Buyers are the foundation of your real estate sales. That’s why generating leads for people looking to purchase a home is so important. You can generate real estate buyer leads through a paid service or through means such as referrals and campaigns. Generating buyer leads is the single most effective way to increase your business profits, and it doesn’t have to be costly.
Here are 15 of the top methods successful agents use to generate real estate buyer leads:
1. Work the Rent vs Buy Angle
Apartment complexes are filled with potential buyers. Create a direct mail campaign with a postcard that grabs their attention by addressing most common complaints tenants have, from lack of privacy to lack of space. Sites like PostcardMania and ProspectsPLUS! make it easy to find well-designed, affordable cards with a variety of messages.
Rent vs buy example from PostcardMania
2. Place Targeted Facebook Ads
You can get hundreds of leads from a well-placed, targeted ad on Facebook for less than $100. Facebook makes it very easy to customize the audience by whatever criteria you choose under the Edit Audience section. If you cover a suburban area, for example, your ads can target city-dwelling new parents who are ready for more space. See examples of successful ads and learn why they work by visiting our article on Real estate ads.
Use the Edit Audience feature to target Facebook ads
3. Become a Zillow Premier Agent
The Zillow Premier Agent program provides an excellent source of real estate buyer leads. Zillow is the largest real estate marketplace on the internet, so it just makes sense to be where the most buyers are searching. As a Premier Agent, you’ll be the sole agent on any of your listings and buyers will contact you directly for more information. You will also be listed on non-Premier Agent listings in your area, providing visibility to prospective buyers. Check out our guide on Zillow Premier Agent or visit their website for more information.
4. Review Public Records
A good agent keeps track of recent sales. Take it a step further and make note of who buys all that real estate. Over time, you’re likely to find a person or a company that buys a lot of real estate on a regular basis, and you can search public records to see how many properties they own. You can also find their mailing address in public records, which you can then add to your marketing database for future mailers.
5. Get Personal With Your Database
When you get to know your contacts, you become more than just another real estate agent. Every new connection, every handshake is a potential lead or referral source, so treat each of them like you would if they were a friend and a client. Get to know them, congratulate them on milestones, and wish them a happy birthday. Be genuine about making a connection and they’ll be less likely to forget about you when it’s time to buy.
6. Educate First-time Homebuyers (& Buy Them a Drink)
You can create opportunities to educate and interact with potential first-time homebuyers in person by inviting them to a happy hour where they can have their questions answered by a team of experts in a relaxed setting. Experiences like these give potential buyers a chance to meet you in person without pressure or obligation and see you as an expert in the field. By giving buyers a chance to get to know you in person, you increase the odds of being hired or recommended.
Host events to meet would-be buyers
7. Use Craigslist
Craigslist is a great place to find buyers. Go onto your local Craigslist page, click on the “housing wanted” tab, and you will find countless ads placed by people who are searching for a place to live. Respond to ads by offering to help potential buyers with their search. You can learn more about how to tap into this lead source by visiting our article on How to get real estate leads on Craigslist.
8. Network With Everyone
Don’t be shy about telling everyone you meet that you’re in real estate. Buyer leads can come from anywhere, including places you frequent like the dry cleaner, the coffee shop, and the gym. If you don’t tell people you sell real estate, they’ll never tell you they’re looking for an agent. You don’t need to hit them over the head with it, but find a way to slip it into conversations and they may refer business to you in the future.
9. Send Gifts Often
Establish a gift-giving system for clients who purchased homes from you, whether it’s a gift for every holiday or one gift for the anniversary of their closing. The goal is to remind them about you and encourage referrals. Try a client gift service like EvaBot, which uses artificial intelligence to tailor gifts to your client’s tastes. Go a step further by having them include a handwritten note inside a box that’s been branded with your logo.
Example of referral gift box
10. Work Your Online Network
When it comes to generating real estate buyer leads, nothing will work for you like your own network. Reach beyond the people you’ve met in person to all of your connections online. There are usually hundreds of people that you know on LinkedIn and other social media platforms. Make sure you are visible by posting regular updates about what you do. Also, connect genuinely with people by commenting on their posts, and make sure you don’t overwhelm your followers with too much content, too often.
If you’re smart about how you post, you’ll create the impression of a successful, polished professional. To learn more about posting on Instagram, one of the best social media platforms to showcase your listings, our article on Instagram for real estate will take you from new user to pro in no time at all.
11. Be a Local Expert
Put yourself out there as an expert on your community. You can blog about events and post videos to local attractions on your YouTube channel while making sure you link everything back to your social media. When buyers see consistent activity and closings, along with someone who knows and loves the area they cover, they will reach out to you. See our article on real estate hashtags to find out how to drive more people to your posts.
12. Turn Your Agent Page Into a Lead Generating Website
Create an agent website that tells people who you are while also helping you capture organic leads for your business. You can do that by creating content that’s relevant to buyers and driving them to your site through the use of keywords and search engine optimization (SEO). Make sure your site has a blog section where you can post content that shows off your expertise about your coverage area and real estate trends. Include a call to action to collect contact information from your readers.
13. Be Inclusive in Advertising Language
It’s so easy to translate advertising into different languages, it’s a wonder why more agents don’t do it. You don’t need to be fluent to let buyers know that you’re willing to go the extra mile to connect with them and speak their language. Reach international and multilingual buyers by advertising in publications and on websites that are geared toward ex-pats. Use a translation app to help with in-person conversations.
14. Get a Cheap IDX Real Estate Website With Placester
Placester offers low-cost IDX real estate websites to all National Association of Realtors (NAR) members for less than $100 per month. This easy-to-use website is mobile-friendly, easy to set up, and easy to navigate. Best of all, it includes IDX features that attract real estate buyer leads by allowing home shoppers to use your website as they search for homes. For an additional fee, you can also access their prewritten blog posts for use on your site.
If you’re ambitious and tech-savvy, check out our article on how to build your own IDX real estate website.
15. Use a Lead Buying Service
Lead buying services allow you to target buyers in a specific area who have indicated they are currently searching for a home. For example, BoldLeads offers exclusive buyer leads in your ZIP code starting at $299 per month. With lead exclusivity, you are the only agent with solid leads in your ZIP code, so potential buyers don’t have multiple agents contacting them and you don’t have further competition for the real estate leads you’ve purchased. BoldLeads uses targeted Facebook advertising to bring potential buyers to a conversion-optimized landing page in order to capture their information.
To learn more about BoldLeads and other services that might benefit you, see our article on where to buy real estate leads.
Bottom Line
Generating real estate buyer leads requires getting in front of people who are ready to buy or happy to recommend your services. Real estate leads can be purchased, but you can generate many of these leads on your own if you put yourself in front of those who are most likely to buy a house. Stay in touch with your contacts so they refer you and be sure to show off your expertise on social media to stay connected and top of mind.
