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    Home Unlabelled Realtors: Lead generation: a comprehensive guide

    Realtors: Lead generation: a comprehensive guide

    December 22, 2020

    Realtors: Lead generation: a comprehensive guide

    Lead generation: a comprehensive guide

    Posted: 22 Dec 2020 08:42 AM PST

    So I took a lot of flack in another post for not providing this comprehensive guide in each and every thread and comment on this subject ever, so here you go:

    Social Media

    This is the cheapest (sometimes free) method, although not necessarily the easiest. I'm going to focus on Facebook because it is what I know, mostly because I've been using it for so long.

    If you don't know a lot of people in the area, or you're an introvert, this is a great way to get started.

    There are absolutely TONS of different ways you can generate leads with social media. This is my favorite, and most successful: Find a hobby. If you don't have one, find one. In the days of COVID, it may behoove you to to choose an outdoor hobby like disc golf, running, soccer, tennis, whatever. You don't have to be good at the hobby, just make a Facebook "group". Use a generic name people can search for easily. Invite your friends. If you've got a few bucks to spare, you might promote it on Facebook just to get the ball rolling. Running ads for a social group are going to be much more successful than running ads selling shit. For me, it's mountain biking.

    I have a LOCAL group of ~3500 members now after a little over 2 years. We meet for weekly rides in groups of 10-15. Not many of them are regulars. I bring drinks (beer, water, gatorade) for after-ride chats. I wear my broker apparel.

    Once you have a decent number of people, start organizing events of some kind to meet in person. In-person interactions are far more impactful and leave a lasting impression.

    Start adding people from your group as "friends" on Facebook. This will ensure they get an invite to your meetings.

    It also enables you to do the next step, which is to see their posts, learn more about them, and see if they're a good candidate for targeting. They don't necessarily need to be a good candidate, but you may focus more time on those individuals.

    Pay attention to people's "stories". When you reply to a story, it gets sent as a DM. Again, these are much more impactful interactions than just commenting on a post. Just have a conversation. Many times the conversation will naturally drift to "what do you do?" and then naturally into real estate. If you're a little more blunt like me, I have the broker's name in my profile photo.

    Keep an eye on birthdays. Every morning I look at birthdays. If someone has a birthday, I send them a DIRECT VIDEO MESSAGE wishing them happy birthday (again, video messages are more impactful than text messages, and will separate you from the hundreds of messages they'll likely receive that day).

    If I know where they live, I'll also look about 7 days ahead at upcoming birthdays and send them a $10 gift card. I have some really nice cards I designed and had printed so I keep a big ol' stack of those, and a big ol' stack of gift cards from my favorite local businesses and just send them a HAND WRITTEN card for their birthday.

    A lot of this can be kinda creepy. I know. It's weird and uncomfortable to send messages to people who are varying degrees of "stranger" I feel the same way. But I do it anyway. Many times people are genuinely appreciative, and it sparks further conversation and interaction.

    My goal is to message 5 people/day.

    Create a business page. Invite ALL of your friends to your business page. People who accept your invite are willingly asking for your sales BS, so I feel less bad about giving it to them.

    Make some informational videos and post them to your business page. According to NAR, 85% of people aged 22-29 named the benefit of working with an agent as "helped buyer understand the process". Here are some topics I have done in the past, feel free to add yours in the comments:

    • Why you need an agent (buyers)

    • Why you need an agent (sellers)

    • What questions to ask an agent in an interview.

    • Why you need an agent for new construction

    • What to expect from home inspection/inspectors, 4 inspections for new construction, what separates a good inspector.

    • New construction vs. resale.

    • Monthly BOR market report updates, trends, and what market factors are driving those numbers.

    • How you can afford a home in (city) in 2020, talk about DPA and how terrible other agents are at writing offers.

    • Top neighborhoods for investors

    • Tips for getting your home ready for sale.

    • Interview local business owners.

    • 7 Types of investors (buy and hold, flip, wholesale, etc.)

    If you want to throw some money at it, run these videos as ads to get likes on your page. Again, page likes are more successful than contact forms.When you have enough videos, you can simply repost them.

    When you have a good number of followers on your page, you can start running ads with a "message" button. This greatly lowers the bar for communication. If you gather their information, you have to try and catch them later at a good time. When they message you, they are directly expressing interest in your services. Again, I send PERSONALIZED VIDEO MESSAGE RESPONSES to give it that touch of human interaction, which is especially impactful when no one sees each other.

    If you have some free cash, you might hire someone to run your social media pages. This is pretty expensive, but still less expensive than buying leads from Zillow.

    I created a Google form and simply posted it to my FB page that offers to add friends to my gift list with their contact info. Then send them bday and holiday cards and gift cards.

    Farming

    Snail mail is not dead. Use where you know, the neighborhood you live in. Send everyone who owns property in that neighborhood a postcard. Get with your favorite title rep to set up this list, and find a printing company that will design, print and mail them (we use express docs). If you have the capability, add QR codes to your print marketing. These can link them to your IDX or other page so you can convert print marketing into digital lead capture.

    Here is a link to create your own vCard QR code: http://goqr.me/#t=vcard There are also some other links on that page if you want to create a link to a webpage, such as a landing page, social media page, or series of listings. QR codes work on most Android and all iOS devices.

    On holidays, make some gift bags for everyone. Again, you can customize your spending here. Pay one company to assemble the gifts and make them look pretty and deliver, or DIY and deliver yourself, or anything in between. Use ShowingTime to plot your trip. Somewhat unrelated tip: You're going to drive a lot, buy an EV.

    I wish I could show you the "story" one of our top agents posted, who's team sold about $20M in 2020, but it has disappeared. She bought HUNDREDS of bundt cakes, wrapped them up and put them in cute baggies and simply gave them away to all of her neighbors.

    Personally I just gave away some pies for T-day and wrapping paper and hand-written greeting cards for xmas to a couple dozen neighbors and past clients. I only got one referral from a past client. I closed a $600k cash deal 4 weeks later and cleared >$16k.

    Past Clients

    I cannot overstate how important your past clients are. They are your best advocates, and the least expensive and time-consuming way of generating leads. REFERRALS ARE INCREDIBLY INEXPENSIVE.

    Your past clients should be receiving the same treatment I explained above, except they should also receive an "annual review" (basically a fancy CMA but without the actual value, just a few comps). You have to regularly reinforce that you're a professional.

    You should have a touch of your past clients 36x/year. Whether that be postcard, call, voicemail, text, annual review, etc.

    Open House

    Many people don't have a lot of success with these. I think it's largely because you get out of it what you put into it. There's a lot of preparation necessary that I think people skip over.

    You need signs. Like, a lot of them. Enough that people can't miss. Signs should have your face and name. These are also advertisements and generate brand familiarity. People see you a lot, they automatically assume you are a busy professional. Fake it til you make it.

    Have all the associated information printed out and ready to answer questions. If the buyers express interest, go over the items with them. DO NOT GIVE IT TO THEM. Dangle the carrot. Bring one copy and let them know it. Ask them to sign in if they'd like more information. They should be signed in anyway.

    These are the items that comprise my checklist:

    • MLS listing
    • Coremark neighborhood report
    • MLS attachments
    • Other neighborhood properties (for clients not interested in that home)
    • Comps
    • Greatschools.org report
    • Nametag
    • Sign in sheet
    • Property feedback form
    • Flyers
    • Open house signs
    • ILMH report (unique items to advertise about the home)
    • MLS area report (absorption rate)
    • Lending guides (co-branded guides from your preferred lender)
    • Best fit leads (email other active buyers in my broker's database who may be interested)
    • Drinks (esp if its hot)
    • Speaker (to set a mood. Remember this is an emotional decisions for buyers)
    • Facebook event
    • Business cards

    Have a script prepared.

    I don't know if door-knocking is a great idea in these times, but I know it works for some people. Just make sure to keep your distance from the door and wear a mask. Let them take it from there. However I would HIGHLY recommend asking the neighbors before you plant signs in their lawn. Even though they technically do not own it, they will still get upset. It's a breath of fresh air for them when someone simply comes and asks, plus you've just made another contact. Let them know it will only be a few hours and leave your business card "in case they need it gone sooner".

    You can also run a paid social media ad in the neighborhood to invite the neighbors. Even if they're "lookey-loos" they can still become listing leads or just simply added to your sphere of post cards and holiday cards.

    Hanging out at the local bar

    This one might sound dumb, and also especially difficult in these times, but I know some top producers who have generated 50%+ of their business from just that: buying beers for random people and chatting them up. This is may even be the single best strategy here, as you engage people outside of a business context, and its probably not even considered "work", but this one does take an outgoing personality who's able to carry on conversations with strangers without making all of them feel uncomfortable. Also you may talk the bartender into watering down your drinks so you don't die of liver poisoning.

    Personal Strategy

    Please note my personal strategy does not involve buying leads. My personal strategy involves largely GIVING THINGS AWAY. This is not free, but it's a fuckton cheaper, with a much higher ROI than BUYING LEADS. When you buy leads you outsource the most valuable part of your business to companies that are trying to put you out of business. I contacted the agent who did the bundt cakes. She spent about $300 on that whole setup, which is less than 1/3 the cost of Zillow leads for 1 month in that area.

    My strategy is largely based on "ninja selling" system by Larry Kendall.

    Please note this will take time (potentially YEARS) to CREATE a self-sustaining sphere. You might consider buying leads in the meantime, they're not a BAD way to make money, but you should not become dependent on them. If you continue buying them and ignore the methods I've described here, you'll be buying them forever.

    Please note my strategy does not involve being a particularly outgoing or magnanimous person. Please note my strategy does not involve randomly messaging people to tell them "If you know anyone looking to buy or sell..." and that's the end. My strategy is to have a conversation. It may not even involve real estate at all, but just for them to know who I am and, one way or another, let them know I work in real estate. My strategy is to give and wait for it to come back.

    My strategy can largely be boiled down to making friends. Friends who know me and will trust me when it comes time for them to make a sale/purchase.

    Networking

    If you want to throw away everything I've told you today, that's fine. Look through your MLS or call your broker and find out who are the top-selling agents in your area. Call them and offer to buy them lunch. I've never had anyone refuse. Successful agents have ALWAYS been more than happy to share what made them succesful, and it's how I derived all this information, and it's how I've made about $140k in my first 2 full calendar years (2019 and 2020).

    Scaling up

    Is another topic altogether, but something to look into once you begin to feel overwhelmed. Hire assistants and team members and outsource much of your labor. Your job is now to simply generate the business, which is the most valuable asset of an agent. Then once you get past that, you might become a broker.

    Conclusion

    Everyone has their own method. This is mine. Feel free to share yours. I feel like I could write a lot more, but it would just be a book at that point. A book that has already been written by Larry Kendall.

    Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

    submitted by /u/FARTBOX_DESTROYER
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    18 months of experience later, I finally figured out how to have a proper lead generation method, and it's working

    Posted: 21 Dec 2020 12:55 PM PST

    Disclaimer: -This might be a long post. -I'm on a phone typing this.

    This is an ultimate guide to be a part of the 8 percent that don't quit Real Estate in 2 years. Frankly, what I'm about to share, most of you won't like it. It's going to constantly put you out of your comfort zone, but this works amazingly well for me, and I'm willing to bet it will for others to who are trying to chase down clients.

    To start, try to have confidence in your knowledge about everything related to your job. Study, watch podcasts, follow your markets trends closely, learn your contracts and addendums, and have a decent understanding what it looks like from agency agreement to closing date for buyers and sellers. Took me 18 months to be confident enough to do this, but anyone can learn it faster than me if you actually dedicate time to learn.

    Next, have plenty of money saved up. You'll need it. A lot of it. If you don't have an investment mindset, it's time to have one. Stop going out. Stop spending on anything that isn't bills or real estate stuff. No drinks, no eating out, no new clothes or new xboxs or whatever.

    Finally, your mindset needs to be "I will never quit. Ever." You will be the 92 percent if you don't. This job is NOT for everyone. So for all those "I'm thinking about becoming a realtor, what do you all think?" Posts, are going to fail. Your post should be "I'm going to become a successful realtor, and I don't care what you think". I want to be real with everyone here that reads this. This job is hard. Military men and women fail at this at job in frustration. And their mindsets are strong already. You gotta be stronger.

    OK, enough of that. To the good stuff.

    What I've been doing that's working:

    After gaining lots of experience and knowledge in the last 18 months, I have put together a very direct and detailed plan. For background, I trained with century 21 for a year, then worked as a saloried employed agent for a new firm in my city. Probably worked on over 20 transactions in the short time I was there and learned a lot. Now, I'm with a 100 percent commission split as of recently with no boss and no schedule (just how I like it)

    1. Every two days, I call expired listing agents on the MLS to ask if the seller is relisting with them. If not, I'll try to negotiate a referral fee if they introduce me to the seller.

    2. Everyday, I call agents that have nice listings around my MLS asking to host an open house. Pick homes that are in good areas. Ask the agent if they and the seller are open to you hosting the open house. If so. Plan for these Saturday or Sunday (which ever has better weather or better time for the seller). Some homes go under contract in the mean time. Best you can do to counter this is to pick homes that have been on the market for at least a month. Try to pick homes that are 400s and up. Anything below might go under contract before it even officially hits the market (coming soons).

    3.Create flyers via microsoft publisher or canva.com or anything like these programs. Have pictures of home (as little or as many as you can fit), some basic stats, your info, a picture of yourself and the date and time the open house is to happen. Hell, I even add the asking price.

    1. Join as many community FB groups for your city and surrounding areas as possible that allows open house advertising. One of my groups gas 62 thousand people. Post the digital flyers the day before the open house to these groups.

    2. Print flyers and market reports, and paperclip them to you card. (Yes, you'll bedoor knocking with these).

    3. Door knock the day before to invite people to the open house. Your mission is to have a conversation with them and to see if they may be in the market soon, but you're using the invite to the open house as a nice opener. Ask for email or phone number if conversation goes well for follow ups.

    4. Buy a dialer. I have mojo. It cost me 150 a month for geo leads. Cold call near by subdivisions asking if they would like to come to your open house. (Again, the point of those is to have a conversation about real estate and get their info) ask if you can follow up with them every couple months to see how they are doing and to remind them you're here to answer any questions about the market. Cold call these geo leads everyday once the open house is scheduled until the day of open house.

    5. On the day of open house, put down open house signs, have a set up of your cards, bottle water, home stat sheets, and a buyers packet ready with a bottle of hand sanitizer for Covid worried people. When people show up, DO NOT BE THAT LAZY SHITTY AGENT THAT JUST SITS THERE AND SAYS NOTHING. Introduce yourself, ask what brought them out here today. Ask if they have an agent, and then give them an exciting home tour about all the facts of the home. At the end of the tour, ask if you can follow up with them to offer any help or answer any questions.

    6. Finally, with all the numbers and email you gathered, follow up with them. That is the whole point of this is to build a relationship, because very rarely, are buyers and sellers ready to buy and sell NOW. It's likely later, and you need to be in front of them LATER.

    7. Repeat whole process each week.

    I've done this once so far. This is the most activity I have ever seen. It's awesome with the potential. Door knocking is a little rough, and I might drop that in favor of more cold calling, because honestly, compare to my cold calling scripts, my door knocking scripts are shit. But always remember to gear your scripts to helping people. Not selling something.

    So in conclusion, with this plan, you nail: social media, in person conversation, expireds, cold calling and finally, most importantly, FOLLOW UPS.

    Once I get my first listing with my new 100 percent commission firm, I will be hosting open houses myself and mailing out post cards of just listed and sold as my next investment, because mailers are currently missed out right now due to budget constraints.

    I understand that this is not what most new agents want to read, but there's no other way around it. No one is going to seek you. You have to seek them.

    submitted by /u/RegretsNothing1
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    Due Diligence/Option fee refund question, with borderline misrepresentation

    Posted: 22 Dec 2020 12:05 PM PST

    In NC where this is called due diligence (option fee in other states), I've paid a DD fee (which is typical). I'm aware of what is for (to compensate buyer for taking home off of market), and when it should be refunded (seller doesn't finalize sale, seller can't produce marketable title, misrepresentation by seller). In the house in question there is a bad heat pack, bad a/c unit, a previous owner attempted to insulate/encapsulate the crawl space incorrectly. I don't think the house is going to close as seller is not going to provide enough compensation.

    I just finished the RE course for my state and instructor thinks it's misrepresentation, seller should have reasonably known of the issues. Agent disagrees, I think its borderline. It's a large house that has 3 each AC and Heat Packs, so I can see where it could be missed because the other units pick up some of the load. Present owner is Doc that has probably never been under the house, so that work was likely in fact done by a previous owner.

    It's not a huge amount and will not effect my decision to stay or walk, but I am curious if I should push for a refund in this case. Disclosures said working on these items.

    submitted by /u/paper_killa
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    Best online real estate course for Florida?

    Posted: 22 Dec 2020 11:50 AM PST

    I'm furloughed so I have time to invest in studying. I want to put in my time, take it and pass it.

    I passed it back in 2005 from an in person course and worked in property management for 5 years. Then decided to go back to school and have been working in healthcare up until now. So, unfortunately I let my license lapse. Have had to completely re-think my career again due to COVID. These healthcare corporations and hospitals have completely treated us healthcare workers as expendable. Time to go back to my real estate roots again.

    submitted by /u/OhNogh
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    Can I buy my neigbor’s house and combine it with mine?

    Posted: 22 Dec 2020 07:04 AM PST

    I live in a twin in Philly. I recently refinanced to a 15 year conventional and am on track to pay off my home in about 10 years. We are fairly confident that is about the time our neighbors will sell (they're older and have mentioned this particular timeline before). Ideally, we'd like to buy "their half" and demo the whole building to build our dream home, but idk if that's possible or how it would work.

    Of course we need to talk to them and make sure they'd be on board with selling to us, but before that conversation, we want to make sure it's actually as ideal as we think. If it is possible, we're holding off all upgrades to our home to save for the "big build" but if it can't work we want to plan to move into a larger space.

    Possibly relevant; our home is $290k (refi was for $230k) their home is probably about $250-$260k (it is very outdated). We estimate we'll have all the equity of our home and about $40k cash to work with.

    TIA!

    submitted by /u/LadyBratcher
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    RealtySouth

    Posted: 22 Dec 2020 09:03 AM PST

    Anyone have any experiences working with them as a new agent in the Birmingham area? Any thoughts on their licensing classes and training?

    Tried the search function with no luck. I tried google and youtube. It seems everything on there is about eXp and KW.

    submitted by /u/30to50feralcats
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    Do you have to pay mls fees/ NAR fees in your state to be a property manager in your state?

    Posted: 22 Dec 2020 08:48 AM PST

    Seller is in a coma

    Posted: 22 Dec 2020 04:59 AM PST

    My seller is in a coma about 2 weeks before we close the sale on one of his rental properties. The problem I'm having is that he's the only member of his LLC (which the home he is selling is under) and he has no living will or testament.

    Someone else could be appointed to take over his affairs (he is married and has adult children), but I was told that he would have to personally be the one who appoints that.

    How can he appoint that if he's in a coma? Anyone else been through something similar, or know what my options are? We've basically got everything done and sellers intention has always been to sell. It's not clear how long he will be in a coma.

    Edit/FYI: Spoke with my broker and he is unsure too. He said to speak with the title company and they are also unsure.

    submitted by /u/MochaTaco
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    How much money is enough to get started in real estate?

    Posted: 21 Dec 2020 11:49 PM PST

    Very close to paying my car debt.

    I have no kids and nothing crazy besides my car loan.

    What's a good way about saving money and how much to have when starting real estate full time with no money worries.

    submitted by /u/PregnantNuns101
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    Can I make 100k+ as a real estate agent in Chicago working ~40 hrs/week

    Posted: 21 Dec 2020 08:00 PM PST

    My hobbies are too important to cast aside.

    Is this a realistic goal?

    Someone in my family is in real estate and they're just taking calls and doing stuff all hours of the day every day.

    submitted by /u/dude_on_the_net
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    Is what my broker did messed up or should I just get over it?

    Posted: 21 Dec 2020 05:30 PM PST

    One of my listing clients contacted my broker with concerns about a second closing extension for their home sale that was supposed to close the end of November. They are bat sh*t crazy to begin with, but that's not really relevant to the situation. They have a lot going on and just wanted some reassurance that my suggestions to hold on to this contract as long as we can was the right idea and I was guiding them correctly down the right track...

    But instead of just telling my clients I'm a great agent and he's sure I've got it handled but that he would look into it before he called them back, my broker also offered them the option to cancel the current contract we had and re-list with another agent in our office at a discounted commission price. Which, of course, that's the option the sellers took.

    So now my $7k commission check I expected right before Christmas is going to another agent in my office, but my broker doesn't seem to care because he's still getting paid at the end of the day. He's angry I declined to meet today to discuss "my side of the story" because really there's no story to tell and I was afraid I'd come in swinging tbh.

    Is this how it works everywhere? Is this just the cost of doing business in real estate? Or am I rightfully angry AF that my business was practically stolen from me?

    Thanks in advance.

    View Poll

    submitted by /u/adamsamy687
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    Best way to find commercial leases

    Posted: 21 Dec 2020 01:41 PM PST

    Hey guys,

    I am a brand new agent. This is my first potential deal in the making. I have been asked to find a commercial business lease for a client who is going to be opening an adult daycare. It must be located in a specific city. I tried to look on LoopNet there were only 2 options available and they were both trash and unapplicable for my client. What other methods can I use to find some off-market leases? My family owns properties and we never advertise any open units so I know not everything is going to pop up on LoopNet.

    How can I go about making this client happy? She says let's sort this one out and then we can move forward into finding them a home so I NEED to make them happy.

    If any realtors in Socal have anything open 6,000 sq ft and up in Canoga Park please feel free to contact me.

    submitted by /u/AHB900
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    Laid off from COVID. Seeing if real estate could be for me. As an agent, how many hours did you work per week last year and what were your earnings?

    Posted: 21 Dec 2020 08:35 PM PST

    Army Veteran looking to get into Real Estate

    Posted: 21 Dec 2020 03:46 PM PST

    Title sums it up pretty well, but to elaborate:

    I am a retired Army veteran, so I have a pension and healthcare for me and my family. Only reason I mention that is because I think (or perhaps simply hope) that might help the first few months in Real Estate as I hit the ground running. I've heard it can be rather hard to get that first transaction, and at times you can go months without income.

    I'm currently enrolled in an online course for the state of Tennessee, just looking for advice on how to get started. Quite a few brokerages hiring in the area as well.

    I understand it comes down to the effort you put in, which will not be an issue, I am just hoping to avoid any beginner mistakes.

    I sincerely appreciate any advice y'all may have. I understand it is a bit of a broad request, but the Real Estate world is rather foreign to me. I've done sales (Automotive) and was successful, hoping some of that will translate to Real Estate.

    submitted by /u/Skunkpunkk
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    How has COVID-19 affected your business?

    Posted: 21 Dec 2020 03:21 PM PST

    I will be getting my license at the beginning of January. I plan on quitting my job and doing real estate full time. I was wondering how COVID has affected your business and if it would be a good idea for someone like me to get into the business right now or if I should wait until the virus dies down.

    submitted by /u/BAGBDEN
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    SC State Test Using PDH Academy To Study

    Posted: 21 Dec 2020 01:12 PM PST

    Does anyone have any thoughts or resource recommendations to study specifically for the SC State RE test? I found the national exam to be what I was expecting and suspect I got close to 100% on it, but I've now failed the SC-specific test twice - despite taking the studying seriously. After the first failure, I thought maybe I hadn't prepared enough and went over every practice test, acing everything, but on my second attempt, I scored worse than I did the first time! Now I'm thinking I may be studying the wrong content. I was hoping to buy a state-specific practice test from PSI, but they only have national practice exams. I know there are books I can buy (that have mixed reviews) and there's certainly no shortage of online "we guarantee you'll pass if you buy our program" options (though PDH said the same thing!)

    Does anyone have any advice/resources they vouch for?

    submitted by /u/Variety-Remarkable
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    How much money is enough for door mailing

    Posted: 21 Dec 2020 12:24 PM PST
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