Are Expired Listing Leads Worth It? The Real Math
The short answer
Expired listing leads can be worth it, but the data is the cheap part. Subscriptions run about $199 to $349 a month for REDX (The Close, September 2026), and every subscriber in your market gets the same names. The real costs are your calling hours, Do Not Call compliance, and competing with every other agent dialing the same owner.
Key takeaways
- Expired listing data subscriptions typically cost about $97 to $399 a month in 2026.
- Expired data is not exclusive: every subscriber in your market sees the same owners.
- Realtor.com counted about 27 delistings for every 100 new listings in October 2025.
- Eighty percent of sellers interviewed only one agent, per NAR's 2025 Profile.
- Your calling hours, not the subscription, usually decide whether expireds pay off.
Expired listings are some of the most motivated sellers in any market. They already decided to sell, and something went wrong. That makes them worth pursuing. The question is whether buying the data and working it yourself is worth your time. For most agents, the subscription fee is the smallest line in the math.
What do expired listing data services cost?
Most vendors sell a monthly subscription to expired, FSBO and related seller data, often bundled with a dialer. Here are the published or reported prices.
| Vendor | Reported monthly price | What you get | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| REDX Core | $199 | Expired, FSBO, FRBO, pre-foreclosure, GeoLeads | The Close, Sep 2026 |
| REDX Connect | $299 | Core plus single-line power dialer | The Close, Sep 2026 |
| REDX Pro | $349 | Core plus multi-line dialer | The Close, Sep 2026 |
| Vulcan7 | About $349 | Data, dialer, CRM | Perspective AI, Jul 2026 |
| Landvoice | About $97 to $399 | Data bundles and scripts | Perspective AI, Jul 2026 |
Perspective AI ranks its own product first in that roundup, and it tells readers to confirm prices with each vendor. Treat the Vulcan7 and Landvoice figures as estimates.
Annualized, a $199 to $349 subscription costs $2,388 to $4,188 a year before you make a single call.
Are expired listing leads exclusive?
No. The Close’s REDX review says it plainly: “These are not exclusive, ready-to-hire leads.” Other agents can buy the same records.
That is the core problem with expired data. When a listing expires, every subscriber in that market sees the owner at roughly the same time. The owner’s phone rings repeatedly that morning.
NAR’s 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers found 80% of sellers interviewed only one agent, as summarized by BAM (November 2025). If most sellers talk to one agent, being the first qualified conversation matters more than being the tenth dial.
How big is the expired and delisted pool right now?
Larger than it was. The Close (June 2026) reported Realtor.com data showing delistings up 37.9% year over year in October 2025. Nationally, about 27 homes came off the market for every 100 newly listed.
We did not find a reliable national statistic for the share of listings that expire. Your local MLS expired and withdrawn counts are the best measure for your own ZIP codes.
Meanwhile, FSBO is shrinking. NAR (November 2025) reported FSBO sales fell to a record low 5%, and 91% of sellers used an agent.
How much time does working expireds take?
Time is the cost most agents underestimate. The best public benchmark is old and imperfect.
Baylor University’s Keller Center for Research (2011) had agents make 6,264 cold calls over two weeks. It took about 209 calls, or about 7.5 hours, to produce one appointment or referral (Baylor, September 2012).
That study is dated, and it measured calls to random homeowners, not expired listings. Expired owners are more motivated, so your numbers should be better. But the study is a reminder that answer rates and refusals eat hours.
Here is how hours stack up if you plug in your own appointment-to-listing ratio. The 7.5-hour figure is Baylor’s; the ratios are illustrative inputs, not data.
| Appointments needed per signed listing | Hours per appointment (Baylor benchmark) | Calling hours per listing |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 7.5 | 15 |
| 3 | 7.5 | 22.5 |
| 4 | 7.5 | 30 |
Replace 7.5 with your own tracked number. If you do not track it, start this month.
What does the full cost look like against one closing?
Use a Pennsylvania median sale of $340,000 (PA Realtors via CPBJ, June 2026). Apply 2.42%, Redfin’s Q3 2025 average buyer’s agent commission (MortgagePoint, December 2025), as a stand-in for a listing side. Listing commissions vary, so use yours.
| Annual expired closings | Side per closing | Data cost at $349/mo | Data cost as share of expired GCI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $8,228 | $4,188 | 51% |
| 2 | $8,228 | $4,188 | 25% |
| 4 | $8,228 | $4,188 | 13% |
The data cost falls fast as you close more. The calling hours do not. Every additional closing needs its own appointments and its own calls.
What does compliance add?
Expired and FSBO calls are telephone solicitations. You need current National Registry data, your own internal Do Not Call list, and in Pennsylvania, the state list as well.
From on or about October 18, 2026, Pennsylvania limits prospecting calls and texts to 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., with none on Sundays or legal holidays, per the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors (August 2026). That trims the evening hours many agents used for expireds. See our guide to cold calling expireds and FSBOs legally.
So when are expired leads worth it?
They tend to work for agents who:
- Block consistent calling time and protect it
- Track dials, conversations and appointments every week
- Follow up for months, not days
- Run a clean Do Not Call process
- Work a market where they can be first or best
They tend to disappoint agents who buy the subscription and call when they have spare time. The list is the same for everyone. Consistency is what differs.
How does Casventa approach expireds?
Reclaim is built around the parts above that agents find hardest. Each ZIP code is held by one agent. Casventa’s named, manual-dial team works the expired and FSBO owners in that ZIP, handles the Do Not Call scrubs and recording disclosure, and transfers qualified sellers live to the agent who holds it. It is priced as a territory fee plus a broker-to-broker referral fee at closing. Use the time calculator to see how many hours your current approach costs.
More questions
Is an expired listing the same as a delisting?
Not exactly. An expired listing reached the end of its listing agreement without selling. A delisting is a seller pulling the home off the market, which can happen before expiration. Both produce motivated owners.
Are FSBO leads better than expired leads?
They are fewer. NAR's 2025 Profile found FSBO sales fell to a record low 5% of transactions, and 91% of sellers used an agent. Expired and withdrawn listings are a larger pool in most markets.
Can I text expired owners instead of calling?
In Pennsylvania, from on or about October 18, 2026, a prospecting text counts as a telephone solicitation. It follows the same Do Not Call, hours and opt-out rules as a call.
How quickly should I contact an expired owner?
As soon as the calling rules allow. Because the data is not exclusive, other subscribers may be calling the same owner, and most sellers interview only one agent.
This article is for general educational purposes only and is not legal advice. Telemarketing, call recording and real estate licensing laws change often and vary by state and situation. Casventa is a licensed Pennsylvania real estate brokerage, not a law firm. Before calling, texting, recording, or paying or accepting a referral fee, confirm current requirements with your broker of record, your state Realtor association's legal hotline, or a licensed attorney. Information is current as of October 14, 2026.
Sources
- REDX Review (Sep 2026)
- Best FSBO and Expired Listing Lead Services 2026, Compared (Jul 2026)
- New Report Puts 2025 Seller Delistings Back in Focus for Late 2026 (Jun 2026)
- How Home Buyers and Sellers Find Their Agents in 2025 (Nov 2025)
- FSBOs Reach All-Time Low, More Sellers Rely on Agents (Nov 2025)
- Has Cold Calling Gone Cold? (Sep 2012)
- Buyer's agent commissions inch up as slower market shifts leverage to buyers (Dec 2025)
- Pennsylvania median home price reaches $340,000 in June (Jul 2026)
- How Changes to the Do Not Call Law Will Affect Your Prospecting Calls and Texts (Aug 2026)
Kris Quintana is co-founder and CEO of Casventa and founder of Precision Leverage Solutions, a transaction coordination company serving agents in PA, NJ and DE. He is a licensed Pennsylvania real estate agent.