How To Generate Real Estate Leads: 9 Strategies

With over three million people holding active real estate licenses in the US, it’s no surprise that real estate agents find it hard to stand out from their competitors. Besides, everyone is trying to follow the same real estate lead generation strategies. 

That’s why every realtor has one common question, i.e., how to get real estate leads.

But with so much competition, you need to think out of the box for high-quality lead generation. And that’s what we will discuss today! 

9 Best Strategies to Get Real Estate Leads

According to Grand View Research, the global real estate market was valued at $3.69 trillion in 2021. It is expected to grow to $5.85 trillion by 2030, at a CAGR of 5.2% from 2022-2030. 

The number indicates that the market has a vast potential. However, realtors must follow the right strategies to generate real estate leads and grow their business exponentially. 

1- Build Your Website

Creating a website is one of the best ways to get real estate leads. A website will help showcase all your projects, describe your value, and briefly mention your vision and other relevant information. This will help you establish credibility online and get more qualified leads. 

Various marketplaces online provide you with a webpage on their website. But you should also create your website to generate ​​real estate seller leads. 

Most importantly, you can display testimonials from former clients to capture your audience’s attention.

Here are a few tips that will come in handy while creating your website –

• Follow the search engine optimization best practices
• Create a blog to provide solutions for various challenges clients face during the buying process
• Create relevant landing pages to capture lead information

2- List Your Property On Marketplaces

You’ve heard this advice before, right? If you’re not already doing so, you should start! The sooner your home or condo gets listed on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service), the sooner you can begin marketing it to potential buyers and generating real estate leads.

For first-time home Buyers who are looking at houses all day long, it’s important to see what’s available and know they aren’t wasting their time looking at homes that aren’t even for sale yet! Therefore, to generate real estate leads, you must ensure that your listing appears on as many websites as possible.

This will help ensure that people searching for properties in your area will find yours quickly and easily, helping you generate real estate leads.

You might have seen numerous Facebook groups like ‘Flats in the City name.’ You can easily rent or lease out your property by joining this group. Therefore, having an online presence makes it easy to discover your property and empowers you to generate real estate leads.

3- Use Social Media to Drive Traffic and Build Awareness

Did you know that 77% of realtors use social media for business?

The same report indicates that more than other sources, 47% of businesses get the highest quality real estate leads via social media. So, for generating real estate leads, it’s important to strengthen your social media presence. 

Whether you’re already using social media for real estate lead generation or are planning to start, here are some tips.

(a) Use Images on Twitter & Facebook

According to FinancesOnline, 74% of marketers incorporate visual content in more than 70% of their content. Tweets with visual content deliver 18% more click-throughs than text-based content. 

The best part? This is really easy to do! You can use designing tools to create images or share high-quality pictures of the properties you want to sell. This is also a great way to generate real estate leads for new agents

Realtors trying to get traction on their listings, squeeze pages, and blogs can also include an image or video content with a Tweet or Facebook post. Again, it increases the chance of getting more clicks and engagement.

(b) Nail the Timing 

Earlier, you could get more traffic if you posted more often. However, it is no longer the same scenario. But why is this so?

Social networks are actively monitoring the engagement your posts receive. And the more attention you receive, the more people will eventually see your posts. 

Therefore, it is vital to understand when your target audience is the most active and post accordingly. The good thing is you don’t have to be a social media expert to do that. All you have to do is head to your social media analytics and check the time when most people engage with your posts. 

(c) Be Consistent and Provide Value

The key strategy of social media marketing is giving. Educate your target audience on how to find the best homes, what areas to look for, how they can bargain, and more. The point is to give people as much information as possible. 

This will help you build rapport and emerge as an industry thought leader. This will also help you reach potential buyers and generate exclusive real estate leads who might be interested in your services. 

(d) Link Placements

You can control where you add your link when you post to Facebook and Twitter. The idea is to place the link at the beginning of the post. This will get you the maximum number of click-throughs, and you will also be able to collect several leads per post. 

You can also try paid advertising to widen your reach. However, ensure you target the right audience, i.e., people in cities where you sell properties. This will help you expand your reach to a local market.  

(e) Pinterest Squeeze Pages

Many real estate agents already use Pinterest for generating real estate leads. However, you should sign up for a Pinterest account if you have not done it yet. 

Why is it important? Pinterest can drive significant traffic to your real estate website. You can use it to showcase the best real estate properties in the city. Each post should be linked back to your website. You can also promote those posts on Pinterest to reach prospective buyers.  

Tip: If you’re not camera-shy, you can consider starting a YouTube channel to help people, especially first-time homebuyers understand the entire process.  

4- Build a Network

When generating real estate leads, you need to build a robust network. In fact, building mutually beneficial partnerships with other local businesses, like insurance firms, commercial lenders, etc., is essential. 

The easiest way to start building your network is by making friends with people in your community, especially those who work in real estate or own property.

The more people you can connect with, the higher the chance of generating real estate leads. You can do that by attending events where professionals gather, such as networking events and seminars by industry experts like Zillow or Redfin. 

You can also attend open houses hosted by the local real estate market and open houses hosted by non-agents like listing portals like Realtor.com, Trulia, and Homesnap.

5- Don’t Ignore Traditional Marketing

While the importance of digital marketing is rising, the value that traditional marketing offers can’t be diminished. 

Sometimes the best way to get your brand out in front of thousands of eyes is to put out a billboard. Media like print ads or billboards are excellent ways to attract prospective clients’ attention.

Here are some of the best traditional marketing channels for generating real estate leads.

• Print advertising, including newspapers and magazines.
• Radio advertising.
• Direct mail, including postcards and flyers.
• For sale signs across the neighborhood.
• Yellow page ads.

Tip: You can get creative with your ad copy. Make it humorous and make your USP stand out for generating real estate leads.

6- Use ‘Coming Soon’ Signs

Coming soon signs are an ideal way to advertise a property that is not yet ready for sale. They can be used to create a buzz around your property and to generate interest from potential buyers.

A coming soon sign can be as simple as a For Sale board in front of the house, or it could be a more elaborate display with lights, music, and other features. You might even consider having your personalized video for people to watch on their mobile phones as they drive past your property!

The key to using coming soon signs is ensuring they’re designed properly. Here are some tips for creating a compelling coming soon sign:

• Use a catchy heading: The heading of your sign should be bold and catchy. You want to grab the attention of potential buyers with something memorable and eye-catching. Ensure you include details like your name, address, and phone number so people can contact you easily.
• Use bright colors: You want to ensure that potential buyers can see your sign from far away, so use bright colors to get their attention. This will help them find it more easily when driving around neighborhoods searching for a new house or apartment.

7- Leverage Real Estate Automation Tool 

Lastly, it all boils down to how efficiently you can run your real estate business. 

No one can deny the tremendous benefits real estate CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software can fetch your business. Statistics indicate that each dollar invested in CRM brings $8.71 in return. 

Here are some things to keep in mind when investing in a real estate CRM. 

(a) Industry-Specific CRM

A considerable percentage of the target audience for this article probably has this question on their minds right now: why not just buy regular CRM software instead?

The answer is simple. The problems realtors face when it comes to clientele and customers are very different from the ones faced by the users of regular CRM.

For one, retail-oriented CRM functions aim to encourage and ensure repeat business. But in real estate, repeat business is a rare occurrence. Therefore, it is not an end goal—the focus shifts towards building better, long-term relationships with one-time customers to increase referrals and lead generation.

Similarly, the sales cycle is much longer than in most other industries. It requires an entirely different strategy for lead nurturing and involvement, which necessitates the need for a separate tool.

It is best for real estate firms, brokers, and realtors to invest in CRM software specifically meant for the real estate industry. It will save them the time, money, and effort that would otherwise be needed to adapt a global CRM system to the real estate industry.

(b) Automated Marketing

Most real estate firms have relied on traditional channels such as advertising and word of mouth through marketing. However, only recently did mediums such as email marketing become prevalent in real estate. 

Now is the best time for firms to automate their marketing processes as much as possible before their competition catches up to them. With a real estate CRM, you have a centralized customer database at the tip of your fingertips, and you can integrate the data from this to be used in myriad functions.

The CRM can keep track of important dates and meetings with specific clients, send out emails and reminders, file relevant documents, and so much more. Besides, artificial intelligence-powered CRM can help find actionable insights for personalized marketing. 

As with project management systems, you can see the status of each lead/client. On this basis, you can formulate better strategies to connect with them and make a successful sale.

Moreover, there are many ways real estate agents can do marketing. You will have the power to broadcast the right message to the right customer every time, even if it’s a routine email or a friendly reminder. It enables you to stay on top of your mind and precisely where you want to be.

(c) Robust Lead Management

This is the most considerable doubt of real estate managers. Lead generation and nurturing are very different in real estate than in other industries. As mentioned before, repeat business in real estate is rare, especially for the average individual buyer.

A real estate transaction usually has extremely high value and uber-low frequency. This makes it harder to generate leads and requires a much deeper involvement from the real estate agent. Besides, you will need to put a strategy for lead qualification. 

8- Generate Referrals from Happy Clients

Your past clients can be great real estate seller leads. A study found that 40% of buyers hire an experienced agent referred to them by a friend or relative. 

In fact, 91% of buyers would use their agent again or recommend them to others. This can be pretty useful in capturing leads and acquiring new clients. 

Thus, you should always build good, long-lasting connections with your clients – even when they are no longer working with you. To encourage them to refer you to their friends, you can also consider incentivizing them. 

You can even create a page on online sites where other agents and customers have left genuine reviews for your service. Some of the best review sites include Zillow, Realtor.com, and Trulia. 

Additionally, share testimonials on these major real estate platforms, create videos with customer feedback, and upload them on these sites. You can even set up referral programs to help spread the word about your service. 

9- Personalize the Customer Service

If you’re wondering how to generate real estate leads, remember it doesn’t have to be hard. A real estate agent’s most accessible and powerful marketing way is to provide a superior customer experience. 

You can start by offering a free real estate consultation to your prospects. It is an excellent opportunity to gain their trust and build your potential client list. 

It could be over the call or in-person consultation, but you need to provide a personalized experience to generate further interest in you. Educate your prospects about how the real estate industry works, inform them about various taxes, and more. It will help establish credibility that might further strengthen your relationship. 

The more satisfied clients you have, the more credibility in the long run. 

Wrapping Up

The list of how to generate real estate leads doesn’t end here. There are countless real estate lead generation ideas, but without an easy way to track and manage those leads, you will have difficulty converting them into genuine buyers. 

When people enlist for a realtor/real estate firm’s services, they are in it for the long haul. For many, it will be the most significant investment of their lives. Therefore, realtors should treat it as such.

A real estate CRM comes to its aid by automating small but crucial tasks and maintaining a centralized customer database, which will function as a goldmine of information and contacts for years to come.

It allows for quicker searches, better documentation, and clear communication for the user. With a real estate CRM, realtors can foster a relationship of trust with their customers, which most would argue, is crucial when buying a home.

Ready to generate leads? We’re as excited as you!

Supriya Bajaj

Supriya is a highly skilled content writer with over 8 years of experience in the SaaS domain. She believes in curating engaging, informative, and SEO-friendly content to simplify highly technical concepts. With an expansive portfolio of long-format blogs, newsletters, whitepapers, and case studies, Supriya is dedicated to staying in touch with emerging SaaS trends to produce relevant and reliable content.