real estate leads

Leads…. all agents want them and just about everyone pays for them. A lead is like gold and a solid lead is even more valuable than that. So, it makes sense that agents and brokers would pay for an actual, real lead. I mean, at the very least this is a few thousand dollars, and that’s nothing to sneeze at.

Where do leads come from?

When you start off in real estate a lot of the leads will come directly from your brokerage. Your managing broker may allow you to take a couple of the leads that are cold calls, or those that just simply call into the office looking for information about the property and are not currently working with an agent. However, this is not the most reliable source and because most of us are working from home anyway, no one’s going to be sitting at the desk in a vacant office anyway. This is where agents need to get a little bit more creative.

Friends and family.

New agents are likely to get some of their first listings from friends and family. Even if you, as a new agent, don’t have a lot of experience, these are the folks that are likely to give you your first shot at the business. But from here, you can build your book of business through referrals, friends of friends, and if you’re good enough, your reputation will proceed you and you’ll naturally get referrals.

I have one agent that doesn’t have a website and has never advertised online a day in her life, yet being in the business for nearly 30 years, she has a steady flow of referrals and leads that come in every month making her at least $250,000 each year.

Now, I don’t necessarily recommend that for everyone. Remember, she’s been doing this for three decades. For those that are either new in the business or have been in it for a few years, you may not have built out your book of business just yet and therefore are looking for leads wherever you can.

If you’ve been in the real estate industry for any amount of time, you’ve probably already received spam phone calls, emails, and cold calls telling you that they have leads to give you hand over fist. But, those necessarily aren’t that reliable either. Good leads, solid leads, ones from people that have actually given you legitimate name, phone number, and email, are like gold and this is why a lot of places like Realtor.com and Zillow.com choose to sell these to potential agents.

But, which is better? It can be a crapshoot throwing money at a potential lead funnel not knowing whether or not those leads are actually going to close. And of course, you need to buy the lead first and as you know in real estate, you may not be able to collect on that lead for at least a month or more.

How Leads Work

Zillow.com has a service called Premier Agent that agents and brokers can sign up for that allows them to have an ad placement on property listings in particular ZIP Codes that they choose, top placement on agent finders, exposure across other affiliated sites and highlight reviews on your agent profile.

All of this allows for clients and consumers to visually see you and your services more often and more prominent eventually inciting a lead. When an interested buyer clicks on a listing, they will see that agent’s name beside it regardless of who the actual listing agent is. The buyer would then reach out to that agent to see the property.

Zillow has a variety of payment options either month-to-month or within a certain month contract and the cost of each lead depends on the average price of homes in the ZIP Code and location the agent chooses. Most agents pay anywhere from $30-$75 per 1000 impressions, meaning the number of times their contact information is presented to a buyer or client.

They also recommend paying for at least 5000 impressions per month to get the most bang for your marketing bucks. Even if just 1% of folks that see your impression contact you, that could give you a return of about $100 per lead, clearly an effective and appropriate return.

Realtor.com has a program called Connections Plus and sends out a lead to all the agents in a specific area. Whichever agent contacts the lead first has the best chance of getting the deal. Those that sign up for this type of program get automated email and text responses to their potential lead, they are allowed to track data from up to 150 different lead sources in their CRM system, they can add agents from a team into the database and share the leads with the team, and there provided all information about the lead including contact information and their recent searches.

Both companies highly recommend each agent qualifies their own lead as they cannot guarantee that this will be an actual lead that will follow through to completion.

Realtors Connection Plus is slightly less expensive than Zillow but it will also depend on the location in which you are farming and whether you’re paying extra for additional leads or more surefire leads versus colder ones. Realtor.com sends all of these cooler leads or nonexclusive leads to all the agents in a particular ZIP Code based on a first-come, first-served situation. These nonexclusive leads are also less expensive but exclusive leads, allow agents to pay to be the only agent in a specific ZIP Code.

If you’re the only agent a client is reaching out to, chances are you’re the one that’s going to get the deal. Most of these nonexclusive leads start at about $200 a month while exclusive leads cost $1000 a month. (These fees can change so it’s important to check with current listings and fee structures.)

Which is better?

Naturally, Realtor.com has more monthly users than Zillow based on the fees. However, both websites receive a lot of traffic and can be a great source of leads regardless. Just about everybody under the sun knows about Zillow.com with Realtor.com being a close second and of course, the site that gets the most traffic will naturally get the most leads. However, Zillow.com also allows for sale by owner or FSBO listings and Realtor.com does not so you’re likely to have even more potential options for clients.

The key in real estate is to find what works for you. Not everything will work for everyone. It’s important to throw a whole bunch of rocks into the pond and see what works. Find a social media that works for you, a marketing outlet, and a lead generation tool. And of course, for the best service, support, and future in real estate, join eXp Realty. Regardless of whether you get your leads, the support and backup you need to be a successful agent really comes from a fantastic brokerage.

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Contact Me At Any Time for More Information on Brokerages and Real Estate Agency

What is REDX?

REDX is a prospecting platform for real estate agents delivering leads and listings each day. It provides leads from different sources to connect agents with qualified buyers and sellers to simplify the prospecting process. It uses an interface call Vortex allowing agents to organize all of their data in one, simple place. Similar to a CRM, REDX allows agents to keep leads, former clients, and their book of business all in one place eliminating the need for different platforms.

It offer more than just phone numbers; it connects real estate agents with homeowners that are actively looking to sell their home, something that is in short supply in today’s market.

REDX for Real Estate - What is it and Why Do I Need it?

REDX offers multiple lead sources for agents. This is just any, old lead that fizzles out and dies. The majority of leads are quality leads that have already been vetted. Every lead comes with a verified and bona fide phone number from a variety of sources such as expired leads, FRBOs, FSBOs, bank owned and foreclosure leads. The leads are pulled from the MLS, classifieds, newspapers, magazines, and even County Court tax records. The goal is to let REDX do all the heavy lifting for you so that you can focus on the leads and your business.

Related: Increase Your Real Estate Agent Salary

REDX offers Expired Listings

REDX offers a variety of expired listings that are pulled from the market. These in addition to older expired listings provide you with potential leads on the most qualified homeowners. No cold calling here. Agents receive specific data for each of the expired listings so that they are able to do their homework ahead of time and be more prepared contacting the lead. Expired leads pricing starts at $59.99

GEO Leads

REDX also provides agents with GEO leads. GEO Leads allow agents to personalize their search so the results are optimized for your business. This geographic farming tool utilized by REDX will provide the agent leads for a generalized area, specific neighborhood, or even a specific address. REDX will provide the information to the agent and will filter out unqualified homeowners. GEO Leads start at $49.99

FRBO & FSBO

REDX will also filter out for sale by owner leads and qualify them before depositing them into your REDX platform. The FRBO database will provide agents with a list of investors and property owners unable to rent a vacant property and may be more inclined to sell. Creating consistently lead to sources can provide agents with the tools they need to focus on their business without cold calling and constantly marketing to unqualified homeowners. FRBO or For Rent by Owner are also an option for lead generating. FSBO leads start at $39.99 and FRBO start at $79.99

Pre-Foreclosure and REO

REDX also offers a database of pre-foreclosure and REO leads through local tax records. Agents can take advantage of the information provided and begin to work to lead immediately rather than qualify each and everyone. Pre-Forclosure pricing starts at $39.99

So, you can easily see how specific and tailored REDX can be for real estate agents. Whatever you want to work with they have a plan and if you want to work multiple facets, you can choose those specific leads.

How does REDX Work?

REDX offers a tool called the “Storm Dialer”. This is an additional fee each month that can simplify the calling process. This system will automatically dial leads from the platform helping you streamline your real estate business. There are additional upgrades as well allowing you to multitask and call several leads at once. This application can automatically leave voicemails for any unanswered phone calls.

REDX works with Vortex®, their trademarked plan for saving time by prioritizing who you call, providing built-in scripts and objection handlers, visualize new inventory with a clean and clear interface and sets reminders to keep the leads hot.

Setting more listing appointments and closing on those is really what this is all about. Stop wasting your time punching in a dead number. Hear “hello” more often with the power dialer and leave a pre-recorded voicemail so you don’t lose a lead… ever.

How Does REDX Compare with Other, Similar Products?

REDX has been compared to other similar products such as Vulcan 7. While operating similar to REDX, it lacks a multiline dialer option and is more expensive.

Landvoice is another alternative to REDX providing comprehensive leads through a variety of similar avenues. However, Landvoice does not offer an integrated dialer system. Agents will need to purchase their own dialer separately and connected to the lead management platform.

Mojo is another REDX competitor offering multi-line dialer options and different lead categories and can integrate with other lead providers including REDX. Roughly around the same price, this could be another potential option. This option imports data and posts automatically from one of their preferred data partners, create calling lists and manages tasks with follow-up calls and setting appointments.

Start with quality leads, commit to the process and let the platform back you up along the way. Take advantage of the live phone support and even role-playing until you are comfortable with the system.

Is REDX for you?

REDX is certainly top of its game in functionality, features, and price. If collecting a database, letting another program do the hard work for you, and being conscious of your marketing budget is appropriate for your real estate business, contact me at any time. As a qualified alternative to several higher-priced options, REDX may be the ideal lead-generating solution you need.

The long and short of it is this:

Connect with more potential prospects and leads

Get the accurate contact information

Stay on task and productive

Keep in touch with all your contacts

Stay integrated with a system that works.

Ready to get started? Contact me today!

Zillow Leads Vs. Realtor.com Leads