How do you farm a neighborhood with calls and door knocks?
A farm is a few streets you choose and keep, worked mostly by phone. When a nearby home is listed or sold, knock the closest doors with that reason: the new sign, the sale, or a VIP preview. Open with your name, your brokerage and why you are there, leave the owner an easy way out, and respect every sign.
Read the transcript
- Oh, hi. Look, I've got dinner on the stove and the kids just got home.
- Now's really not a good time.
- It'll only take a minute, I promise!
- The house down the street just listed,
- and I'd love to show you what yours could sell for.
- Could I grab your number?
- After every practice call, your card arrives: what worked, and the one thing to fix.
- The call trains four moves. Knock while the sign is new.
- Say your name, your brokerage and why you are at this door, in one breath.
- Leave the owner an easy way to end it.
- And when it's a bad time, that is a whole answer: leave the sheet,
- thank them and walk on.
- A farm is built over a year.
- The new sign has already made the neighbors curious,
- and your knock answers a question they already have.
- Leave calmly, and they come to know your name before they need an agent.
- Practice it until it sounds like you.
- Each call runs as long as the conversation needs,
- and you can make as many as you want.
- Practice free at 10before10.com/try.
Drafted with AI by the 10before10 team, reviewed and approved by Grant Freer and Gia Freer, licensed Florida real estate brokers. Updated October 19, 2026. También en español.
What a farm is
Geographic farming is choosing a few streets and keeping them. You call the owners on a steady rhythm, and when a home nearby is listed or sold you knock the 20 to 30 doors closest to the sign. Over a year the neighbors come to know your name before they need an agent.
Every knock has a reason, and the reason is a fact about the street: a home just listed, a home just sold, or a VIP preview for the neighbors before an open house.
The phone does most of the work. It reaches far more owners in an hour than a walk down the street, and it reaches the owners already trying to sell: expired listings and owners selling on their own. Use the door for the closest homes and the phone for everything else.
Before the first knock
- Go while the sign is new. Knock within days of the For Sale or Sold sign going up. The sign has already made the neighbors curious, and your knock answers a question they already have.
- Bring little. A short printed sheet with the fact (the listing or the sale, the preview time, the recent sales on the street) and a card. No folder, no clipboard of forms.
- Signs and rules. Skip any home with a No Soliciting or No Trespassing sign. Door-to-door rules are set town by town. Check your town's rules.
- Never put anything in a mailbox. Federal law reserves the mailbox for stamped mail. Hand it over, or leave it at the door.
- Knock, then step back. Two steps back from the door, turned slightly sideways, hands visible. It tells the owner you are not coming in.
- Safety. Tell the office which streets you are walking and when you expect to finish. Daylight hours.
- What may be said about the property: just listed means the address and the asking price; under contract means that it is, not the price; sold means the recorded price and date once recorded; offers and viewings only with the seller's written clearance; never the seller's reasons for moving.
Who, why, and a way out, in one breath
The opener names the agent and the brokerage, says why the agent is at this door, and gives the owner an easy way to end it.
- Just listed: "Hi, I'm your name, a licensed agent with your brokerage. I'm not selling anything at the door. You may have seen the sign go up at number [N] Street, a few houses down. It just came on the market, and I wanted the neighbors to hear the price from me before they hear a rumor. Have you got thirty seconds, or have I caught you at a bad time?"
- Just sold: "Hi, I'm your name, a licensed agent with your brokerage. You may have seen the sold sign at number [N] Street. It just sold, and I'm letting the neighbors know what it means for the street. Thirty seconds, or is now a bad time?"
- VIP neighbor preview: "Hi, I'm your name, a licensed agent with your brokerage. Before [N] Street opens to the public on open house day, I'm holding a private preview just for the neighbors, on preview day and time. You're invited. Have you got thirty seconds?"
"Bad time" is a whole answer. "No problem at all. I'll leave this with you; it has the price on it."
Hand over the sheet, thank them, walk on, and note it.
The calls between the knocks
The same three reasons work on the phone, and the phone reaches the wider ring of homes the door never will. The opener is the same shape: your name, your brokerage, the reason, a fair check on their time. The first thirty seconds page shows the four parts, and the prospecting plan shows where the farm sits in a week.
How to practice it
Run the three openers out loud until each one comes out in your own words, then run the bad-time answer until it is calm. Practice the door the way you practice the call: one reason, one owner, one thing to fix. Then take the same words to the phone.
Honest answers
Related answers
Make one practice call. See your card.
A prospect who sounds real raises this exact moment. Ten minutes, in the browser, no account. The scorecard tells you the one thing to fix.