Realtors are looking for top-notch real estate leads that can help them get more sales. And I know how to give them leads they can use.
You’ve been looking for real estate leads all day and you aren’t having any luck. Or perhaps, you’re doing better than most people, but want to be better. Where can you find more reliable real estate leads? There’s a lot of content out there with tips and strategies on how to get more real estate leads.
Steps for Earning Real Estate Leads
Before we jump into the ideas for lead generation, it’s important to understand the basic steps or framework for earning and keeping qualified leads.
1. Start with People You Know
People you already have a personal connection with will be more inclined to work with you than total strangers. Start with people you know from community activities or are connected with online to see if they know anyone that could be in need of your services. A referral from a friend is one of the most surefire ways of earning a new client.
2. Move on to People You Don’t Know
Once you’ve sent out your feelers to people you’re already connected with, it’s time to start getting creative and reaching out to people you don’t know. These could be neighbors, people you meet at networking events, or even people you connect with through cold-calling. Most of the strategies we outline below will help you with this step.
3. Nurture and Grow Relationships
Putting together a list of warm leads is great, but just because people are interested in your services doesn’t mean they’ll actually hire you. In the real estate industry, maintaining a personal connection is essential as people are trusting you with important life decisions and hefty financial assets. Continue to nurture and grow your relationships through frequent check-ins, small gifts, and well wishes. You can also prove to new clients how much they matter by negotiating hard on their behalf during the homebuying or selling process.
4. Build Your Process for Repeatability
After a few weeks or months of cultivating contact relationships, you’ll hopefully have a good percentage that do end up becoming clients. At this stage, it’s important to reflect and identify what worked for you at each step. Was a certain event more fruitful for finding interested leads or did contacts respond particularly well to a certain outreach tactic? Document your processes for repeatability – there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.
And, repeat steps 1–4! You’ll likely be constantly cycling through reaching out to people you know for referrals, finding new contacts, nurturing existing contacts, and further refining your process. When laid out this way it sounds easy enough to follow, but it’s no secret that generating real estate leads for new agents is the most difficult part of the process.
20 Places to Find Real Estate Leads for New Agents
Below are 20 ideas to help you out with “Step 2” above.
1. Reach Out to Friends and Family
Like we mentioned earlier, the easiest place to start is anywhere you already have a personal connection or referral from someone. If they don’t already know, reach out to extended family and friends on social media to let them know you are a newly-licensed agent looking for clients. Chances are a few of your connections will have their own connections who may be in need of a real estate agent and you can start building a few contacts from there.
2. Attend Chamber of Commerce Events
Many cities’ chambers of commerce will host networking and informational conferences for real estate professionals in the area. You should definitely take advantage of these opportunities to connect with more seasoned professionals in the industry. Though they could technically be your competitors, you’ll be able to learn a lot and possibly find agents or firms looking to connect with younger agents to share jobs or contacts.
3. Get Active on Social Media
Again, connecting with other professionals in your sector is essential to staying on top of city-specific trends and learning the ins and outs of the market. Join real estate groups or pages on social media and engage with discussions with other members. Some great places to start include:
- Facebook pages – these may be private, in which case you’ll have to request entry
- LinkedIn groups – a quick search of your city should turn up a number of options
- MeetUp groups – these are usually for in-person networking events
- Quora – answering questions here can demonstrate your expertise
- Slack communities – join broader city-wide communities focused on tech or business
4. Research Instagram Hashtags
Speaking of social media, Instagram can be an untapped source of lead potential, especially when it comes to millennials. Though there aren’t specific pages or groups like other social platforms, Instagram allows you to conduct robust hashtag research in order to find qualified leads. Some of the best hashtags to start searching include:
- #apartment
- #newhome
- #househounting
- #apartmentsforrent
- #apartmentliving
- #property
- #broker
- #listing
You can also pair these with city-specific hashtags and location tags to try to narrow down your search.
5. Reach Out to FSBO’s
FSBO, or for sale by owner, are homes that the owner is trying to sell on their own without the help of an agent. However, FSBO homes typically sell for less than agent-sold homes, and many owners eventually turn to the help of an agent when they get tired of handling all the time-consuming and complicated tasks for finding buyers. Find FSBO listings online or in the newspaper, then reach out to the owners via email or phone explaining how your services can earn them more money in the long run.
6. Reach Out to FRBO’s
The process for contacting FRBO’s, or for rent by owner, is similar to FSBO. Research FRBO listings through online databases and reach out to the landlords offering to help them find qualified tenants. Though you might feel like you’ll be stepping on toes, if you contact them politely and clearly explain the ways you could help them, there’s a good chance they’d be relieved to let you handle the day-to-day of finding renters. This is especially true if they’re looking to rent a vacation home in a different part of the country, as finding and managing tenants remotely can be a challenge.
7. Give a Free Seminar
Sign up to teach a class or give a presentation at your local library, community center, or even a career fair or community college. Choose a topic related to your job and specific market that you feel confident explaining in-depth. These types of opportunities allow you to demonstrate your expertise, build your personal brand recognition, and meet a wider range of people who may end up becoming leads.
8. Host an Open House
This is one of the most tried and true methods for gathering warm leads. Once you have a client looking to sell their home or rent their apartment, host an open house and advertise the hours across your social media channels, to your email contact list, with signs on the street corner, etc. For everyone who walks through the door, make sure you have them put down their names and contact info on your sign-in sheet. Though they may not end up being interested in the property, the fact that they showed up is an indication that they’re on the market for a new place. You can follow up with them after to tell them you appreciate them attending and feel out what types of places they’re looking for.
9. Give Cold-Calling a Shot
It’s no secret that this is one of the least-liked lead generation methods for real estate agents. But, it’s also no secret that it’s been working for agents for decades before the internet took over. Before completely ruling it out, try to work 30 minutes to an hour of cold-calling into your daily routine and see if it could be a viable strategy for you. To put contact lists together, you can start with compiling phone numbers for FSBO and FRBO listings without an email, along with any other phone numbers you’ve gathered through networking and events. When first starting out, you’ll likely want to have a cold-calling script prepared so you don’t get caught off guard.
10. Contribute to Thought Leadership Pieces
As we discussed earlier with answering Quora questions, getting your expertise out there can help build your brand recognition and allow leads to find you online. One of the easiest ways to do this is to sign up for PR-focused email lists such as HARO, SourceBottle, and JournoRequests. These platforms will send you an email every day to journalists looking to add expert quotes to their pieces. It takes just a few minutes to scan through and respond to any that you could contribute to. In addition to contributing quotes, you can also apply to be a guest author on sites such as Forbes, Inc., or Entrepreneur and submit your own expert takes on any business or real estate topics.
11. Monitor Marriage/Engagement Announcements
This tip may seem a little old-fashioned, but you can still make it work with a modern spin. The idea is that when a couple announces their engagement or marriage, they’ll likely be looking for a new home within the next year or so. Instead of combing through the newspaper like in the past, you can instead take to Instagram and search for relevant hashtags. Some good ones to start with include:
- #marriage
- #weddingday
- #bridetobe
- #engaged
- #shesaidyes
- #weddinginspiration
Once again, you can also combine these with city-specific hashtags such as #bridetobe + #LAwedding. Once you’ve found a couple in your market, you can reach out via an Instagram direct message offering your congratulations and letting them know you’d be happy to help them with their house, apartment, or condo search.
12. Invest in Social Media Ads
The great thing about social media ads is that you can put a very small budget behind them and still see solid returns. Consider running a couple of ads on Facebook and Instagram each targeting specific demographics in your audience. The ads can be set to either push people to a specific website, to your own social profile, or as a way to give one of your existing posts an extra boost, such as an open house or new listing announcement. You can monitor them over the course of a month and see if investing more of a budget in one or the other would be a better use of your funds.
13. Build Out Your Website
Speaking of pushing users to a specific website, as a new real estate agent it’s worth your time to set up a website for your services. Even if you mainly find leads through in-person connections and manual outreach, it’s still important for prospective contacts to be able to find you online. Not all of your leads may have social media accounts, and having a website gives you a universal address to include on all your promotional materials. You can also include your website URL on your social media sites, and publish blog posts that you can then promote on social media. Your website doesn’t have to be anything too complicated; a blog section, contact form, and gallery showcasing your work is all you need.
14. Sponsor Niche Events
Keep an eye out for community events or fundraisers with a strong tie-in to a potential audience segment. For example, an event for urban history and architecture lovers would draw people who are already interested in your city’s buildings and could want to learn more about available homes in a certain style. A food festival celebrating local businesses in a specific neighborhood could appeal to people who would be interested in moving to that neighborhood. Even a fundraiser for an animal shelter could be a good opportunity, as it would bring animal-friendly people who may be interested in learning about your animal-friendly renting opportunities. Think about the unique interests that could relate to your specific expertise and find creative ways to meet them.
15. Send Out Postcards
Another timeless tactic that’s easier than cold-calling is sending out postcards advertising your services to neighborhoods or areas that you’re working in. The great thing about postcards is that you can order them in bulk and save them for new neighborhoods down the road. Your design should be simple and not too salesy, as people are inundated with pushy ads every day. You can find design inspiration online, and even create the designs yourself using free tools like Canva.
16. Contact Expired Listings
Another oldie but a goodie: reaching out to homeowners or landlords whose listings have recently expired is a mainstay in finding real estate leads for new agents. Whether the homeowner is a FRBO landlord or a homeowner who worked with an agent, something didn’t go according to plan as they failed to sell or lease the property before the listing deadline. You can find expired listings by signing up for your state’s MLS (multiple listing service), buying leads from companies like Zillow, or manually combing through sites like Craigslist. When you do reach out via phone or email, make sure to be short and to the point and highlight your unique advantages, as they’ll likely be receiving a number of other messages from other agents as well.
One of the most important aspects of the business is acquiring clients. Clients who will come back for repeat business, recommend you to their friends and family, and ultimately help you build the foundation you’ll need for years of success. But where do you start when you’re new in the industry and need to find your first clients? We checked in with 13 Texas real estate pros to round up their top tips for getting started as a new agent in the real estate industry. As one of our contributor Carlos Gradiz said, “I am a firm believer that sharing is what sets apart professionals from amateurs.”
Carlos Gradiz – The Gradiz Group Texas Premier Realty
My pro tip: “My best advice to any student of Real Estate on how to maximize lead generation is to have a good tracking system, a value proposition and an achievable, realistic goal. Accountability is very important, be true to yourself and love what you do. In addition, a good support system or network of peers with similar goals is a must.”
Len McPherson – Key 2 The City Realty | Team McPherson
My pro tip: “Lead gen” happens to be one of the most critical skills for any agent to master if they want to experience any sort of success in real estate. Social media has completely shaken up the entire real estate industry from what we promote, where we advertise, how & why we market, when we do it, and with whom we do it with. To date, agents and experts differ in opinions as to where new agents should start investing their time, money, & resources. As a Broker, I would tell any newbie to start with free online marketing campaigns, after all, you are your brand!!
Announcement emails & texts with video to family & friends, door knock in your neighborhood, post an intro video to Facebook page, make connections on LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs, & so forth because everyone wants a transparent, active agent. So that you keep continuous fresh content and stay relevant to your fans, go out and join a Meetup group, attend networking events & mixers with your local board, attend training classes, trade shows, volunteer in your community, etc. and be sure to take pics & videos of you being active to prove that you are credible and on the move. This lets people know that you serious about your career and helping others.
After getting a handle on your online presence, it’s time to immediately sign up for paid online lead sources like Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, Adwerx, Zbuyer, Boldleads and the like so that you are exposed to a wider audience all at once and more importantly so that people get familiar with your face & brand. It is important to spread out your advertising dollars, monitor what’s working, so that you have over 10 tried and true lead gen sources contributing to your database. All in all, real estate is fun, versatile and ever changing. Just be sure to always change with it!”
Tips From the Pros: Generating Leads In Your First Year
Karysa
Meyers – All City Real Estate
My Pro Tip: “The first year in real estate can be difficult and you are bombarded with sales calls trying to get you to purchase leads that are cold. I found that the better and more cost effective way is to reach out to everyone you know and remind them you are now a Realtor®️, to make a daily social media posts & to hand your card out and talk real estate to everyone you come in contact with as much as possible. It is free and helps keep you at the forefront of peoples’ minds when they think of buying or selling real estate or know someone who is.”
Floyd Bagsby – FYI Realty
My Pro Tip: “As a millennial picking up the phone to speak with potential clients might be a difficult task, however in this business communication is everything! Learning about NLP, Human Behavior and the Psychology of Sales has really made an impact on my communication skills and my business. Your ability to effectively communicate with a potential client could make all the difference in their choice of an agent. Feel free to connect with me fbagsby@gmail.com.
Kori Hendrix – Raines Realty
My Pro Tip: My top 3 tips for generating leads in your first year of business are 1. Get a professional head shot.
1. Print nice business cards and always have one on you to share. 1. Establish your social media presence. Millennials are looking for their first homes online. They are tech savvy and image driven. In addition to your broker’s page, create your own webpage, set up business accounts for yourself on Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Zillow, Realtor.com. Share your new accounts and announce your new job to your friends, family, and friends of friends. Real Estate is a relational business. You have to start an engaging image based dialog they can follow. But be smart. Don’t flood their inbox or blow up their Facebook feed. Share awesome content. 70% others’ content, 20% original content and only 10% self-promotion. A slow steady drip of information about your local housing market, images of dream homes, local available listings, etc… will keep you in their mind and when some asks if they know a Realtor®️ or they are ready to buy themselves, they will remember that their friend is a Realtor®️ share your webpage. Your online accounts make it easy for them to link you to potential leads and for potential leads to find you.
Tracy Sutton – Fathom Realty
My Pro Tip: “My advice as a person involved in several different kinds of real estate businesses in my life, be SET!
S – Secure a good brokerage! Interview several brokers in person and see who fights for you the most, who listens to you the most, and who would help you establish your business based on their conversation. Make it known that you are interviewing them. Makes lists of the fees of all brokers and list the likes and dislikes as soon as you leave the office. Get a few cards of agents on their team already and call and question them. Take it all in, then make a decision.
E – Estimate cost for advertising. Look at all Real Estate marketing costs from expanding on Facebook, to websites offered by your brokerage or not, to buying leads. The internet has a plethora of information geared toward real estate agents. Try not to get lost in the salesmanship and again, talk with other agents all along the way.
T – Take the time to learn the MLS system and the “way” of the brokerage you have chosen. Ask for help when you need it and see if your brokerage has a mentor for you. Go to work every day and treat this career with respect, be patient, and put in the time!
The old adage of “doing the work and the rest will follow” is probably no more true than with Real Estate. Concentrate on helping your clients with this very important transaction. Be truthful, keep your integrity in place, serve your client, and the rest really will follow!”
Amy Ardoin – Platinum 1 Properties
My Pro Tip: “My first year in the industry I was bold. I would walk up to peoples’ doors who had “For Sale By Owner” sign on them and ask if I could speak with them. I truly told them, “let me list it, put my sign in the yard, host 2 open houses and if I brought them a seller I would only take 3%.” This brave move took off like wild fire and I nailed several homes that year. Of course because of my divorce I hid my sales under by broker at Platinum One Properties, in Houston. I created leads by myself, for myself, door to door! They keep knocking for me today!”
Sarah Dieter – JP & Associates REALTORS
My Pro Tip: “When starting in Real Estate finding clients can be challenging. I train new agents and what I tell them is to talk to everyone they come across and be helpful in their interactions. It’s important to let your personal sphere of influence know you are in Real Estate and ask them if they can refer you to anyone they know looking to buy or sell. Open houses are a great source of leads when done right, it is important to host the open house on a brand new listing which drives more traffic then a home that has been on the market for a bit. In addition, if a new agent can afford it, they can always buy leads.”
Charlotte Wagner – Results Property Group
My Pro Tip: “I’ve been in real estate over 17 years and have been a broker for over 14. My first piece of advice to my new agents is always: Use what you know…. Your sphere of influence. If you don’t let everyone you know that you’re now a Realtor®️in your sphere, you’re losing business before you’ve even started!”
Kandice Gremillion – United Real Estate
My Pro Tip: “The first thing I would recommend a new agent do would be to contact everyone in their sphere of influence. Just letting your friends, family and network of contacts know that you are an agent and there to help them is a good way to get the word out. Building a business Facebook page that you post industry information to regularly is another way to spread the word, and it’s free. I have also used farming post cards over the years. Most agents no longer use post cards but people do keep them and I generally always get leads from them. Wear your name badge and let people you run into know you are an agent, and ask people if they know anyone who is considering buying or selling!”
Daniel Lee – Texas Premier Realty
My Pro Tip: “Knowledge and timing is key to finding that right home for your clients in this competitive real estate market. New subdivisions are popping up all around you so visit as many as you can and try to keep up with current inventory of available homes as well as preowned properties in the area that you are active in. I spend many hours in front of a computer looking at listings that are coming soon, active and active kick out. You need to be ready to answer your clients’ questions on demand.”
Michelle Lenderman – RE/MAX
My Pro Tip: “Wake up everyday with success on your mind. Set big goals and map out your way to achieve them with small steps. It’s easy to get overwhelmed, so focus on one thing at a time. Find a great lender and title company that you trust, they are a bigger resource than you can imagine. Most of all, treat everyone involved in every transaction with kindness and respect. We are all in this together.”
“Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.” – Mario Andretti
CONCLUSION
Realtors need fresh leads that are reliable. Traditional methods of getting leads have been either time-consuming or simply haven’t worked. With the Internet, and specifically Facebook, the game has completely changed and now there’s a better way to get reliable, quality leads. Let me show you how this new way of getting leads works.You’re a realtor. You know how important leads are. If a prospective home buyer calls your office and no one’s there to answer; you’ve lost out on a lead. But why is it so hard for realtors to get good quality leads? Because realtors need homeowner contact information, not just someone looking for a realtor in general. Homeowners are meatier prospects who are more likely to buy. That makes them better leads — if you can get their data.