The record comes up in the priority lane on a Tuesday morning with a date on it that you set eleven months ago. Maple Court, single family, owner lives across town. First vacancy at the time. When you asked whether the plan was to keep it or whether that tenant was the last one, the owner said: “Honestly, we’ll see how this year goes.” You asked if you could call sixty days before the lease ended. They said yes. Today is that day.<\/p>\n
Everything about this call is different from the first one, and most agents make it as though it were the first one. The landlord is not a stranger. They said yes to this call. They have had a year of being a landlord since you spoke, and something in that year decided the question they could not answer then. The FRBO script<\/a> earned this call by asking two questions and leaving. This call cashes it, and the way it does that is by opening with their words, not yours.<\/p>\n Four things, and if any of them is missing the call is worse than it should be.<\/p>\n Their exact words from the first call.<\/strong> “We’ll see how this year goes.” Not a summary, the phrase. It is the opener.<\/p>\n The lease end date and the source of it.<\/strong> They told you the lease was signed in early October, so it ends in early October, and you are calling in early August. If they signed a longer lease or renewed early, you will find out in the first minute, and the date on the record gets corrected.<\/p>\n What changed in the year.<\/strong> Two numbers: what rents did in that neighborhood, and what sales did. A landlord who has been collecting the same rent for twelve months while comparable rentals moved up has a renewal decision to make. A landlord whose property gained value while the roof aged has a different one. You are not going to quote either number unless asked. You are going to know them.<\/p>\n Whether the property has come on the market.<\/strong> Check the MLS and the rental portals before every landlord call. If the owner listed it for sale with another broker, this call is over before it starts under Article 16. If the rental is advertised again, the tenant is leaving and the owner has already decided to lease again, at least for now, and the call adjusts.<\/p>\n Hi, this is [your name] with [your brokerage]. We spoke last fall when you had the house on Maple Court vacant, and you said I could call about sixty days before the lease ended. You told me then that you’d see how the year went. So I’m calling to ask: how did it go?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Then stop, and let the year come out.<\/p>\n Every clause is doing a job. The reminder of the vacancy places you. The reminder that they agreed to this call removes the intrusion. Their own words prove that you wrote them down, which is the thing that separates this call from the twelve other agents who have called since. And “how did it go” is a question a landlord can answer for ten minutes without being sold anything, and in those ten minutes they will tell you which branch you are on.<\/p>\n The first call sorted landlords into hold, lease again, and sell after this tenant. The year sorts them again, and this time the answer is firmer because it is based on what happened rather than on what they hoped.<\/p>\n The question in the third row matters more than it looks. An owner who says “it was a lot” may be describing a bad tenant in a good property, or a good tenant in a property that needs work, or a person who has discovered they do not want to be a landlord. Those are three different next steps: a leasing conversation, a repair-versus-sell conversation, and a listing. Asking which one it is, before offering any of them, is the difference between a call that helps and a call that pitches.<\/p>\n Two subjects arrive immediately, and the agent’s job on both is to ask the right questions rather than to answer them.<\/p>\n The first is the tenant. Whether the property sells with the tenant in place or after they leave depends on the lease, on state and local landlord-tenant law, and on the owner’s timeline, and the answers to those questions are in the lease and with the owner’s attorney. What you can do is lay out the questions: What does the lease say about showings and notice? Is it month to month after the term, or does it renew? What notice does the tenant have to receive, and from whom? Does the owner want the sale price of a vacant house or the certainty of a tenant-occupied one to an investor buyer? Never advise an owner to decline a renewal or to end a tenancy in order to sell; that is a legal decision with legal consequences, and it is theirs to make with counsel. Your role is to describe how each path affects the sale and to schedule the listing around the path they choose.<\/p>\n The second is tax, and the answer has not changed since the first call: “That’s a CPA question, and if you don’t have one I can give you two names.” Owners who have held a rental for years think about the gain before they think about the price, and an agent who starts talking about exchanges or exclusions has stepped outside the license.<\/p>\n Then set the appointment for the right date, which is usually not this week. If the tenant leaves in October and the owner wants to sell vacant, the listing appointment is for September and the prep conversation is now. If they want to sell with the tenant in place, the appointment is sooner and the showing logistics are the first agenda item. Either way, the record now carries a listing date instead of a lease date.<\/p>\n A landlord who is renewing is a landlord you will call again in a year, and the call ends with the same ask that started the relationship: “Can I call you sixty days before the new lease ends?” Add a second, small one if you provide leasing services: “And if the tenant ever gives notice, would you want me to know the day it happens?” A vacancy is the moment landlords change plans, and being the first call at that moment is worth more than any postcard.<\/p>\n A landlord whose tenant is leaving is back at the original fork with better information, and the FRBO script<\/a>‘s second question is the right one to ask again, word for word: “Is the plan to keep it as a rental, or is this the last tenant?” Do not assume the answer moved. Some do, some do not, and the ones who say “one more year” mean it.<\/p>\n A landlord who wants out of managing but not out of owning is a management referral or a management client, depending on what you offer. Do not talk them into selling a property they want to keep because the listing is worth more to you than the referral.<\/p>\nWhat is on the screen before you dial<\/h2>\n
The opener<\/h2>\n
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The three branches<\/h2>\n
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\n \nWhat the year did<\/th>\n What they say<\/th>\n Your next question<\/th>\n Where it goes<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n Fine. Rent came in, tenant is staying<\/td>\n “It went well. They want to renew.”<\/td>\n “Good. Are you renewing at the same rent, or adjusting it?”<\/td>\n The hold branch. A leasing or renewal-review offer if you provide one. Next call in a year, same date<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Fine, but the tenant is leaving<\/td>\n “Went okay. They’re moving out in October.”<\/td>\n “Are you going to re-rent it, or is this the point where you do something else?”<\/td>\n Back to the fork. A vacancy is coming, and the decision is live again<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Not fine<\/td>\n “It was a lot. The water heater, then the late payments.”<\/td>\n “Is it the property that’s the problem, or being a landlord?”<\/td>\n The sell branch, usually. Or a management conversation, if that is what they actually want<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Already decided<\/td>\n “We’re done. Selling after they leave.”<\/td>\n “When do they leave, and do you want to sell with them in place or after?”<\/td>\n The listing conversation, with the tenant questions handled first<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n When the answer is sell<\/h2>\n
When the answer is anything else<\/h2>\n
Why this call converts<\/h2>\n