Raise your hand if you’ve had a listing expire this year.
If you were in the room at this panel, most hands went up. And if you’ve been in real estate long enough to remember what 2020 and 2021 felt like, you know how jarring that shift has been. Listings that would have sold in a weekend are now sitting.
Offers that would have come in over asking aren’t coming at all. And the sellers who were convinced their home was worth a number the market no longer supports are looking at you for answers.
That moment is uncomfortable. But it’s also an opportunity, if you know what to offer.
At a recent RealtyHack Summit panel, two specialists in short-term and midterm rentals broke down a strategy that most agents have never thought to bring to a seller conversation. Erika Albert, a broker in Austin and short-term rental expert, and Amanda Williams, known as the Traveling Realtor and a specialist in midterm rentals, shared how agents can turn a stalled listing into a covered asset, a pipeline builder, and a long-term client relationship.
Here’s what they said.
Table of Contents
Why So Many Listings Are Expiring Right Now
Before getting into the strategy, it helps to understand the scale of the problem. This isn’t just something a few unlucky agents are dealing with. It’s a market-wide pattern.
The Austin expired listing numbers: 2022 to 2025
| Year | Expired Listings in Austin |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 33,797 |
| 2023 | 34,800 |
| 2024 | 38,560 |
| 2025 | 33,797 |
That’s tens of thousands of sellers each year who listed, didn’t get what they needed, and walked away without a solution. And the number agents feel on the ground is often worse than what the data captures.
What the market shift actually means for agents
The agents who entered the business during the 2020 to 2021 run never had to develop alternatives. Every listing sold. Price didn’t matter much. Multiple offers took care of everything.
That market trained a generation of agents to think in one direction: list it, price it, sell it. The current market requires a different skill set. Sellers often can’t sell at the price they need. They have mortgage payments to cover, timelines to meet, and real financial pressure. Listing the home and hoping isn’t a strategy. Having an alternative ready is.
The Conversation You Should Be Having Before You List
Both Erika and Amanda were clear on one thing: if you’re only having this conversation after a listing expires, you’re already in a difficult position.
Why raising alternatives after expiration makes you the bad guy
“This conversation shouldn’t be happening after you’ve already gone on the market. Ideally you want to be having this conversation before you go on the market. If this conversation is happening after, then you look like the bad guy that didn’t sell their home.” — Erika Albert
The time to introduce rental alternatives is during your listing consultation, when you’re running comps and the numbers aren’t supporting what the seller needs to net. That’s the moment. Not three months into a stale listing when trust has already eroded.
Erika’s framework: the problem isn’t selling, it’s moving
Erika reframes the entire conversation around what the seller actually needs.
Most sellers come to an agent saying they want to sell their house. But selling the house is rarely the real goal. The real goal is usually that they need to move. They need to cover expenses. They need to get out of a financial situation. Selling is just the mechanism they assumed would get them there.
“Your job is to help your client solve their problem. They may come to you wanting to sell their house, but that may not be the best solution for their problem. Their problem is they have to move.” — Erika Albert
Once you reframe it that way, alternatives become natural. The question shifts from “how do we get this sold” to “how do we solve the actual problem.” That’s a much more useful conversation. It’s also the kind of listing consultation approach that builds long-term trust.
Amanda’s band-aid approach: cover the holding costs until the market turns
Amanda comes at this from a different angle. She teaches agents how to introduce rental strategies as a temporary bridge, not a permanent pivot.
“I’m the band-aid effect. I come in and say: this house has been sitting for three months, six months, however long. Let’s put this on the market as a corporate rental, pay your mortgage, pay all the holding costs until the market turns. Then we put it back on the market. That makes you look like a genius and you’re not going to lose that listing.” — Amanda Williams
The pitch to the seller is simple: stop bleeding money on a house that isn’t selling. Cover your costs. Wait for the market to improve. Then sell. Agents who bring this solution early keep the relationship, keep the listing, and come out ahead when conditions change.
STR vs. MTR: What’s the Difference and Which Fits Your Seller?
Short-term and midterm rentals are often lumped together but they serve different sellers in different situations. Understanding the distinction is the first step to using either effectively.
Short-term rentals (under 30 days)
A short-term rental is anything rented for less than 30 days. Think Airbnb and Vrbo. The revenue potential is higher, but the setup, management, and property requirements are more demanding.
STRs need to be visually polished. Think Instagram-worthy interiors, intentional design, amenities that photograph well. They compete on presentation and reviews. They also require active management or a property manager who can handle guest turnover, cleaning, and maintenance at a higher frequency.
Midterm rentals (30 days or more)
A midterm rental is anything rented for more than 30 days but not structured as a traditional long-term lease. The tenants are typically corporate travelers, medical professionals, relocating families, or remote workers who need a furnished home for a month to several months.
MTRs are simpler to manage and easier to enter, but the revenue ceiling is lower than STR. For most sellers in a stalled listing situation, that tradeoff is worth it.
“Midterm is a lot easier but you’re not going to make as much money as short-term. The first step is knowing the mortgage payment upfront. Then you can see: are short-term rental revenue figures going to be the band-aid or midterm?” — Erika Albert
How to assess if a property qualifies as an MTR
Not every stalled listing is a good midterm rental candidate. Amanda laid out what to look for:
- The property needs to be in good condition with nice furnishings
- The seller needs to be willing to depersonalize: remove most personal items and leave functional basics
- The neighborhood matters: MTR tenants want to live like locals, test schools and grocery stores, and feel settled in a real neighborhood
- The kitchen, furniture, and general presentation need to be competitive with the STR market
“Think of it as people who want to come into the area, live in a neighborhood, test the grocery stores and the schools. They need a comfortable house. They want to live like a local.” — Amanda Williams
Amanda estimates roughly half of the listings agents work with would actually qualify as good MTR candidates. It’s not a universal solution, but it applies far more often than most agents realize.
How This Builds Your Pipeline for Years, Not Just Today
The real estate business is full of activities that don’t pay off this month but pay off significantly over time. Helping a seller navigate a stalled listing with a rental strategy is one of them.
Stay in touch, keep running the comps
The seller who goes into a midterm rental situation is still your client. They still intend to sell. Your job during that period is to stay visible and keep delivering value.
“If they remember you as someone who helped them, they’re going to come back to you when they’re ready to sell. Keep checking in. Run the comps again. Say: hey, you’re still not looking like the best time to sell, but I’ll check in again in a couple months.” — Erika Albert
That’s a low-effort, high-value touchpoint. You’re not asking for anything. You’re demonstrating that you’re still working for them even when there’s no active transaction. That kind of consistency is what keeps you on the short list when the market shifts and they’re ready to move. It’s also the foundation of a strong real estate pipeline that doesn’t depend entirely on new leads.
Using the furnished rental to attract relocating buyers
Here’s where the strategy compounds. A furnished rental in a desirable neighborhood isn’t just a solution for your seller. It’s a tool for attracting buyers.
Relocating buyers, especially those moving to Austin from another state, often want to try before they buy. They want to spend a month or two in a neighborhood before committing to a purchase. A furnished MTR gives them exactly that.
“You can use that listing to attract buyers who are coming in. Not only are you helping your seller, you’re using that listing to attract buyers who are relocating here. Now that’s your buyer pipeline.” — Amanda Williams
One property. Two clients served. A seller whose costs are covered and a buyer who gets to settle into the market before making a major decision. That’s the kind of value add that turns a single relationship into multiple transactions over time. Pairing this with a strong social media presence focused on relocation content makes the buyer attraction side even more powerful.
A real example that came together in real time
Erika shared a situation that had just unfolded in the days before the panel. She had an STR investor client who closed in December and was getting his property ready to rent. She also had buyers coming in from Canada that weekend who wanted to rent a place for a couple of months while they searched for a home in Austin.
She connected the two.
Her buyer clients now had a place to stay. Her seller client had tenants covering his costs. And Erika had deepened relationships on both sides of the transaction with a single introduction.
That’s not a coincidence. It’s what happens when you’re thinking about your clients’ full situations instead of just the immediate transaction in front of you.
Agents Don’t Need to Be Experts. They Need to Know the Resources.
A common objection when agents hear about STR and MTR strategies is that they don’t know enough about it to bring it up confidently. Amanda addressed that directly.
“You don’t need to be an expert in this. What you need to know is that this is a potential option and you need to know the resources to connect your clients with.” — Amanda Williams
You don’t need to become a property manager. You don’t need to master short-term rental regulations or midterm lease structures. You need to know the strategy exists, understand it well enough to introduce it, and have the right people to hand your client off to when they want to go deeper.
What to know and where to start
Here’s the minimum an agent needs to be useful in this conversation:
- Know the difference between STR and MTR and when each applies
- Know the seller’s mortgage payment before any conversation about rental viability
- Have a referral for a property manager who handles furnished rentals in your market
- Have a script for introducing the conversation before the listing goes live
- Know that roughly half of residential listings could qualify as an MTR candidate
That’s it. Everything else can be handled by specialists. Your job is to be the person who brought the idea to the table and connected the right people. That’s what growing a sustainable real estate business looks like at the relationship level.
The Playbook in Summary
Expired listings aren’t going away. The Austin market has produced 33,000 to 38,000 of them every year since 2022. The agents who thrive in this environment are the ones who show up with more than a re-list conversation.
Based on the frameworks shared by Erika Albert and Amanda Williams, here’s what to take into your next listing consultation:
- Have the alternatives conversation before you list, not after the listing expires. Running comps that don’t support the seller’s payoff amount is the trigger.
- Reframe the problem. The seller’s goal isn’t to sell. It’s to move. Selling is one path. A rental that covers holding costs until the market improves is another.
- Know your STR vs. MTR basics. Under 30 days is STR. Over 30 days is MTR. MTR is simpler and applies to roughly half of residential listings.
- Stay in touch through the rental period. Keep running comps. Be the person who checked in. That’s how you keep the listing when the market turns.
- Use the furnished rental to attract relocating buyers. One property can solve two client problems at once.
You don’t have to become a rental expert to use this. You just have to know it’s an option and be willing to bring it up.
To learn more about midterm rental strategies, connect with Amanda Williams at The Traveling Realtor. For short-term rental expertise in the Austin market, reach out to Erika Albert. For more on building a real estate business that wins in any market condition, explore agent growth resources at RealtyHack or revisit strategies for winning expired listings.
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