Real estate lead generation companies help agents get prospects via online advertising or pay-per-lead services, which are then added to a customer relationship manager (CRM) for nurturing. We reviewed 12 lead generation companies, landing on the six best—including the best overall—based on cost, advertising, lead nurturing capabilities, exclusivity, and support.
Top 6 Real Estate Lead Generation Companies 2019
| Real Estate Lead Generation Company | Best For |
|---|---|
| BoldLeads | (Best Overall) Real estate agents seeking buyer or seller leads exclusive to their ZIP code |
| Real Geeks | Realtors wanting self-managed Facebook ad campaigns that automatically filter leads into a CRM |
| Market Leader | Agents wanting to pay for leads that are not resold to other realtors |
| Zillow Premier Agent | Larger real estate companies wanting to generate leads on the Zillow platform |
| BoomTown | Brokers and agencies seeking leads with more in-depth information, such as social profiles |
| REDX | Real estate agents interested in non-mainstream leads like foreclosures, expired listings, and FSBOs |
How We Evaluated Real Estate Lead Generation Companies
Realtors can waste time and money trying to find buyer and seller leads manually. Discovering a quality resource for buying real estate leads gives agents a head start on sales and continually fills their funnel with potential clients. We looked at 12 real estate lead generation companies to find the six best that save realtors time and advertising dollars while still delivering quality buyer and seller leads.
Here are the specific criteria we used to determine the best six real estate lead generation companies:
- Cost – The price for buying real estate leads is a top priority because it directly impacts the budget and the cost per conversions. Some companies charge per lead while others help by creating lead generation funnels that use PPC advertising.
- How Leads Are Generated – Understanding exactly how each company works to generate leads helps you manage marketing efforts and move prospects through the sales pipeline quickly.
- Lead Nurture – A follow-up plan is vital to the success of any type of lead. Lead nurture via automated emails and other marketing tools ensures prospective buyers never leave the sales funnel.
- Exclusivity – All real estate agents and brokers love to own their local area. Some lead generation companies only offer their services to one or two agents per ZIP code or farm area, increasing your competitive advantage.
- Training and Support – Many companies that sell real estate leads understand that training and support are a vital part of converting contacts into sales, so they offer webinars to help agents increase return on investment.
- Ease of Use – Real estate lead generation companies have to be easy to use for all skill and experience levels. Because realtors’ technological understanding varies, a user-friendly service is critical.
BoldLeads is the overall best choice for real estate leads because they provide territory-exclusive leads with only one agent per ZIP code at an affordable price, with excellent training and customer support. With a robust CRM that handles real estate leads from capture to sale, BoldLeads sets real estate agents up for success while saving time and money.
Best Overall Real Estate Lead Generation Company: BoldLeads
BoldLeads generates ZIP code-targeted leads through Facebook advertising and pay-per-click (PPC) Google ads. Leads are deposited into the BoldLeads customer relationship management (CRM) software to help realtors track sales progress, nurture leads, and communicate with potential buyers and sellers. BoldLeads only services one agent per ZIP code, making it great if you want exclusive leads in your local area.
BoldLeads Pricing
BoldLeads pricing starts at $299 per month for their Buyer Pro or Seller Pro plans. Real estate agents can get both buyer and seller leads with a monthly Buyer Pro or Seller Pro package for $589. Broker Pro offers 10 accounts for $899 per month. Each account requires a minimum $250 ad budget and $200 onboarding fee.
There is a significant discount for a six-month or yearly contract. The onboarding fee might be waived with an annual contract, and BoldLeads may offer an additional monthly fee discount. Be sure to ask about these discount opportunities.
BoldLeads Features
BoldLeads is an online marketing tool that delivers sales prospects to a lead capture-focused IDX website that puts lead information into a robust CRM focused on customer engagement. Beyond advertising, BoldLeads provides more than just software tools to help agents convert leads to sales; exclusivity, support, and training are also key features.
Here are the primary ways that BoldLeads helps with real estate leads:
Lead Generation
The most important feature of BoldLeads is that it is an area-exclusive social media advertising system. With managed ad creation and campaigns, BoldLeads targets buyers or sellers in a specific ZIP code and only works with one agent per ZIP code. Like Market Leader and Real Geeks, BoldLeads uses Facebook and Google ads to drive warm leads to an IDX-enabled website that captures email addresses and then nurtures leads using a CRM.
Lead Nurture
BoldLeads is ready to nurture each lead, both short term and over long periods of time with a CRM that allows for SMS texts, drip emails, and on-going marketing campaigns. With reminders and notices, BoldLeads helps agents stay engaged with leads without letting things fall through the cracks. Real Geeks and Market Leader both include equivalent lead nurturing capabilities.
Exclusivity
BoldLeads only allows one agent or broker per ZIP code for buyer or seller leads. This approach cuts down the competition in your local market and makes your ads unique for better conversion in your local area. If your area is not available, then you might want to try Real Geeks or Market Leader.
Training & Support
BoldLeads really steps up to the plate with training and support features. BoldLeads recognizes that only giving you real estate leads will not make you successful. BoldLeads’ weekly coaching webinars and informative training videos help clients make the most of each lead. With support available by email and phone, BoldLeads is competitive with Market Leader.
BoldLeads only allows one agent per ZIP code. (image via website)
What BoldLeads Is Missing
The primary thing that BoldLeads is missing is an alternative option for realtors whose ZIP code or area is not available. If your area has been taken on BoldLeads, then you might try Real Geeks or Market Leader for smaller agencies, or Zillow Premier Agent or BoomTown for larger teams/brokers.
What Users Think About BoldLeads
Many users expressed concern about the upfront cost for setup and the six-month contract at first, but felt that the results delivered by BoldLeads really overcame their original doubt. The overall reviews were very positive in addressing the quality and the volume of leads. Check out our BoldLeads reviews and pricing page for more information.
Where to Find BoldLeads
Visit the BoldLeads website and find out if your ZIP code is available. Read about BoldLeads lead generation success stories and learn more about their offerings by visiting their website below.
Best for Self-Managed Facebook Advertising: Real Geeks
Real Geeks offers a Facebook marketing tool for realtors who want to manage their own lead generating advertising campaigns, as well as professionally managed PPC (Google) and Facebook advertising for agents who don’t want to manage it themselves. Leads generated from online advertising go into a robust CRM for nurturing and monitoring by the agent. Real Geeks is best for agencies and brokers interested in self-managing lead funnels using Facebook ads.
Real Geeks Pricing
Real Geeks pricing starts at $249/month for two users. This includes a CRM with IDX-enabled website, SMS text messaging, and a Facebook marketing app. Additionally, Real Geeks charges a one-time $500 setup fee. They will also manage your Facebook and PPC advertising starting at $300 with a minimum $200 ad budget.
Real Geeks Features
Real Geeks boasts an integrated platform with IDX website templates that are easy to edit with high-conversion lead capture forms. With managed online and social media advertising, Real Geeks ads drop visitors off at target pages with lead magnets ready to convert. Those converted buyers are then tracked through a robust CRM that nurtures contacts through the buying cycle with marketing automation.
These are the reasons Real Geeks is one of the top of real estate lead generation companies:
Lead Generation
Real Geeks can manage Google and Facebook ads to collect leads based on location, buying behavior, and interests. Similar to BoldLeads, interested prospects land on an IDX website and can sign up for more information. From there, lead information is sent to a CRM for lead nurturing.
Self-managed advertising is really where Real Geeks shines, however. The CRM comes with a simple Facebook Ad Tool for creating your own campaigns, which makes it stand apart from other platforms on this list. Unlike BoldLeads, however, they don’t offer area exclusivity. Still, with Real Geeks, realtors can easily advertise on their own.
Lead Nurture
Real Geeks helps agents hit the ground running with new leads. The robust CRM allows for customization of drip emails and SMS texts to reach out to buyers quickly and frequently without wasting time. Larger companies will appreciate the idle lead reassignment and lead routing features that save time on contact distribution between agents. This ultimately decreases follow-up time.
Exclusivity
Exclusivity is not a focus for Real Geeks. Instead, Real Geeks offers tools and services that allow agents to effectively manage ad campaigns. If you like the idea of exclusivity of area or leads, then BoldLeads or Market Leader would be a better choice.
Training & Support
Real Geeks does offer occasional videos to help real estate agents with follow-up best practices and generating more sales. The customer support team is available for through an email form during business hours on weekdays. Although Real Geeks is easy to use, if customer support is an issue for your team, then you might want to try BoldLeads.
Real Geeks generates leads through Google AdWords advertising. (image via website).
What Real Geeks Is Missing
It has been noted that the user interface of Real Geeks is clunky and dated. While it is true that the interface is not as sleek as Zillow, the lack of complex modules makes tasks easier to complete without tons of additional steps.
What Users Think About Real Geeks
Most users think that Real Geeks delivers an easy-to-edit platform with strong lead generation using Google AdWords. The overall customer experience was positive, but you can read more in our article on Real Geeks reviews and pricing.
Where to Find Real Geeks
Real Geeks is a robust online lead generation company that includes a marketing tool for self-managed Facebook campaigns and management services for PPC as well as social media advertising. Visit the Real Geeks website today to see their online demo and get started with your lead generation efforts.
Best Place to Buy Leads That Aren’t Resold: Market Leader
Market Leader, a company that generates leads via PPC ads, Facebook ad campaigns, and third-party network ads, stands out because real estate agents can buy leads that are not resold to other agents and only pay per lead. Although Market Leader does not resell leads, they may represent several agents in a ZIP code. This lead generation model is best for agents in highly competitive markets who still want exclusive leads.
Market Leader Pricing
Market Leader offers a set price (based on location and the number of real estate leads) and a guarantee that you never receive fewer leads than requested. Market Leader is also the only one of the real estate lead generation companies to offer a 48-hour lead return policy in case you receive a fake lead.
There is a one-time setup fee of $299 that might be reduced by the representative when you call. Additional charges include $129 monthly for the CRM and an IDX website, but the website customization is done for you.
Market Leader Features
With real estate leads generated through advertising on Facebook, Google AdWords, and many other partner networks, Market Leader stands apart from BoldLeads and Real Geeks because they do not resell leads. Zillow Premier Agent offers the same lead count guarantee as Market Leader, but the 48-hour lead return enables agents to preview contacts and give them back if not qualified. No other lead generation system on our list will allow contact returns.
These are the key ways that Market Leader helps with real estate lead generation:
Lead Generation
Market Leader uses online advertising on Google and third-party sites like Yahoo! and Bing to send traffic to your IDX website and generate leads. Market Leader lead capture forms grab the lead information and transmit it directly into your CRM for lead nurturing and tracking so nothing falls through the cracks.
The cost per lead depends on location, so if you want a fixed monthly cost for real estate leads, then BoldLeads or Real Geeks might be better choices. It’s important to note, however, that both of these companies also require an ad budget. With Market Leader, realtors pay per lead given to them.
Lead Nurture
With an effective CRM in place ready to take care of each lead, Market Leader helps you register, track, and respond to contacts. With drip email and print marketing, Market Leader, like BoldLeads and Real Geeks, gives agents everything they need to be successful in managing their sales funnel and converting real estate leads to sales.
Exclusivity
Market Leader takes exclusivity to a new level with the promise to only sell each lead once. With one agent buying exclusive rights to one generated contact, Market Leader minimizes agent competition for the same lead. This type of exclusivity is unique in the real estate lead generation marketplace, and it is different from BoldLeads’ ZIP code exclusivity that still may sell the same lead to two realtors over time.
Training & Support
Market Leader is strong in training and customer support. With a list of online guides that cover everything from business planning to call scripts to conversions, there is an incredible amount of coaching and information available for customers. Phone and email support are also available.
Market Leader creates an exclusive lead stream. (image via website)
What Market Leader Is Missing
Many reviewers noted that customer service can be spotty at best. The majority of reviewers felt this was the primary place that Market Leader could stand to improve.
What Users Think About Market Leader
Most reviewers thought that Market Leader was easy to use and delivered well on their services. Some reviewers reported that the real estate leads were primarily email addresses, so if more in-depth contact information is important to you, then you might want to try BoldLeads or Real Geeks. Learn more about Market Leader pricing and reviews.
Where to Find Market Leader
Market Leader delivers leads to realtors that are not resold to other agents with per-contact received pricing. Learn more about the benefits of Market Leader by clicking on the button below and inquire about their per-lead pricing.
Best Place to Buy Leads for Larger Agencies: Zillow Premier Agent
Zillow Premier Agent is a lead generation solution for large agencies that collects leads from Zillow’s portfolio of large real estate websites. With Zillow, you can pay to show up as the agent on file for numerous Zillow, Trulia, or StreetEasy listings. Due to its size and reach, Zillow Premier Agent is right for larger real estate agencies that want to generate multiple leads on the Zillow platform for a team of realtors or brokers.
Zillow Premier Agent Pricing
Zillow Premier Agent prices depend on two factors: ZIP code and competition. This means that each lead could cost you $5 or $50, depending on how many leads are available in your area and how much competition there is for real estate leads. For full more information, contact a Zillow representative.
Zillow Premier Agent Features
Zillow Premier Agent enhances realtor exposure by listing an individual agent’s profile within existing Zillow, Trulia, or StreetEasy listings, suggesting that the agent is the person to contact about the property. Interested buyers can contact the agent for more information. For your personal listings, using Zillow Premier Agent allows you to be the only agent displayed on a listing, and it even lets you show up at the bottom of non-Zillow Premier Agent realtor listings.
The targeted website traffic on Zillow creates more focused lead generation opportunities for the agent. However, if you want to do Facebook or AdWords advertising, then any of the other platforms on this list are a better choice.
The ways that Zillow Premier Agent effectively sources real estate leads are:
Lead Generation
Zillow lets agents pay to have their profiles pop up in listings when buyers search for available properties on the Zillow, Trulia, or StreetEasy platforms. When a prospect wants to contact an agent for more information, they can do so directly from the listing; there is no need for a user to navigate to a separate landing page.
Zillow and its library of websites are some of the most searched real estate websites, so it makes sense to advertise using Zillow Premier Agent. Warmer real estate buyer leads are a clear benefit of this platform as they are collected from Zillow users interested in buying or selling a home.
Lead Nurture
Zillow Premier Agent has a robust CRM system that allows agents to track and follow real estate leads through the pipeline. With features that allow you to interact automatically with contacts via texts to set up appointments, Zillow Premier Agents is packed with all of the standard features of a CRM combined with robust on-the-go lead management via a mobile app.
Exclusivity
Zillow might say that their leads are exclusive, but there is no way to guarantee that because a lead might contact more than one agent (as several agents appear on each listing). Additionally, it’s impossible to tell where a lead came from—e.g., via a Google search or directly through the Zillow website. For those who want one-sale leads or exclusive ZIP codes, Market Leader and BoldLeads are probably better choices.
Zillow offers agent choices for each property.
Training & Support
You would expect high-level realtor support and training from one of the largest real estate companies. Zillow Premier Agent delivers on this expectation with agent forums, courses on marketing with sales training, and webinars to increase feature usability and understanding. Customer service is available through phone and email.
What Zillow Premier Agent Is Missing
The quality of leads from a large site like Zillow or Trulia can be an issue because property pages appear at the top of search results, and the people viewing these listings might only be window-shoppers. If wasting time or money verifying leads is a problem for you, then you might want to try Market Leader because there is a 48-hour lead return guarantee.
What Users Think About Zillow Premier Agent
Many reviewers noted that Zillow Premier Agent was easy to use and sent quality leads to their real estate agency. Find out how Zillow Premier Agent works and how you can make the most of your real estate buyer leads.
Where to Find Zillow Premier Agent
Zillow Premier Agent can help realtors get warm buyer leads to increase sales opportunities by listing their profile as a contact in property listings. Learn more about the way Zillow provides lead generation by visiting their website.
“We have found Zillow leads to be consistently strong as compared to those from other sources. Zillow almost always provides complete information, which lets you know the information is coming from more motivated buyers. Making this investment frees me up to spend more of my time giving service to clients, rather than chasing down hundreds of leads that may never turn into sales.”
—Randy Mintz, Real Estate Agent at Mintz Homes, R.E. Shilow Realty Investors, Inc.
“We have found Zillow leads to be consistently strong as compared to those from other sources. Zillow almost always provides complete information, which lets you know the information is coming from more motivated buyers. Making this investment frees me up to spend more of my time giving service to clients, rather than chasing down hundreds of leads that may never turn into sales.”Best Place to Buy Leads with In-Depth Profiles: BoomTown
BoomTown is a real estate lead generation company that leverages social and PPC ads to deliver leads with enhanced data such as social media profiles. BoomTown also includes a predictive CRM to suggest the best time to contact leads, and an on-the-go app to streamline communication. BoomTown is best for mobile and social-savvy agents looking for an edge over the competition with more detailed lead profiles.
BoomTown enhanced social search feature.
BoomTown Pricing
BoomTown is an expensive option, with a Launch package that starts at $750 per month for up to three agents. The Core package (not listed on the website) is $1,050 per month for up to five agents. The minimum ad budget is $250 to drive traffic to your BoomTown website to convert to leads.
BoomTown Features
BoomTown is a complete package of real estate lead generation tools, including an advanced CRM that helps agents with insights via social media and lead behavior data. BoomTown focuses on using technology to supply information about the lead and provide customized sales reports and dashboards for the agent.
Here are the top features of BoomTown:
Lead Generation
BoomTown handles real estate lead generation with a mixture of managed digital and social marketing. Utilizing Facebook ads, Google AdWords, and mobile-optimized ads, BoomTown creates a lead funnel for you by managing ad campaigns, capturing the information of interested prospects, and then nurturing those prospects using a CRM. Additionally, they provide enhanced lead data like user behavior and social profile handles, making lead nurturing easy when compared to other options.
Lead Nurture
BoomTown has one of the most robust CRMs in the real estate industry. With a mobile app and email drip campaigns, you are able to stay connected with your leads all the time. The real estate CRM and automated marketing are important in the conversion process because agents are easily able to identify lead status and engage a contact with targeted campaigns to nurture them through the sales cycle.
Exclusivity
Although lead generation specifically targets ZIP codes, there is no indication that leads or areas are exclusive. You might want to try BoldLeads or Market Leader if this is an important feature for your real estate company.
Training & Support
BoomTown ticks all of the boxes for training and support. Like Zillow Premier Agent, BoomTown has a library of training videos that cover sales, marketing, SEO, social media, and writing. With industry professional podcasts and email and phone support, BoomTown is the place to go if you value training and customer service.
BoomTown distributes ads online and on social media to get extended exposure and increase leads. (image via website)
What BoomTown Is Missing
BoomTown is missing the lower-cost options for smaller agencies and individual realtors. Even though their lead generation marketing efforts and CRM combine the best use of communication and technology to produce a great product that stands out among real estate lead generation companies, BoldLeads or Real Geeks might be a better choice if budget is an issue.
What Users Think About BoomTown
Reviews for BoomTown are overwhelmingly great with some notes that the mobile app could be improved and the system is frequently updating features in response to user feedback. You can also learn more about BoomTown user reviews and pricing.
Where to Find BoomTown
BoomTown uses technology to provide an edge for realtors with social profile integration, a predictive CRM, and an advanced mobile app. Learn more about BoomTown through their website by clicking the button below.
Best Place to Buy Leads for Non-Mainstream Markets: REDX
REDX stands apart by generating real estate leads for realtors interested in FSBO, FRBO, foreclosures, and expired listings. REDX is niche-specific among real estate lead generation companies because they’re the only provider on our list that focuses on these types of listings. REDX is best for realtors seeking FSBO, FRBO, foreclosures, and expired listing leads.
REDX Pricing
REDX starts at $39.99 to 79.99 per month, depending on the type of real estate leads. FSBO and foreclosure leads are at the lower end of the pricing spectrum, while geo-leads, FRBO, and expired leads are slightly higher. There is a $149.99 one-time set-up fee, but discounts are available for contracts.
REDX Features
REDX is created to help agents find leads through records and databases of expired listings, FSBOs, FRBOs, and foreclosures. With a free CRM, called Vortex, to manage and track leads, REDX reduces the time spent by agents in this market segmentation searching for information. If mainstream markets are your only interest, then any of the other platforms are a better choice.
Here are the primary benefits of using REDX for real estate buyer leads:
Lead Generation
REDX researches and reviews public information, records, and listings to find the best real estate leads in each of the off-market categories. The leads are delivered into a robust, integrated CRM called Vortex for monitoring and lead nurturing through the sales cycle.
There is no advertising module for REDX because these types of leads are generated through sourcing data instead of mainstream online search. If advertising to get leads is an important part of your marketing strategy, then any of the other platforms would work better.
Lead Nurture
One of the benefits of REDX is that the Vortex CRM is included with the price of leads. Because leads by themselves are not helpful if you cannot track and monitor movement through the sales cycle, Vortex includes filters, tags, and statuses to streamline lead nurturing. For realtors wanting more in-depth features like lead reports, Real Geeks or BoldLeads are better options.
Exclusivity
REDX does not claim to give exclusive leads to any one agent. Due to the smaller amount of competition for this type of real estate lead generation, exclusivity might not be a big factor in going after these sales opportunities.
Training & Support
With a blog to share information, the training and support of REDX is on the lighter side, but so is the price. There is a dedicated support team that you can reach through email or phone.
REDX specializes in lead generation for agents with a niche secondary market or non-mainstream market. (image via website)
What REDX Is Missing
The most obvious thing that REDX is missing is what makes it unique among real estate lead generation companies: a lack of mainstream leads. For agents seeking mainstream buyer and seller leads, any of the other options on this list would be a better choice.
What Users Think About REDX
REDX is well-received by users who take advantage of off-market leads to close real estate deals. While REDX is not well known, the agents who did share their experience with the platforms seemed pleased with the results.
Where to Find REDX
Check out REDX-specific real estate buyer leads for FSBO, foreclosures, and other non-mainstream market opportunities on their website. They will streamline sales in niche markets and leave you more time to focus on building a client base. Click below to learn more.
Real Estate Lead Generation Company Pricing
| Places to Buy Real Estate Leads | Pricing |
|---|---|
| BoldLeads | $299 Buyer Pro $299 Seller Pro $589 Buyer & Seller Pro $899 Broker Pro |
| Real Geeks | $550/user per month for lead management; $300-$500 per month advertising budget (minimum) |
| Market Leader | Depends on location and number of leads; call for pricing |
| Zillow Premier Agent | $5-$60 per lead depending on location & competition; call for pricing |
| BoomTown | $750 Launch Package for 1-3 agents $250 per month advertising budget (minimum) |
| REDX | $39.99-$79.99 for FSBO, FRBO, foreclosure, geo-based, and expired listings leads |
Bottom Line: Real Estate Leads
Purchased real estate leads, sourced through lead generation companies, allow agents to effectively move potential buyers and sellers through the sales funnel without wasting time on manual lead sourcing. We reviewed 12 top lead generation companies that offer agents and brokers leads, landing on the top six in the industry based on price, advertising, lead nurturing, and support.
As our best overall, BoldLeads real estate buyer leads give agents exclusive leads with a feature-rich system for tracking their progress through the sales funnel. With a CRM and robust marketing tools, their real estate lead generation is easy and the automated marketing saves time. Check out the BoldLeads demo below for more information and find out if your location is available.
Erick Vega
wow! Amazing good to know, these are the best companies out there… nice to see what Bold leads is doing in the industry!