Buying Leads

[Weteam]

Hi,

I know it is rather common to pay for leads in real estate. I'd love to hear people's experience.
Anyone would like to shed any light on this? Thanks in advance!

[jonathanmartin]

When I first started in Real Estate, under some no-name broker. I wasted money on leads, nothin, just a suck of time and money. You'd be better off spending that same money on a website and pay-per-click and getting the leads yourself. Or better yet, get out of your house and meet people. My daily goal is to talk to 20 new people a day. Odds pay off, whether is over the phone or in person. Just get out there. No one ever made it big just sitting on their couch.

Whatever you do don't sign a contract. If a company needs to bind you into a contract then they are a scam. If their product was any good they would worry about you leaving them.

This has just been my experience and personal wasted money.

[Mike Taylor]

I have to agree with Jonathon 100%. I have never paid for leads but have only heard horror stories. Use that money on your own advertising and create quality leads for yourself. They are your competition, don't make them stronger.

[Greg]

I tried buying leads and it was a waste of money. The best return for my money is my own website. If your site isn't doing it use pay per click until you can get your site into the money making mode.

[BSS2T]

I would never do a pay per lead program. I do a subscription basis on a front page website with a company that is quite economical. I get about 100 leads monthly with a 5% conversion rate (roughly). 3 front page websites costs me 147 monthly.

The cool part is when old leads that have burnt out refer you to someone, because you gave them great service.

And the beat goes on....

Brad.

[Jim Olenbush]

I hate the annoying phone calls from salespeople asking if I "need more business because they have LOTS of clients interesting my area", then they have to pause to see what area I am actually in. Agghhh!!

[Codythebest]

Buying leads from a site is just plain waste of money. Period.

[Malok]

Buying leads from a site is just plain waste of money. Period.

Yup, definitely. Take the money you would be spending on OTHER people's lead generation - and dump it into your own website to create YOUR own leads.

[MIAFORECLOSURE]

I disagree I think if you get leads and just pay on closings it is a good deal...

[MIAFORECLOSURE]

Becuase you only pay for the leads if you closed the deal, so everyone wins

[Malok]

I disagree I think if you get leads and just pay on closings it is a good deal...

Becuase you only pay for the leads if you closed the deal, so everyone wins

1. You disagree - with whom?

2. Why did you break up 1 post - into 2 posts?

3. Please list for me the lead generation sites that you use that allow a real estate agent to only pay for leads PER CLOSING?

The number of lead generation sites that operate that way are few and far between - as if they aren't local to the person receiving the lead, they can have some difficulty in confirming that a lead they sent actually ended up closing.

[MIAFORECLOSURE]

I do pay per closing, I separted the posts nto 2 lines becuase i forgot to say something. I have websites and lead generation in SOuth Florida and I contact realtors from those areas and I send them the leads and I get 25% of the closings, I do it within the same broker though

[Malok]

Referrals and Lead Generation Companies are 2 different animals.

Paying other real estate agents a referral fee isn't the same as paying for lead generation from companies that aren't licensed (i.e. they are running pay per click ads, national MLS sites, etc, etc, etc - and any inquiry that they receive, they sell those leads back to real estate agents).

[CalGreg]

Brad,

What is a "front page website"? Sounds interesting.

MIA - where can I buy leads that are paid on closing?

Pay per click can be good if the cost per click is reasonable. You can tell Google how much you want to spend each day.

This is my area of expertise. If anyone wants more info just send me an email.

[BSGCORP]

ok i've never actually used the service before, but you can go to sales genie. I've seen there ad on TV, They create sales leads. Also if you just contact websites that work your leads on a CPA (cost per aqusition) it wouldnt cost you anything untill a sale was made.

[LOTrainer]

I do pay per closing, I separted the posts nto 2 lines becuase i forgot to say something. I have websites and lead generation in SOuth Florida and I contact realtors from those areas and I send them the leads and I get 25% of the closings, I do it within the same broker though

The PPC (Pay Per Closing) leads are tricky and you need to have quite a few legal contracts in line prior to stepping into this realm. They walk a very thin line with regard to legal implications. I know of a few companies that do these well, but they also have themselves protected from legal actions. Just my opinion on these.

[Landwatch.com]

The best thing to do is to have one's own site and a blog to support. Write good content and this will draw people and in time will also help you generate strong leads.

[Floridadeals]

I have spent thousands of dollars buying leads from other sites and found its a tricky business.
1. I'm an investor so it is different from a realtor. If I make 20-40K per transaction its ok to spend 4K buying leads until I find that deal. However, a realtor would only make 2-3K on that same deal so it wouldn't make much sense for a Realtor.
2. About 5 months ago I stopped buy leads here in south florida b/c the market changed and the leads turned to crap. What I did find is that the market pressure has caused a lot of seller lead brokers to reduce their price to sell their leads since then. That is a good thing.
3. What I did as an investor is I sold the leads I couldn't use to Realtors I work with. This worked out well as they paid me a flat marketing fee and I wasn't interested in listing properties. (be carefull because Realtors can't pay a non licensed person a referral fee)
4. Another learning experience of mine is that a lot of these lead generation web sites have the ability to generate 100+ leads per month. That means if you aren't prepared to handle the quantity you could easily lose a ton of money. I'm saying if you are going to spend the money to buy the leads you need to be prepared to work each one and covert it to ROI otherwise your money could go out the window you'll sit their paralized under a pile of leads and give up falsely concluding it doesn't work.
5. Building your own website can work well too it just depends if you want to do the work yourself.
6. The internet is just one of many marketing strategies as has already been mentioned.

I still have contacts with several national lead brokers and if your interested I can put you in contact. You can PM me.
Regards,

[Floridadeals]

I disagree I think if you get leads and just pay on closings it is a good deal...

I agree with this and as I mentioned before a type of joint venture with a Realtor can work well.
Another twist on this is that there are many different ways to convert leads into return if you work from the investor standpoint. That being said in this market I have a few favorite techniques. Many of the other leads that aren't what I want I routinely give to other investors who pay me on close. For example, I'll give away many of the short sales I get to other investors. (There are a ridiculous amount here in Florida, by the way.) while I'll sell off a listing lead to realtor. (Flat fee marketing of course). I see a lot of opportunity for Realtors who want to excel by working with and benefiting from investors as long as they are willing to think creatively or participate in a partnership as I described above.

[--2cents]

Hi All

I assume you guys are talking about home seller leads..?

I am based in the UK and we have good Internet marketing in place to buy property from distressed sellers. We do however, from time to time, end up with enquiries from sellers in the US (dont ask me why). It may be because we are on page one for the term "Fast Home Sale" on Google and that attracts more US audience.

Anyway I welcome any ideas here or on a PM from people who think they can use these and how we can work something out to make them mutuaky beneficial. The location of leads are US wide...

thx

K

[flhousesuk]

When I first started in Real Estate, under some no-name broker. I wasted money on leads, nothin, just a suck of time and money. You'd be better off spending that same money on a website and pay-per-click and getting the leads yourself. Or better yet, get out of your house and meet people. My daily goal is to talk to 20 new people a day. Odds pay off, whether is over the phone or in person. Just get out there. No one ever made it big just sitting on their couch.


Well said. 100% behind this! Think of your RE buisness as a regular shop. No point in spending time & money on marketing if you haven't got anything to sell right?? I spend many hours knocking on doors and talking to expired listings and meeting neighbors. This fills my 'shop' up with products (listings) that i can then sell (or better still let others sell my products and still get paid!) plus people meet you which really is the best marketing of all! And its 100% free!! Also, every time you drive past a garage sale - CALL IN! it's like lead heaven!

[bpolist]

ive tried it and def not worth it

[jbravo77]

The success you have with buying real estate leads online depends on one thing. And thats the source of the leads. If you buy them from a reputable company, than your conversion rates will be higher.

[krolfe]

I agree with everyone who has said that it is better to build a good website and generate your own leads. The reason being that you are better able to determine which are quality leads and which are not. I did a pay per lead before and some of the leads were complete jibberish. One of them I remember specifically, the name was Gobbly Gook. Sounds like a well qualified lead, doesn't it?

[rubystone]

Isn't paying for lead the same as a finders fee? I posted to this forum, though not this category, asking if it was legal to offer to pay someone X dollars for bringing me an offer that I would accept. That posting disappeared without a trace. Or at least I couldn't trace it...which made me think maybe it was illegal. It's not like I'd be taking out an ad in the local newspaper. It would be an offer made just to my friends. Thoughts?

[Jewen Presbitero]

I haven't tried this! hmmmmnnnn...i'll look into this..

[RobM]

I have never bought any leads other than PPC. But I have spoken to other agents that have and their experiences have all been poor as the leads are typically resold to many agents and by the time the were getting around to calling them, the lead had been contacted about dozen times already...I would stay away from it

[carlam]

I am pretty sure most companies who offer to sell you "leads" continually resale those "leads". Secondly, how do you know if the leads are from any real estate connection and say not from something totally unrelated?

There is a difference between a "lead" and list of names, addresses and if you're lucky phone numbers. Just my opinion.

You can do a lot more on your own, without spending alot of money.

[tina.anderson]

Are leads just a way to get started out with prospects and then after a while you rely on referrals and your own growing network of clients, or could you consistently buy leads and continue to get new prospects even after you have been in the industry for a while?

[castlelady]

So can you share what this company is that you get that meany leads from each month? It sounds pretty reasonable to pay $150 a month for 100 leads. How many are actually valid and turn into clients though?

I would never do a pay per lead program. I do a subscription basis on a front page website with a company that is quite economical. I get about 100 leads monthly with a 5% conversion rate (roughly). 3 front page websites costs me 147 monthly.

The cool part is when old leads that have burnt out refer you to someone, because you gave them great service.

And the beat goes on....

Brad.

[castlelady]

I had the same type of experience with lt - many junk leads - wasted lots of my time. Plus when I calculated out what I was paying in referalls fees for the few leads that did pan out - I though I should have put that money into something like pay per click instead.

I agree with everyone who has said that it is better to build a good website and generate your own leads. The reason being that you are better able to determine which are quality leads and which are not. I did a pay per lead before and some of the leads were complete jibberish. One of them I remember specifically, the name was Gobbly Gook. Sounds like a well qualified lead, doesn't it?

[castlelady]

Well said. 100% behind this! Think of your RE buisness as a regular shop. No point in spending time & money on marketing if you haven't got anything to sell right?? I spend many hours knocking on doors and talking to expired listings and meeting neighbors. This fills my 'shop' up with products (listings) that i can then sell (or better still let others sell my products and still get paid!) plus people meet you which really is the best marketing of all! And its 100% free!! Also, every time you drive past a garage sale - CALL IN! it's like lead heaven!

So I'm wondering if you're really had good success with pay per click leads? I have tried it and it's quite expensive and the main problem is it seems to increase the sales calls that I get from companies trying to sell me sponsored searches and various other real estate services. So I feel like many clicks are a waste and I'm paying for nothing.

[misch.chief]

They can be very expensive for a pretty shoddy lead! The best experience Ive had of oversear property leads is a company called The Overseas Property Webshow - I wont put the URl as I dont want you to think i am un-nessersarily promoting them, but they are very good, £10 of so lead! and a good lead!