What do I say when I call an absentee owner?

Say your name, your brokerage, that you are a licensed agent, and that you are calling about the property at the address. Ask how it is working for them now. For a rental, ask about the tenant and the lease. For a second home, ask how often they still get there. Offer a video meeting to an out-of-town owner.

Drafted with AI by the 10before10 team, reviewed and approved by Grant Freer and Gia Freer, licensed Florida real estate brokers. Updated October 24, 2026. También en español.

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What is really being said

An absentee owner is not thinking about a home. They are thinking about a property, and that is a different relationship. An investor thinks in numbers: rent collected, time spent, what the tenant costs them in attention.

A second-home owner thinks in visits: how often they still get there, what the drive or the flight costs them now, whether the family still uses it the way they used to.

A few inherited the place and live somewhere else. For them the property can feel like neither an investment nor a home, just an obligation nobody has dealt with yet. "Honestly I forget we even still own that place sometimes" is a real answer, and it tells you the motivation has nothing to do with price.

The call is not about rescuing anyone from a bad tenant or a property they are tired of maintaining. It is about finding out how the property fits into their life right now, and whether that fit has changed. Distance does not create motivation.

A change in the owner's life does.

What to say

These are examples in plain words, not lines to memorize. Say them the way you actually talk.

"Hi, this is your name, a licensed agent with your brokerage. I'm calling about the property at address.

I'm not asking you to do anything today. I just had a couple of questions about how it's working for you these days. Do you have a minute?"

This opens with the address, not an assumption about who lives there or what the property means to them. Saying "the property" rather than "your home" respects that an investor or a second-home owner may not think of it that way at all.

"How is the property working for you these days?"

One open question lets the owner tell you which kind of owner they are before you guess. An investor talks about the tenant or the numbers, much like a multifamily owner. A second-home owner talks about how often they get there.

Either way, you learn more from their first sentence than from any question you could have asked instead.

"How's the tenant situation, is the lease still running, and what would make you consider selling it even with a tenant in place?"

This follows an investor's answer. It does not promise anything about what happens to the lease. The lease and your state's rules decide what is possible, and saying that out loud keeps you honest rather than guessing at an answer you do not have.

"How often do you and your family get out there these days, and has anything changed about that?"

This follows a second-home owner's answer, and it never assumes a tenant. Change is the real question: travel that got harder, a family plan that shifted, upkeep that got heavier from a distance. The second half of the question is doing the real work.

"Since you're not local, would a video call work better than trying to coordinate a visit? That way everyone who needs to be part of the decision can be on the call at once."

Distance is a logistics problem, not a reason to end the conversation. Offering video solves it and makes sure every decision maker, wherever they live, is part of the same conversation instead of a relay of messages.

"It's rented, I'm not selling"

Route one: "Understood, and it sounds like it's working. What would have to change for selling to be worth a conversation?" Agreeing first takes the fight out of it, and the question finds the one thing that would matter later.

Route two: "That makes sense. Would a fifteen-minute video call next month be useful, so you know your options whether you keep it or sell?" A short call about options, not a listing, is easy to accept from a distance.

"I'm not local, I wouldn't even know where to start"

Route one: "That's what I'm here for. What's been hardest about looking after it from where you are?" The answer tells you what the owner needs to hear before anything else.

Route two: "Then let's make it simple. Twenty minutes on video with everyone who'd be part of the decision, and I'll walk you through how it works from a distance. Would an evening this week work?"

The appointment answers the objection itself.

What not to do

Do not assume a second home has a tenant, and do not assume a rental owner wants out. "My tenant pays on time, so why would I rock the boat" and "I only want to sell if the price is right for me" are both reasonable positions. Neither is an objection to argue with.

Both are information about where the owner stands today.

Do not promise anything about a tenant's lease, their rights, or what can happen while they are in place. Say that the lease and your state's rules decide what is possible, and offer to find out together once you know more. A promise you cannot keep costs more than an honest "I don't know yet."

Do not quote a fee, a value or a timeline on the phone. You have not seen the property or the lease. Ask what the owner sees in nearby sales and still-unsold listings before offering your own view of where it stands.

How to practice it

Have a colleague play an absentee owner who answers "How is the property working for you these days?" with "Honestly I forget it's even still a rental half the time." Your job: ask one more question that finds out what would actually get their attention, without assuming they want to sell. Run it five times, changing the owner each time: a hands-off landlord, a second-home owner who stopped visiting, an owner mid-divorce who mentions a spouse who must agree, an out-of-state owner testing whether you can work by phone and email, and an owner who inherited it with a sibling.

Record the calls and listen for whether you ever assumed a tenant existed before the owner said so. That assumption is the habit 10before10™'s scorecard listens for on this drill.

Honest answers

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