When should I mail an expired listing, a foreclosure filing or a lien?
By Josh MillerUpdated 4 min readEach list sells on its own clock, so mail each one while its owners are selling instead of paying for letters that land too early or too late. In most counties that means hitting expired and cancelled listings hard in the first three months and working foreclosure filings slower and longer; liens vary, so check your county.
Most investors mail every list on the same schedule because that's how the mail house set it up. One letter a month, every month, to everyone on the file.
It's simple. It also spends the same on every list, whether its owners sell in the first month or the eleventh.
The county's deeds show when each kind of owner actually sold. Here's Cook County, Illinois, counted quarter by quarter after the filing.
Cook County, quarter by quarter
| When it sold | Expired or cancelled listing | Foreclosure filed | Lien filed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Months 1 to 3 | 964 | 24 | 39 |
| Months 4 to 6 | 268 | 41 | 44 |
| Months 7 to 9 | 119 | 74 | 36 |
| Months 10 to 12 | 97 | 155 | 25 |
| Total within 12 months | 1,448 | 294 | 144 |
| Owners on the list | 7,464 | 2,814 | 2,183 |
| Of every 100 owners, sold within 12 months | 19.4 | 10.4 | 6.6 |
Read down each column. Expired listings sold in a rush and then tapered off. Foreclosure filings did the opposite, a trickle at first and then more every quarter. Liens stayed fairly even all year.
Expired and cancelled listings: go early
Of every 100 Cook County owners whose listing expired or was cancelled, about 13 sold off-market within 3 months of the filing, and about 19 within 12 months. Two thirds of that year's sales, 964 of 1,448, came in the first 3 months.
Cook is typical. Across 492 counties measured, months 1 to 3 were the busiest quarter for expired and cancelled listings in 476 of them.
It makes sense when you picture the owner. They just tried to sell. The listing didn't work, and they're still thinking about moving. Reach them now. A first letter in month five mostly finds the ones who decided to stay.
Foreclosure filings: a slower, longer chase
Of every 100 Cook County owners with a foreclosure filing, fewer than 1 sold off-market within 3 months of the filing. Within 12 months, about 10 had. More than half of that year's sales, 155 of 294, came in months 10 to 12.
Most counties look like Cook. Across 99 counties measured, the busiest quarter for foreclosure filings came after month 3 in 83 of them.
Not all, though. In Harris County, Texas, foreclosure filings sold fastest in the first quarter: 29 sales in months 1 to 3, then 18, 25 and 13. A national schedule would have mailed Houston too late and Chicago too early.
| When it sold | Cook County, IL | Harris County, TX |
|---|---|---|
| Months 1 to 3 | 24 | 29 |
| Months 4 to 6 | 41 | 18 |
| Months 7 to 9 | 74 | 25 |
| Months 10 to 12 | 155 | 13 |
| Owners on the list | 2,814 | 1,004 |
A foreclosure owner usually has months before anything final happens, and plenty spend them hoping it works out. One letter in month one, then silence, misses the owner who finally decides in month ten.
Liens: steady, and it depends where you are
Liens don't follow one clock. Across 249 counties measured, the busiest quarter was months 1 to 3 in 116 of them. The rest were spread across the year. In Cook County, lien sales came in fairly evenly: 39, then 44, then 36, then 25.
A steady list wants a steady pace. Pick a rhythm you can hold for a year instead of one big drop up front, and check your own county before you settle on it.
| List | 1 to 3 | 4 to 6 | 7 to 9 | 10 to 12 | Counties |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expired or cancelled listing | 476 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 492 |
| Foreclosure filed | 16 | 31 | 25 | 27 | 99 |
| Lien filed | 116 | 64 | 37 | 32 | 249 |
Blitz early, chase longer
Put it together and you get two shapes of campaign.
A blitz is several letters close together, aimed at a list that sells early. In most counties that's expired and cancelled listings, because the first three months are where the sales are.
A chase is fewer letters spread over a longer stretch, aimed at a list that sells late. In most counties that's foreclosure filings, because most of their off-market sales came after month 3.
Both shapes share one rule: stop when the owner is gone. Re-check the list before every drop and take out anyone who already sold or put the house on the market. A letter to someone who sold last month is a stamp you never get back.
There's no one schedule that fits every county, because the county decides. Check yours with the free county read before you set a cadence. If you haven't settled which lists to mail at all, start with which motivated seller lists actually sell.
This is the work we do for clients. Every owner goes into a lane by the kind of distress and how urgent it is, and every record is re-checked before it's mailed again. How it works shows the whole weekly build. For the bigger picture on mail itself, see direct mail for real estate investors.
How we counted
We counted every off-market, arm's-length sale recorded in the county after each filing, for filings from October 2024 through March 2025. Each quarter is the number of off-market sales in those three months after the filing. Probate and divorce are left out: there are too few on record in most counties to measure honestly.
Every number here is counted from the county's own records. The numbers were counted by FirstPulse, the data engine GoForClose runs on.
Questions investors ask
How soon should I mail an expired listing?
Right away. Across 492 counties measured, the first 3 months after a listing expired or was cancelled were the busiest for off-market sales in 476. In Cook County, IL, two thirds of the year's off-market sales on that list came in the first 3 months.
How long should I keep mailing a foreclosure filing?
Longer than most people do. In 83 of 99 counties measured, the busiest quarter for off-market sales came after month 3, and in Cook County, IL, more than half of the year's sales came in months 10 to 12. Keep going until the owner sells or the house goes on the market.
When should I mail a lien?
It depends on your county. The first 3 months were the busiest in 116 of 249 counties measured, and the rest were spread across the year, so set a steady pace and check your county's own count.
When should I mail probate or divorce leads?
The records can't tell you yet. There are too few probate and divorce filings on record in most counties to measure a window honestly, so we don't publish one.
Is the timing the same in every county?
No. Foreclosure filings sold late in most counties, but in Harris County, TX, the first 3 months were the busiest. Check your own county before you set a schedule.