Looking for a way to speed up the process of closing deals? Real estate lead generation companies can give your business a boost. To find the best real estate lead generation companies among many options, I drew on our team’s extensive real estate experience. I considered factors such as pricing, features, lead quality, lead types, and exclusivity to pinpoint the top real estate lead generation companies for 2024.
- CINC: Best for hyper-local lead generation and IDX websites
- Zurple: Best for automated lead nurturing system
- Market Leader: Best for predictable exclusive leads
- Offrs: Best for seller leads without a contract
- Zillow Premier Agent: Best for capturing buyer leads
- Ylopo: Best for tech-savvy agents looking for complete marketing solutions
- Real Geeks: Best for affordable, all-in-one lead generation platform
- Catalyze AI: Best for exclusive inherited property leads
- REDX: Best for niche leads and affordability
- zBuyer: Best for buyer and seller leads with no long-term contract
- SmartZip: Best for geographic farming
The Close’s Picks for Top Real Estate Lead Generation Companies
| Type of Software | Best for | Monthly Starting Price | Learn More |
|---|---|---|---|
| CINC | Hyperlocal leads | $899 | CINC Review |
| Zurple | Sophisticated nurturing system | $309 | Zurple Review |
| Market Leader | Get a predictable number of exclusive leads and affordable social media leads | $300 | Market Leader Review |
| Offrs | Seller leads without a contract | 10 cents for each lead | Offrs Review |
| Zillow Premier Agent | Buyer leads | $300 | Zillow Premier Agent Review |
| Ylopo | Tech-savvy agents with existing CRM | $600 | Ylopo |
| Real Geeks | Affordable all-in-one lead generation system | $299 | Real Geeks Review |
| Catalyze AI | Exclusive inherited property leads | $360 | No Review Yet |
| REDX | Niche leads | $49.99 | REDX Review |
| zBuyer | Affordable leads with no contract | $400 | zBuyer Review |
| SmartZip | Geographic farming | $299 | SmartZip |
CINC: Best for Hyperlocal Leads
Why I Chose CINC
With its sleek and stylish IDX websites, advanced customer relationship manager (CRM), behavioral messaging, and artificial intelligence (AI) texting tool trained by top-producing agents, CINC is one of the top real estate lead generation companies with a price tag to match. It uses a hyperlocal, custom-tailored approach for agents who use the platform. After signing up, CINC’s onboarding team interviews you to find the exact neighborhoods, school districts, or gated communities where you know the best buyers and sellers are looking.
How CINC Generates Leads
Like most real estate lead companies on our list, CINC uses a combination of pay-per-click (PPC) ads on Google, Facebook, and Instagram to generate buyer and seller leads. However, instead of only advertising by county or ZIP code, CINC targets hyperlocal leads in specific neighborhoods, school districts, or gated communities, depending on the agent’s preferences. They also offer Facebook retargeting ads to stay top of mind with leads who have already visited your website.
Additional Features
- Starting monthly prices: CINC’s all-in-one lead generation platform starts at $899 monthly for single agents and $1,299 for teams. For more details about pricing for the Guaranteed Sales Program and additional advertising promotions available for new clients, please get in touch with a CINC sales rep.
- Advanced CRM and AI nurturing tools: CINC uses technology and clever design to ensure leads don’t slip through the cracks. Its behavioral property alerts modify the type and timing of the nurturing texts and emails sent to your leads, increasing engagement for efficient conversion.
- AI texting assistant: Another tool I love is its AI texting assistant, Alex. Instead of blasting out the usual prequalifying questions, CINC uses top-producing agents to train its AI to respond to leads.
Zurple: Best for Automated Nurturing System
Why I Chose Zurple
I am impressed with Zurple’s powerful lead generation system, which has exceptional nurturing tools for agents who can spend a little more. Once a lead is captured through one of its landing pages, it’s fed directly into the CRM, where the nurturing campaign begins. Zurple builds your business on autopilot with a healthy stream of exclusive leads.
How Zurple Generates Leads
Zurple is one of the real estate lead companies that uses landing pages targeting buyers or sellers for their agents’ specific markets. Use the ads manager inside Zurple to run ads to drive traffic to your landing pages and capture leads organically through your social media, website, and any other place you exist on the internet. Zurple also offers paid programs as an add-on if you want to let them do the heavy lifting to get your landing pages in front of the right people.
Additional Features
- Starting monthly prices:
- Basic Package: $309
- Auto Leads: $448
- Add’l Sites: Basic package at $309 + $100/month per site
- Pipeline Boost: $609
- Behavior-led outreach: These highly engaging interactions are sophisticated outreach campaigns using email, text messages, MLS market updates, new listings, and more that adjust based on the lead’s behaviors.
- Lead-capturing websites and integrated CRM: Instead of having one website with your branding and IDX feed, Zurple’s websites are more like landing pages designed to capture data from site visitors. This feature separates your agent site from these landing pages, driving more leads directly to your CRM.
Market Leader: Best for Exclusive Leads
Why I Chose Market Leader
Market Leader remains near my top rankings as best realtor lead generation because of its exclusive lead guarantee and new Network Boost program, which offers affordable top-of-funnel social media leads and automated nurturing tools. Unlike its competitors, Market Leader provides a predictable number of monthly exclusive leads, which makes predicting your future performance much more straightforward. Once you figure out your lead conversion rate and closing ratios, it’s easier to forecast how many deals you’ll close in a year.
How Market Leader Generates Leads
Market Leader takes the ad agency approach to generate real estate leads, placing targeted ads where your prospects spend their time (Facebook and Google). These ads direct seller prospects to Market Leader’s landing page and HouseValues.com, and buyer leads to a personally branded, IDX search-enabled site. Once a lead gives their information, it’s automatically populated in the Market Leader CRM, and then you take over with nurturing and conversion.
Additional Features
- Starting monthly prices:
- Professional for Agents: $189 + $10 to $50 per lead (for one user only)
- Market Leader Teams: $329 + $10 to $5 per lead (up to 10 users)
- Market Leader Business Suite: Custom
- Network Boost: $300 per month for 30 leads per month; $500 a month for 50-plus leads per month
- Teams (up to 10): $329
- Affordable social media leads and automated lead nurturing tools: Market Leader’s new Network Boost program offers social media leads at just $6 each. You’ll want to nurture these top-of-funnel leads with Market Leader’s automated lead nurturing tools.
- Mobile app: Market Leader’s mobile app allows agents to promptly and efficiently respond to new leads using real-time push notifications and contact records, which include lead insights. Additionally, all email activity is synchronized with your desktop CRM, ensuring you never miss any important updates.
Offrs: Best Seller Leads Without a Contract
Why I Chose Offrs
I included Offrs on this list because it uses predictive analytics to generate leads but doesn’t lock agents into a long-term contract. I love that Offrs also uses hundreds of data points to generate their predicted sellers and boasts a 72% accuracy rate. If you’re looking for a platform to help you predict your gross commission income (GCI) for the year, Offrs claims to be the software to do just that.
How Offrs Generates Leads
Offrs generates agent leads with predictive analytics. It pushes hundreds of data points through its proprietary algorithms and AI systems to uncover behaviors, characteristics, and demographics that lead to home sales within 12 months. The leads are then delivered directly to the Offrs agent.
Additional Features
- Starting monthly prices:
- 10 cents per month for each lead
- $400 per month for leads in one ZIP code
- $800 per month for exclusive leads in one ZIP code
- RAIA (AI-powered lead conversion): $499 per month
- Premium: $799 per month
- Premium + ISA (Inside sales assistant): $1,199 per month
- Includes exclusive paid lead generation for up to five ZIP codes: Offrs’ price tag comes with paid lead capture campaigns and a daily dose of predictive sellers, for sale by owner (FSBO), and expired listings in your designated areas. You’ll also get online ads to target your leads and enhance your conversion rate. Offrs uses hundreds of data points to uncover patterns of behavior that lead to homeowners selling within 12 months.
- ROOF conversion: ROOF leverages its AI technology to help convert your leads into clients by ensuring each lead is touched 30 times within the first 90 days. ROOF is your inside sales agent (ISA) reaching out to your leads via text, calls, and email. The AI assistant will qualify your leads for you and stay in touch until it’s time for you to take over. The best part about ROOF is that you can pay for the upgrade and use it at will, or you can simply pay a 25% referral fee from your commission at closing.
Zillow Premier Agent: Best for Buyer Leads
Why I Chose Zillow Premier Agent
Zillow Premier Agent captures buyer leads before the competition. Millions of buyers start their home search on Zillow’s website. An astonishing 93.2 million monthly visitors go directly to Zillow’s website—not Google—to search for homes. What does that mean for you? Well, since so many buyers start their search on Zillow, by the time they end up clicking on a Google or Facebook ad from another lead generation company, chances are they’re already talking to a Premier Agent. Advertising on Zillow gives you a first shot at these leads.
How Zillow Premier Agent Generates Leads
Zillow sells display advertising next to listings in specific ZIP codes to its clients (Premier Agents). Zillow transfers leads to the Zillow CRM or into whatever CRM you’re using, and the nurturing and conversion are up to you.
Additional Features
- Starting monthly prices: The estimates below fluctuate based on the median sold price in your area, number of agents, and how many leads you want to capture with the service.
- Major metro markets start at around $1,000 per month.
- Nonmajor markets average between $300 and $500 per month.
- Generates warmer buyer leads than other companies (yes, really): Even if buyers start their home search on Google, Zillow’s unique advertising strategy means you’ll get warmer buyer leads from the platform. Unlike competitors who capture buyer leads while they’re looking at cute kitten videos on Facebook, Zillow generates leads when they are actively searching for homes. So, does that mean every lead you get from Zillow will be ready to close in a month? Of course not. However, the purchase intent is generally higher.
- Client communication resources: This Zillow tool helps real estate agents keep track of their clients. It lets agents know when they have a new client or if someone wants to see a house. Agents can also put their clients into groups, like people who want to buy a house or people who want to sell one. They can also keep records of texts, emails, and calls with each client to remember what they talked about.
Ylopo: Best for Tech-savvy Pros
Why I Chose Ylopo
Ylopo is a stellar choice for tech-savvy agents seeking a complete marketing solution that generates quality leads. It allows you to integrate with your existing marketing systems, like your favorite CRM, while delivering exceptional advertising that generates new leads and reinvigorates your cold ones. Furthermore, I love that Ylopo uses an advanced matching algorithm that instantly connects your newest home listings to prospective buyers based on their search criteria and interests.
How Ylopo Generates Leads
Ylopo is a done-for-you marketing solution that leans into the power of PPC ads on Google and Facebook ads. It drives traffic to your optimized website and tracks behaviors to tailor the user experience. Ylopo uses lead capture from the PPC ads and feeds them directly to your chosen CRM.
Once the leads are in your CRM, the Ylopo lead nurturing AI bot, Raiya, begins interacting with your leads through text and voice to engage and qualify them. Most leads are top-of-funnel digital leads and require a longer nurturing process. However, the retargeting of older leads amplifies your success and conversion rates.
Additional Features
- Starting monthly prices: Ylopo offers flexible custom packages based on services, features, and ad budget needs. Costs generally range from $600-$1200 monthly. There are no long-term contracts required. Key variables influencing costs include:
- Ad budget: Higher monthly ad spending allows for more lead volume. Budgets usually range from $1000-$5000 per month.
- Database size: Remarketing to your current database normally brings clients the highest and fastest ROI. We generally recommend you spend around $100 per 1,000 leads in your database on remarketing to nurture them effectively.
- Service level: Compared with the entry-level, premium packages have more features and concierge service.
- Team add-ons: Additional fees apply for AI (RAIYA), onboarding, and custom website work if needed.
- Markets: Lead generation costs vary significantly by geographic market. Exact pricing is customized during onboarding. Ylopo specializes in maximizing ROI on ad spending to deliver strong value.
- Includes paid ads and speed-optimized websites: Ylopo is a done-for-you marketing solution designed to drive traffic to your website, capture information from top-of-funnel leads, and feed them into your integrated CRM for a long-term nurturing campaign. You’ll have to do a lot of work to convert these digital leads into clients, but the lead generation from Ylopo will deliver plenty of leads for you to work with.
- Remarketing and AI-enhanced lead nurturing: Ylopo uses data mining, paid ads, and AI to target cold leads and nurture new ones. It tracks leads’ online behaviors and tailors Facebook ads to reignite cold leads and keep fresh leads engaged.
Real Geeks: Best for Affordable, All-in-One Lead Generation
Why I Chose Real Geeks
I chose Real Geeks as an all-in-one lead generation platform because it offers the same cutting-edge lead generation, marketing, and nurturing tools other platforms offer at a price individual agents can afford. You get a sleek IDX website designed for conversion, a sophisticated CRM, automated drip campaigns and texting, top-shelf training and customer support, and even a behavioral marketing tool called Reactive Responses that can give Zurple a run for its money.
How Real Geeks Generates Leads
Real Geeks generates leads using a combination of Google and Bing PPC ads to drive seller leads to home valuation landing pages or Facebook ads to drive buyer leads to an IDX website. You can also generate leads yourself with their platform using the Facebook Marketing tool to simplify the process of creating Facebook ads and save some money. Real Geeks users can also drive traffic to their IDX websites or landing pages through search engine optimization (SEO) or social media to generate leads.
Additional Features
- Starting monthly prices: The prices below are based on a 12-month term contract paid per month and have a one-time signup fee.
- Establish: $299
- Grow: $599
- Expand: $999
- Conquer: $1,599
- Includes paid real estate leads and DIY lead generation tools: I love that Real Geeks’ platform lets you choose how you want to generate real estate leads. You can buy into their Real Leads program and let their marketing experts run your Facebook, Google, and Bing ads for you, or you can use their Facebook Marketing Tool to create your ads. You can use their home valuation tool to generate seller leads or drive traffic from your Facebook ads to your IDX website to capture buyer leads.
- IDX website and CRM designed for conversion: I love Real Geeks’ powerful conversion tools. The home valuation tool allows you to create custom landing pages for specific neighborhoods and automatically send out a market report drip campaign to nurture them. You can create custom workflows to nurture your leads or use tools like SMS auto-responders, their AI chatbot Robin, or Reactive Responses, which sends automated text messages based on leads’ behavior on your website.
Catalyze AI: Best for Exclusive Inherited Property Leads
Why I Chose Catalyze AI
Catalyze AI took the crown for best inheritance leads—they are the only company using predictive analytics and AI technology to identify highly motivated inheritance leads before they end up in probate court. They can also uncover inherited properties in trusts—something competitors like US Probate Leads and All The Leads can’t do. That means you can start marketing to highly motivated sellers before they get sold as leads to other companies. With so many agents desperate for listings, getting there first gives you a massive advantage.
How Catalyze AI Generates Leads
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people inherit properties. Catalyze AI helps sort through more than 400 million data points to narrow these properties down to the best real estate leads—so incredible that Catalyze AI estimates this market represents $77 billion in property value each year.
Additional Features
- Starting monthly prices:
- $360 per month for 30 leads under $1 million
- $450 per month for 30 leads over $1 million
- Highly motivated exclusive sellers: Catalyze AI finds people who really want to sell their homes. They’d rather get quick cash than keep paying for a home they don’t need. If the home goes to probate, it might take a while to sell. But usually, 40% of the people sell within a year. Working with Catalyze AI lets you talk to these people first, so they’ll call you when they want to sell.
- Affordable leads allow you to fill your database quickly: Catalyze AI offers exclusive seller leads starting at $12 per lead for homes worth less than $1 million and $15 per lead for homes over $1 million. This allows you to quickly expand your database and use automated nurturing tools to keep potential leads engaged while you focus on leads that require immediate attention.
REDX: Best for Prospecting Leads
Why I Chose REDX
REDX offers real estate niche leads for seller agents at an affordable price, starting at $49.99 per month. Even better, all the leads REDX offers are seller leads, including expired listings, GeoLeads, FSBO, for rent by owner (FRBO), and preforeclosure leads. In addition, REDX offers multiple lead types and provides tools, training, and scripts to convert leads into clients. If you want to become a listing agent and are willing to make calls, REDX gives you the best value.
How REDX Generates Leads
Instead of waiting for leads, REDX flips the script with an outbound real estate lead generation system, putting contact information (and the power to make connections) into the hands of real estate agents, teams, and brokers.
REDX users choose the lead types (such as expired listings, FSBOs, and preforeclosures) they want to target, and REDX provides contact information. With a constantly updated system, you’ve always got a fresh list of real estate agent leads in your area, so you can decide how much time you want to spend reaching out, following up, and converting them into clients.
Additional Features
- Starting monthly prices: You can get leads and tools for as low as $49.99/month. Pay monthly OR save with quarterly, semi-annual, and annual payment options for all leads and tools. All pricing below is per month:
- Expired Leads: Starting at $69.99
- GeoLeads™: Starting at $69.99
- FSBO Leads: Starting at $49.99
- FRBO Leads: Starting at $59.99
- Preforeclosure Leads: Starting at $49.99
- Ad Builder: $49.99
- Brand Builder Social Video Edits: $267
- Brand Builder UNLIMITED: $899
- Brand Builder Social Management: $699
- Power Dialer Products: Starting at $59
- Vortex®: Free with any subscription
- Vortex CRM and Power Dialer make prospecting easier: REDX’s included VORTEX CRM and Power Dialer work together to simplify and speed up the cold calling process. Leads are sent directly to the VORTEX CRM. The Power Dialer automatically dials and connects you if the lead picks up the phone. The system leaves a prerecorded message on their voicemail if they don’t. When you connect to a lead, the Power Dialer pulls up scripts and objection handlers to help you convert them.
- Included scripts, objection handlers, and training to help you convert more leads: While similar lead generation companies just sell you leads and an auto-dialer, REDX takes it a step further by including powerful scripts and objection handlers right in the auto-dialer to help you convert them. They even offer live role-playing and extensive lead conversion training with expert cold callers like LabCoat Agents’ Tristan Ahumada.
zBuyer: Best for Affordable Leads With No Contract
Why I Chose zBuyer
Consider zBuyer for an affordable and efficient way to get high-quality leads without the commitment of long-term contracts or expensive CRM and marketing tools. Unlike other lead generation companies for realtors that require lengthy contracts, zBuyer gives you the flexibility to leave if you’re not satisfied with the platform or the leads, no questions asked. This approach, different from other real estate lead generation companies, aims to address the common complaint of being locked into long contracts.
How zBuyer Generates Leads
zBuyer uses innovative analytics to uncover early indications of interest in selling or buying. The company offers targeted potential sellers a chance to discover their home’s worth and potentially a cash offer. Buyer leads are captured through the company’s site, HousingNow.com.
Potential leads must confirm their interest at several points, verifying their intent, which results in higher conversion rates. zBuyer then provides the agent with the lead’s contact information in real-time via the zBuyer app, email, and your chosen CRM. While the leads aren’t exclusive, zBuyer says they work hard to “limit their exposure.” ZBuyer is a low-cost, low-risk option with excellent customer service and a robust lead-generation strategy.
Additional Features
- Starting monthly prices:
- $400 per month minimum (leads cost between $12 and $17 each)
- No contract or startup fees
- Free prospecting leads: Another feature that puts zBuyer at the top of my list is its free prospecting leads. Yes, you read that right. For every dollar you spend with zBuyer, they will give you one four- to 12-month-old lead from their system—for free. These leads will be ice cold, but you can always warm them up with lead-scoring software like Revaluate.
- You don’t have to spend money on a CRM you don’t want: Most realtors who want to buy leads already have a CRM. Instead of forcing you to pay $200-plus per month for another one, like most lead generation companies
SmartZip: Best for Geographic Farming
Why I Chose SmartZip
SmartZip’s near-magical ability to predict likely sellers is complemented by its suite of marketing tools, which are highly effective in nurturing and converting these leads. This made SmartZip a clear choice for seller leads. SmartZip’s predictive analytics technology combs through millions of data points to identify likely sellers six to 12 months before they’re ready to sell. That means you’ll reach seller leads before your competition does, and with the help of SmartZip’s marketing tools, you’ll be able to convert them into successful sales.
How SmartZip Generates Leads
SmartZip combs through consumer data (from places like credit card companies), market data (from places like your MLS), and demographic data, predicting which homeowners in your targeted region are most likely to sell.
Realtors who sign up with SmartZip get instant access to the SmartZip CRM, which is populated with “Smart Data” for their areas. Essentially, this is a list of all the property owners in your targeted area, ranked by how likely they are to sell their home in the next year and a half. Armed with this information, you can focus your outreach on only the most likely sellers, saving you time and money on marketing efforts and making your lead conversations more fruitful.
Additional Features
- Starting monthly prices: $299 (requires 12-month contract)
- Reach150: Using Reach150, real estate agents can manage their online presence and use favorable testimonials to attract new referral clients.
- Best-in-class marketing and nurturing tools: I love SmartZip’s marketing and nurturing tools. While its CRM might not be as sophisticated or customizable as tools like Propertybase, it does give you a lead’s estimated equity, home data, social media profiles, or taxable value changes. That’s not to mention their CheckIn app, which tells you who to follow up with every day. You also get home valuation landing pages, automated direct mail campaigns, a comparative market analysis tool, and local trend reports.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are real estate lead generation companies?
Real estate lead generation sites leverage technology, including predictive analytics and AI, advertising skills, and professional staff, to generate leads for realtors, teams, and brokerages. The most common way these companies generate leads is by placing ads on social media platforms and search engines to capture a buyer’s or seller’s contact information. They then sell this contact information to real estate agents who work to convert them into clients.
There are three main categories of real estate lead generation companies:
- Full-service lead generation companies that run all advertising, prequalifying, and lead nurturing campaigns for you.
- Companies that only provide lead generation websites, CRMs, and other tools to help you generate leads independently.
- Companies that sell leads without websites, CRM, or nurturing tools.
Regardless of which kind of lead generation company you choose, the goal is to fill your database with leads.
How do I find the best lead generation company?
Different agents need different ways to find people who want to buy a house. I found some real estate lead generator companies that can help with this. You should consider how much money you have and how good you are at convincing people to buy. Then, think about the good and bad things about each company to see which one is best for you.
Think about the tools you already use and whether you want to keep using them or try a new one that does everything. After you decide on a company, you can pick the best one for you. Most companies need you to use them for at least six months. It might take a while to see if they help you make more money, so be patient. If you don’t like the company you picked, you can look at other options. Remember, what works best depends on you and your team.
How much do real estate leads cost?
In 2024, real estate leads cost anywhere from $5 to $100 each when purchased from a lead generation company. Since solo realtors only close a small percentage of the leads they buy, most pay between $300 and $1,000 monthly for leads. Teams and brokerages using the lead team model often pay $5,000 monthly to purchase enough leads for their agents.
Here is a quick breakdown of the seven factors influencing the price of leads:
- How quickly the lead needs to buy or sell a home
- The cost of software and services that lead generation companies bundle with their leads
- Whether the lead is exclusive or nonexclusive
- The price point of the home the lead is trying to buy or sell
- The state, city, and neighborhood where the lead is sold
- Whether or not the company prequalifies the lead
- The number of other agents competing for the same lead
What are exclusive leads?
An exclusive lead is a buyer or seller that a lead generation company sells to only one agent. Of course, this doesn’t guarantee that the lead has not already been contacted by, or worse, is already working with another agent. It also doesn’t guarantee the lead is not being sold to multiple agents by other lead generation companies. It just means the individual company selling the lead is not selling it to other agents. This is a crucial distinction that too many agents miss.
Some lead generation companies take the time to prequalify each exclusive lead they sell to understand their real estate goals, verify their contact information is correct, and make sure they are not working with another agent. As you might imagine, these companies charge much higher prices than those that sell unverified leads.
Is it better to buy high-funnel or low-funnel leads?
Agents should consider buying a mix of high-funnel and low-funnel leads to grow their businesses. High-funnel leads may not be ready to buy or sell for six to 12 months, while low-funnel leads may be more immediate. Experienced agents often prefer high-funnel leads because there’s less competition, giving them an advantage in a slow market. However, having low-funnel leads is still vital for generating income while waiting for high-funnel leads to warm up.
The ratio of high-funnel to low-funnel leads that is best for you may depend on your experience as an agent. If you’re a newer agent, buying more low-funnel leads may be beneficial despite the higher cost because they can help you generate income and experience more quickly. In contrast, experienced agents are more likely to have a large database of leads and referrals, allowing them to focus on more affordable, high-funnel leads.
How do most Realtors get leads?
Successful real estate agents diversify lead generation so businesses don’t live or die from a single source. Paid lead generation, referrals, repeat business, and organic social marketing are great examples of how real estate agents get new leads. Having a plan for your overall real estate lead generation strategy is essential. If you need help with this, check out our article on creating a custom real estate lead generation plan. It even has some helpful templates to get you started.
Are real estate lead generation companies worth it?
If you can get a high enough return on your investment, paid lead generation strategies are absolutely worth it. Think about this: if someone said you could earn a $15,000 commission by writing a $5,000 check, you’d do it, right? Assuming the number of hours you must put in to get that commission won’t be worth more than $10,000 of work, the numbers pencil out.
For most agents who invest in real estate lead generation, the commission from one closing can cover the total investment for the year. The upside is that if you’ve covered the annual cost of your lead generation with one closing, then any additional commissions for the year are added profits. Since lead generation is continuous, you can do the math to determine, with some degree of certainty, how much GCI you will make in a year.
What’s a good price per lead in real estate?
In most markets, the maximum price a real estate agent should be comfortable spending per lead is $200. That seems high, but let’s do a little math together. Let’s say you get ten leads in a week from a real estate lead generation company and convert one into a client. Let’s assume you’re converting 75% of those clients into sales. This metric means you’re closing three monthly transactions out of 40 leads.
For 40 leads a month, you’re paying $8,000 (40 x $200). With the typical home selling for more than $300,000, those three sales gross you $27,000 in GCI (assuming a 3% side). That nets you $19,000 before splits and taxes. Of course, this price changes based on your conversion rates, the typical sale price of a home in your market, and your commission percentage. But for most agents, $200 per lead is a great benchmark.
Methodology: How I Chose the Top Real Estate Lead Generation Companies for 2024
To evaluate the real estate lead generation companies in this article, I leaned on our team of licensed real estate pros, writers, and editors, who created a weighted rubric to evaluate each company. Our team has spent hours researching dozens of companies and assessing each one based on the most impactful elements for agents and brokers. Here are the criteria we based our evaluations on:
- Pricing (20%)
- I looked at the average price per lead for buyer and seller leads, monthly ad management fees, the minimum required ad spend, onboarding fees, and pricing for mandatory tools like CRMs, IDX websites, and automated lead nurturing. I also included whether or not a contract is required.
- Features (25%)
- I evaluated each company’s main features, like lead capture tools, lead management, integrations, and ease of use. If a company required features like a built-in CRM, IDX websites, or automated nurturing, I included those features in my analysis.
- Advanced Features (20%)
- I evaluated whether the leads generated were high-funnel or low-funnel, lead exclusivity, how leads are qualified, lead quality, and how difficult the leads are to convert.
- User Experience (UX)/Customer Service (10%)
- The dashboard and user interface are important factors to consider. If it’s challenging to use or find your way around the platform, you’ll be much less likely to use it.
- Customer Rating (10%)
- I read reviews of software after I’ve taken it for a test drive to evaluate others’ experiences compared to my own. I take that additional feedback into account when assessing any software.
- Expert Score (15%)
- I give extra credit for any standout features not covered in the above categories.
Your Take
Are there any top real estate lead generation companies we haven’t covered that you’d like to know more about? Or perhaps you have experiences with the ones we’ve already listed? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section!
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