Expired vs withdrawn vs cancelled MLS listings: what's the difference
Three MLS statuses, three different homeowner situations, three different prospecting rules. A working broker's reference for when each one is fair game and when it is not.
Most lead-vendor marketing material treats expired, withdrawn, and cancelled listings as if they were the same category. They are not. The three statuses describe three different situations, and the rules around prospecting each one differ by MLS board, state, and (for some) federal contact-law regulations.
This is a reference, not a hot-take. Bookmark it.
Expired
A listing is expired when its agreement reached the end of its term and was not renewed. The contract between the homeowner and the prior listing agent has ended cleanly. The homeowner is unrepresented. The previous listing agent has no further claim on the property.
Why brokers prospect expireds. About 40 percent of expired listings will list with a new agent within 30 days. About 90 percent will try again within six months. The homeowner has demonstrated a clear intent to sell (they spent six months trying) and the listing did not move. That is a known problem with a known shape, and the agent who arrives with a credible diagnosis (price, presentation, marketing) gets the listing more often than not.
Prospecting rules. Expired listings are public information once they hit the MLS. They are fair game for prospecting in every market we are aware of, subject to the standard contact-law overlays (TCPA, Do Not Call, CAN-SPAM). The previous listing agent has no protection.
Volume. ~64,000 expireds clear US MLSs nationally each week, per recent industry data. The category that built RedX, Vulcan7, Landvoice, Espresso Agent, and the rest of the subscription lead-vendor ecosystem.
Withdrawn
A listing is withdrawn when it is temporarily removed from the MLS while the listing agreement remains in force. The contract is still active. The agent of record is still the agent of record. The homeowner has paused the listing (often to repair a roof, replace a furnace, address a flooring issue, or wait out a soft season) with the intent to relist under the same agreement.
Why this matters. Withdrawn is not unrepresented. The agent of record still has a contractual relationship with the homeowner. Soliciting a withdrawn listing’s owner before the agreement expires can put a broker in the territory of NAR Article 16 violations, the prohibition on soliciting another agent’s client.
Prospecting rules vary by board. Some local MLS boards prohibit prospecting withdrawn listings entirely while the agreement is in force. Others release withdrawn listings as effectively cancelled, with the same status as expired, once the listing is off-market. Charleston Trident MLS, for example, follows a stricter set of rules than some Southern California boards. Check your local board’s rules before contacting a withdrawn-status homeowner.
Where it gets confusing. Some MLSs expire a withdrawn listing automatically if the listing remains off-market past the original term-end date. Once that happens, the prior agreement is over and the property reverts to expired status, making it fair game. The status code may still read “Withdrawn” in your data feed even after the agreement ended, which is why date-of-status-change matters more than the bare status string.
Cancelled
A listing is cancelled when the homeowner and the listing agent mutually agreed to terminate the listing agreement before its natural end date. The contract is over. The homeowner is unrepresented. The agent of record has released the property.
Why brokers prospect cancelled listings. Cancelled listings are some of the highest-converting expired-style leads available. The homeowner was actively dissatisfied enough with their representation to terminate the contract early. They almost always relist within weeks, and they are explicitly looking for something different from what they had.
Prospecting rules. Cancelled listings are unrepresented inventory. Fair game in every market we are aware of, subject to standard contact-law overlays.
Watch for the timing edge case. A “cancelled” status that appears in your data feed within the original listing term but where the homeowner re-engaged the same agent under a renewed agreement is technically still represented. Some data feeds do not distinguish a cancellation followed by a re-listing under the same agent. Check the listing-of-record date before contacting.
The fourth status that matters: pending
A pending listing is under contract. The homeowner has accepted an offer but the deal has not yet closed. Pendings sometimes fall through (financing fails, inspection issues, appraisal gaps). The MLS status flips back to Active or to Expired depending on the timing.
Pending is not fair game. The homeowner is currently represented and is currently under contract with a buyer. Contact during the pending phase is structurally inappropriate. If the deal falls through and the listing flips to Active, you are still soliciting another agent’s client. If it flips to Expired, you have a normal expired prospecting situation.
A reference table
| Status | Represented? | Fair game? | Typical conversion to relist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expired | No | Yes (subject to contact law) | ~40% within 30 days |
| Withdrawn | Usually yes | Check local board | Varies |
| Cancelled | No | Yes | High; often within 2-3 weeks |
| Pending | Yes | No | N/A |
| Active | Yes | No (Article 16) | N/A |
What this means for an auction marketplace
ListingHammer auctions only the categories where prospecting is structurally appropriate. Expired and cancelled are eligible in every market, subject to per-state contact-law overlays. Withdrawn is eligible only where the local MLS board permits prospecting; the auction layer enforces that per-board, so brokers see only the lots they can legally pursue. Active and pending listings are never auctioned, in line with NAR Article 16 protections.
The rules above also explain why category-specific cadence matters. A cancelled listing’s relist window is measured in weeks. A withdrawn listing’s relist window depends on the agreement’s term-end date. An expired listing’s window depends on whether the prior agent is going to re-engage the homeowner. The auction reserve and the auction window length on a working platform reflect each of these realities.
In one sentence
Expired listings are unrepresented; withdrawn listings are still under contract with the prior agent; cancelled listings were terminated early and are unrepresented. Two of the three are fair game. The third depends on your local MLS board. The smart broker (and the auction platform that wants to serve them) treats the distinction as the line between a closed listing and a discipline complaint.
