Is your mailbox jammed with flyers, ads, and junk mail that you barely glance at? Bad real estate postcards end up in the recycling bin before they even make it through the front door of most homes.
That’s why we searched for the most effective real estate postcards and compiled a list of the top five providers you should consider for your next mailer campaign. Here are 15 real estate postcards that actually work and our favorite providers to jump-start your real estate prospecting efforts!
Top Five Real Estate Postcards Providers of 2021
| Real Estate Postcards Provider | Best For |
|---|---|
| ProspectsPLUS! | A real estate-specific company with tons of options for just about every postcard type |
| Labcoat Agents | A marketing suite for creating an entire marketing campaign, including awesome postcards |
| Postcard Mania | Optional free samples to try before you buy |
| Vistaprint | Cross-over merchandise (like mugs or key chains) along with attractive postcards |
| Canva | Absolute creative control to customize your postcards |
The Close recommends: We suggest you check out all our suggestions for real estate postcard providers, but if you’ve only got time for one, it should be ProspectsPLUS!. This company has one goal: to create high-quality, converting postcards for real estate agents. They’ve got a solid selection of road-tested postcards that will get the job done for you consistently.
15 Real Estate Postcards That Actually Work
OK, so now that you know our suggestions for the best places to get real estate postcards, let’s take a look at 15 different mailers that you can use to create conversations, generate leads, and ultimately, get to the closing table more often.
1. Just Listed Real Estate Postcards
Where to find this postcard: Labcoat Agents
Best for: Generating buyer leads for your subject property and additional seller leads from the surrounding neighborhood
When to send: Every time you send a new listing live
The Just Listed postcard is the perfect place to start because it’s a mainstay of the promotional strategy for any successful Realtor.
This Just Listed postcard serves two purposes: The first is to alert buyers in your network of a property they might be interested in. The second is to alert the neighbors that you, the local area real estate rock star, just listed a great home. And if they’re interested, they could be next.
Circle prospecting, or the act of sending out media to homes surrounding your existing listings and past sales, is a great place to use the Just Listed postcard. This technique gets more efficient over time if you are consistent with it too; the more the neighbors hear about your success, the higher your return rate will be on each communication.
2. Just Sold Real Estate Postcards
Where to find this postcard: Vistaprint
Best for: Generating new seller leads from the surrounding area
When to send: Every time you close a property
Similar to the Just Listed postcard, the Just Sold postcard is all about making your presence in the neighborhood known, and specifically, your successes. Every time you sell a property, get the word out about it. Having your sign in the yard is great for visibility. Follow up that visibility with a message that tells everyone you’ve finished the job, and you can do the same for them.
Once again, your results from this sort of circle prospecting will improve dramatically when you are consistent with this practice. So build it into your process of closing out a file; it’s sure to get you more listings.
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3. Expired Listing Real Estate Postcards
Where to find this postcard: Postcard Mania
Best for: Generating new seller leads from expired listings
When to send: Every time a property expires
Expired listings are fertile leads if you know how to convert them. Many Realtors who are frustrated with a low success rate when it comes to expired listings don’t have the right message or the right timing.
As far as messaging goes, this postcard is a great place to identify the seller’s pain points, let them know that you are aware of how frustrating an expired listing can be, and that you are here to help.
4. FSBO Real Estate Postcards
Where to find this postcard: ProspectsPLUS!
Best for: Generating new seller leads from FSBO properties
When to send: Whenever you find a FSBO listing
FSBO sellers are also great candidates to receive a postcard. A FSBO seller has announced to the world that they want to sell their home. It’s just up to you to show them why you’re the perfect person to help sell it.
Your postcard messaging should focus on addressing what you can do to eliminate the challenging aspects of selling a home. Identify the problems, but don’t dwell on them. Instead, focus on your solutions, then you can follow your postcard up with a solid phone conversation or drop-by to close the deal.
5. New Agent Real Estate Postcards
Where to find this postcard: Postcard Mania
Best for: Generating new buyer and seller leads
When to send: Any time in your first year at a new office
Early in your career, getting the word out about your new business is critical, and having a postcard to help in that is a great idea. Be cheerful and optimistic. Make sure to mention what is important to you as a Realtor and why that’s important to your community.
For this type of postcard, a bigger mailing list isn’t always better. While it may be tempting to pepper the entire city with new agent postcards, keep in mind who the most receptive audience will be: people who already have a rough idea of who you are. Perhaps this could be the first point of contact in your new neighborhood farm campaign?
6. Offering a Service: Seller CMA Real Estate Postcards
Where to find this postcard: ProspectsPLUS!
Best for: Generating new seller leads
When to send: Once just before the start of the busy selling season, once as the busy season is wrapping up
Sometimes all a property owner needs to start the selling process is verification that what they’ve heard about the market is true. Creating a postcard that details your offer of a free, no-obligation market analysis is a strategy that gets postcard responses.
Try this postcard when you’re testing new potential farm areas. Find a neighborhood that has been HOT in recent months, and customize the message just for them by offering a free comparative market analysis (CMA).
7. Rental Communities / Potential Buyers Real Estate Postcards
Where to find this postcard: Postcard Mania
Best for: Generating new buyer leads
When to send: Up to once a quarter
Many Realtors overlook the fact that the rental communities in or around their farm areas are perfect places to prospect for buyers using a postcard. Quite a few of the residents of these communities are potential first-time homebuyers, so marketing specifically to them can offer a decent return on investment (ROI).
You’ll get a much better response rate when you tailor your message to the community itself. Here’s an example:
Say you want to farm an apartment complex where the average rent for a two-bedroom is $1,200 per month. Use a basic mortgage calculator and determine what that sort of monthly payment would allow for in terms of a purchase price, and customize your message with this information.
Obviously, everybody’s situation and capability are different, but many renters are unaware of what their rent payment could get them, so tell them!
8. Stalled Funnel Real Estate Postcards
Where to find this postcard: Canva
Best for: Generating new seller leads
When to send: Up to once a quarter
We’ve all got prospects that have been hovering in the lead funnel for months now—people that just can’t seem to pull the trigger. Delivering a message of encouragement using a postcard directed at the soon-to-be buyers or sellers who need a little nudge can be very effective.
If you want to maximize your ROI, you need to personalize your message to the market you’re working in. For instance, add some text about the median days on market for your particular area—make your postcard recipients feel like the market isn’t just good, it’s good for THEM.
Roll this postcard out to property owners who have demonstrated their interest in selling but haven’t moved much past the interest phase of the funnel or to your farm area in general.
9. Fence-sitting Buyer Real Estate Postcards
Where to find this postcard: ProspectsPLUS!
Best for: Generating new buyer leads
When to send: Up to once a quarter
When a homebuyer doesn’t feel any urgency in their decision-making process, it’s easy for them to linger in or fall out of the lead funnel altogether. Obviously, you never want your clients to feel rushed into a decision they aren’t ready for, but sometimes a message of urgency is what it takes to get people thinking again.
The Fence-sitting Buyer postcard is perfect for any buyer prospect who is getting slower at returning calls and texts, who decided not to stop by the open house last weekend, or who is considering “just renting for another year.”
10. Personal Sphere Real Estate Postcards
Where to find this postcard: Postcard Mania
Best for: Generating buyer and seller leads
When to send: Twice a year
As an active Realtor, your sphere knows that they’re going to hear from you. Whether it’s in the form of text messages, phone calls, email, or lively conversation at the local watering hole, the longer you do this job, the more your social circle comes to expect it.
Do the unexpected and include them in your postcard mailing too. Since they know you, they will be more likely to save that postcard longer.
Your messaging can be a little lighter and a little more familiar, but make sure it is deliberate and has a well-defined call to action.
11. Referral Solicitation Real Estate Postcards
Where to find this postcard: ProspectsPLUS!
Best for: Generating new seller leads
When to send: Once or twice a year
Some of the most valuable communication with your prospective clients doesn’t come from you—it comes from buyers and sellers with whom you’ve closed. A postcard you can use to actively solicit referrals pairs really nicely with a phone call 24 hours after the postcard has been received to see what business your past clients can provide you.
12. Home Purchase Anniversary Real Estate Postcards
Where to find this postcard: ProspectsPLUS!
Best for: Generating new buyer and seller leads
When to send: Once a year, on the closing day anniversary
Keeping in contact with satisfied clients is the best way to keep top of mind when they, or even better, someone they know, is considering a new transaction or just needs real estate advice.
An easy way to stay top of mind is to send a closing day anniversary postcard to every one of your closed sales. Since these are one-off postcards, consider an image that you can use for multiple clients. Include a short handwritten note, and make sure you put your send date on the calendar so you don’t miss the day.
13. Real Estate Postcards for Farming
Where to find this postcard: Labcoat Agents
Best for: Generating new seller leads
When to send: Up to once a month, best every 45 to 60 days
Part of working a real estate farm area is providing content that shows you’re a part of the community and care about its long-term growth. Therefore, your message has to deliver consistent value, including keeping people up to date about the state of the market.
Market updates are a great way to remind people that real estate is happening in their community and prompt them to consider what their home as an investment is worth on today’s market—a sure-fire way to generate conversations with potential sellers.
14. Special Occasion Real Estate Postcards
Where to find this postcard: Postcard Mania
Best for: Generating new buyer and seller leads
When to send: Special occasions, up to once a quarter
Special occasions are great times to connect with your entire sphere. Major holidays are awesome opportunities for communication, but don’t forget important but overlooked times like back to school, daylight savings, or Earth Day. Your clients will likely identify with these relatively universal themes and seasons
Do your best to time the delivery of a piece of mail like this for maximum effectiveness. For instance, a daylight savings reminder won’t do any good if it arrives two weeks early and certainly won’t work if it arrives late. Make your message positive and concise, and include an invitation to connect as well.
15. Special Event Calendar Real Estate Postcards
Where to find this postcard: ProspectsPLUS!
Best for: Generating new seller leads
When to send: Once or twice a year
Take advantage of your local area’s major events by creating a calendar of can’t-miss happenings that you can send out to all your contacts once a year. Major sporting events, concerts, local festivals, even school calendars can be permanent fridge additions, along with your name, face, contact information, and a call to action.
Special event postcards are great in part because it gains effectiveness if you are consistent in delivering it. If someone gets the football schedule from you one year, they’re more likely to accept it and make it a fixture in their kitchen again and again. Just make sure you pick a theme that is timely and appeals to a broad audience.
Real Estate Postcard Design Must-haves
- Big, bold imagery: The postcard is a visual medium, and even if your message is delivered in the text, you need to catch your recipient’s eye as your postcard is pulled from the mailbox.
- Headshot: For the same reasons, a postcard’s main image is so important, and including your headshot is important too. Make sure you leave no doubt who is behind the message that your audience is enjoying.
- Relevant contact information: The response rate on your postcard is guaranteed to be zero if you don’t include ways that people can reach out to you. Name, phone number, and email at the minimum.
- A call to action: What do you want the audience of your mailer to DO after they have read your message? Make sure you direct your audience, whether to call you and discuss home prices or put their football game schedule on the fridge.
- Brokerage information: Many states require a return address for unsolicited mail pieces, and in the case of real estate-related marketing, your brokerage information. Make sure you include somewhere your brokerage name and address.
Don’t Forget: Real Estate Postcard Disclaimer
The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) Code of Ethics prohibits the solicitation of business from buyers or sellers already exclusively represented by a Realtor. When sending out larger mail pieces, you may inadvertently mail to addresses currently on the market or to buyers already represented by an agent.
To avoid the headaches of potential ethics complaints, include the following somewhere on your postcard (we suggest in very fine print):
“If your property is currently listed with a Realtor and/or you are currently represented exclusively as a buyer by a Realtor, please disregard this notice. It is not our intention to solicit the offerings of other Brokers.”
Create Your Own Real Estate Postcards
Real estate postcards are powerful tools for marketing, brand development, and lead generation. While you won’t find any top producers out there that rely SOLELY on postcards to get the word out about their business, postcards are still impactful—especially if you’re purposeful and strategic about deploying them.
If you’re looking for an excellent resource for designing, printing, and sending postcards, check out ProspectsPLUS!. They can help get your postcard strategy in motion with professional and affordable direct mail services.
Thanks,
Looks great.
Hello Chris,
You left out Corefact? Why?
Hi Frank –
Thanks for the question. No specific reason, just only so much room in a single article. I will definitely consider them for the next update of this piece, thanks!
Chris
Postcard #14 “Let Get Back to School”. The quote is from Malcolm X, not Malcolm Little. Please use his correct name. “Little” is the name used before he found himself, his slave name. If you quote Muhammed Ali, we don’t quote him as Cassius Clay. Just making the point. Thank you.
Jaymar –
Thank you for the comment. This was definitely an oversight on our part, I appreciate the head’s up. That quote appears on the graphic we got from the postcard company, so unfortunately, it isn’t something that we can change on our end, but we can choose a different postcard to highlight in this slot. Again, thanks for your insight, I’ll work on this today.
Chris
This was definitely a great and helpful article.
And as others have stated if you don’t want junk mail just trash it, very easy, don’t knock people just trying to help.
Wow, the woman who is complaining about receiving real estate postcards appears to have some real anger issues…texting a nasty note to the agent…REALLY? I certainly hope she won’t be needing the service of a realtor anytime soon; just as she can choose a realtor, we can choose who we want to represent. Postcards work!
The “Visit ProspectsPLUS!” button link above is pointing to an error page.
Also, in targeting postcards, the money is in the list and they must reach the right audience. There was not much mention of mailing lists here, so I was wondering about that. For example, I would want to keep my targeting separate to buyers versus targeting that reaches sellers, etc. Can you recommend some good list sources? Hats off to this site and the wealth of information that’s here 🙂
Hi Joe –
Thanks for the head’s up on the link, we’ll get that fixed ASAP.
And, yes, I totally agree with you. The list is everything. The more specialized and engaged your audience is, the better conversion, interaction, and ultimately, success you’ll have with them. The best lists are cultivated organically, and I don’t have any good suggestions off the top of my head otherwise, but I will keep my eyes peeled!
Chris
Thanks for sharing such an amazing post. this is really helpful for me.
Hi Jen –
Glad to help, that’s what we’re here for.
Chris
The disclaimer you described (please disregard this notice if your property is listed with a Realtor) is another really outdated concept. We are in a free market economy. We should be free to market to whomever we choose. The realtor that already has the listing is protected from harm by his own listing contract – another realtor can’t come along and take that listing, at least not until it has expired. Do you think Costco catalogues use a disclaimer: “If you are already a Walmart customer, please disregard this catalogue.” You see how ridiculous it is? Every business is out there trying to take market share. That’s the way of the world. Get over your protectionist concepts from 40 years ago.
Good morning Gary –
Thanks for the comment. Though I appreciate your perspective and agree that we are in a free market economy (a fact that arguably no industry more than real estate has benefited more from), I offer the following rebuttal:
The disclaimer on the postcard is not there to prevent hurting the delicate sensibilities of the consumer, it’s there to protect the Realtor from NAR ethics complaints.
Article 16 of the National Association of Realtors Code of Ethics reads:
“REALTORS® shall not engage in any practice or take any action inconsistent with exclusive representation or exclusive brokerage relationship agreements that other REALTORS® have with clients.”
The standards of practice within that article go on to spell out that a “general mailer” with no specified audience does not violate this article, but any Realtor with any sort of marketing sense is not sending mailers that don’t have a specific audience. Thus, the inclusion of this disclaimer protects the mailing Realtor against all complaints from the listing Realtor. Since including this disclaimer in small print at the bottom of the postcard does nothing to take away from the message of the postcard, why not include it to protect yourself?
A Walmart customer doesn’t sign an exclusive agreement with Walmart to be the only place they shop. Sellers of a home, however, DO sign a contract with a Realtor to exclusively represent them in their sale. An agent who doesn’t respect those contractual obligations and actively (or knowingly passively) solicits business from buyers or sellers who are already represented by another broker is bound to wind up in front of their local board’s ethics committee.
As always, conversation around this (and any real estate) topic is always welcome. Hope this helps clarify my position, let’s keep talking if you’d like!
Chris
Good reply Chris. The average person has no idea what Realtors have to do. Some just think we are like car salesmen. Here’s another note to people that dont like receiving mailouts. If you dont like them , throw them in the garbage like I do with all my junk mail. Who has time to call these people and tell them to stop sending them. I dont have that much free time because I am SELLING Real Estate. Its time consuming. But if you call the agent or send them a nasty email, I guarantee you that when you get ready to sell , pick an agent and list and the agent you sent that nasty message to, will not be bringing a buyer to your house. That might be JUST the Realtor you needed to get it sold to.You never know who will get the buyer. I will not fool with smart alecks. I had this happen to me once and avoided showing the mans property and sold another home instead. He lost out and his property sat on the market because the NEW agent had it listed too high. So you see, the best thing to do is, keep your moth shut and throw the mail outs in the garbage if you are not ready for an agent.
I feel like a born again realtor after reading this amazing article filled with light bubble moment the “Ahas”
Must use most of the postcard to generate business Mr. Chris Linsell thank you soooooo much great article.
Happier reader regards
Mona 🙂
Hi Mona –
So glad to help, let me know if I can assist in any other way.
Chris
Unfortunately, the deluge of several agents sending us all these unsolicited, pestering postcards means it didn’t take long before I hated every single agent sending them, using the same mailing list & they’re shredded within minutes of coming out of the mailbox, while the agent gets a text from me telling them to never contact me again. No one wants to be pestered by people trying to make money off them, especially not in the comfort of our homes. If you want to target older people who ‘are a little less Internet savvy than the average bear’, why don’t you go where they are to do so instead of hoping you hit the jackpot after thousands of postcards go out to people’s homes? When we want an agent we will find one.
As an agent who personally hates my privacy being violated, I don’t cold call or door knock, so a postcard sounds like a gentle way to advertise.
I’m curious – do you also call or text every supermarket, department store or product brand who mails you their ads? If not, why do you resent real estate agents for advertising their businesses?
Hey Tamara do you shred EVERY post card and send a text to everyone who sends you something in the mail or just realtors?
Wow. Complain, complain, complain. Just throw the postcards away and forget it. Postcards ARE a proven sales tool. If you hate getting them, simply contact the agent and tell them to remove you from their list. It’s interesting that you visited this site with postcards being the main focus. Hmmmmmm???? This is a very good website with lots of great ideas!
Davey: Could not agree more with your comment. If there’s something that arrives in your mailbox and it’s relevant….take advantage of it. If not, throw it out and move on to more important things in life other than texting the senders of the postcards….lol 🙂
I hear you, but statistic show that repeated exposure works. Sorry about that!
I did like some of the ideas. I did chuckle at the “free list of homes” card, because of well, you know, the internet… Very quaint.
The Anniversary card is a great idea.
Hi Roland –
Yes, the Internet, pretty handy 🙂
We actually have found that many of the people who are the target market for mailbox marketing are a little less Internet savvy than the average bear, so it can still be an effective tool.
That anniversary card strategy personally landed me a listing referral my first year in the business, I can attest to its success!
Thanks for the comments, keep ’em coming!
Chris