and the lay of the ground. For farmland, Elizabeth Strom of Murray Wise Associates told Farm Progress that "the best time to sell farms is outside the growing season because that's when the most money is in the market" (Farm Progress, Sept. 10, 2024).
If the right season is months away, say so, and use the time to settle the price and the paperwork. A relaunch done well two months from now beats one rushed next week with the same winter photos.
What to do next
Pull the land listings in your counties that expired in the last six months. Pick the three where you can see a clear fix, check each owner against the Do Not Call Registry, and write each one a letter that names the property and what you'd change. Then follow up.
