As a realtor, consistently generating new real estate leads is a must if you want to survive in the industry.
Competition in real estate is fierce. Implementing one stream of new leads can give you an edge, and the safety to always keep the business running.
Manage to implement several lead streams and you can set yourself up for success.
This article is the ultimate guide of real estate lead sources. I have listed them all, so you can pick those you feel the most comfortable testing.
I’ll also share some tips on how to approach lead generation in real estate.
Let’s not waste a minute, and let’s discover how to get real estate leads!
Tips on how to get real estate leads
Identify your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP): to reach out to new leads, you first need to know your customers. Clearly define who are your customers: First time buyer? Retired couples? Downtown buyers? etc.
Define your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): In order to reach your sales objectives, you need to define alternative KPIs. Example: number of calls per day, number of visits per month. Select the KPIs that match with your current customer’s journey. Example for a realtor that gets all her leads from her website:
- Monthly volume of website visits
- Monthly volume of leads
- Monthly number of visits
- Monthly number of offers
- Monthly number of sales
Set your goals: now that you have defined your KPIs, assign an achievable goal to each. For example, if your primary acquisition channel is a real estate marketplace, set as a goal a monthly number of listings uploaded. Now this means that you will have to contact X number of homeowners before. Apply usual conversion rates to set up the rest of the goals. Example: visit-to-purchase ration is 5%, so I need to do 20 visits to sell one property. Write all your monthly goals on a spreadsheet, and make sure you complete those on which you have a direct action, example: number of calls to homeowners.
Build a pipeline of new leads: Real estate is a volume game. Always have fresh new leads at the entry of your pipeline. This could be by calling 5 new leads per day, upload 1 listing per week, etc. Don’t be in a situation where 0 new lead are coming in, because down the funnel this will be reflected in a longer period without sale. Block a time everyday in you calendar (1-4 hours) to build your pipeline of new leads. And don’t take calls or emails during that time.
Build relationships: Real estate business is all about relationship, relationship, relationship. According to the National Association of Realtors, 75% of real estate transactions involve an agent the client knows, has previously worked with, or is connected to through someone they know. Building strong relationships and leveraging your Sphere of Influence (SOI) is essential to success in this relationship-driven business.
How to get real estate leads? The 20 real estate lead sources
My advise is to work on one lead source at the time.
Start with the real estate lead source you feel the most confident with, and be consistent with it for at least 9-12 months. Learn everything about it through practice until you master it. Once you are consistently getting leads with one source, automate it, and work on the second source. Repeat the process, and you will set yourself for success!
1. Local Service Ads (LSAs)
🎚️ Level: Beginner
⏱️ Time to results: Immediate
💸 Return on investment: Mid-range
If you don’t know how to get real estate leads, generating local real estate leads through LSAs are a good starting point.
Google’s Local Service Ads (LSAs) are a paid placements in Google’s search results for local queries. Example: “real estate agent New Jersey”. Your profile appears in the top search results, and potential customer can then text you or call you, depending on your preferences. This allows you to immediately reach local customers that show a strong purchase intent in your services.
Unlike other ad platforms like Meta or regular Google Ads where you pay every time your ad is seen or clicked; with Local Service Ads, you only pay when you get a lead (aka. a text message or phone call), making it easy to project your costs and ROI. If a call was made by mistake, you can dispute that charge with Google, and get a refund. That’s guaranteed leads.
You can get started today by creating your LSA account.
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
🎚️ Level: Intermediate
⏱️ Time to results: Long
💸 Return on investment: High
SEO is by far my favorite channel. I’ve launched several successful businesses with this channel only. Regularly write blog articles that answer to most searched queries on Google.
With time, you cumulate organic visits, that transform into organic leads, and sales. The whole process takes time, but with a good keyword selection (use AhRefs), and a good execution (added value, well written articles – refrain from the temptation of writing fully with ChatGPT).
Target local keywords, since you want to generate leads around your area. Image you generate 2,000 visits per month, that’s 20 leads a month easy, and could generate 1 sale every 2 months. Learn about Keyword Research if you want to dig deeper.
Link your blog articles with each other to create a nice navigation experience. Learn about Internal Linking if you want to dig deeper.
Publish your site in industry-related directories to push the ranking of your articles in the search result pages of Google. Learn about Link building if you want to dig deeper about this topic.
Don’t hire an SEO agency. This tip might sound crazy coming from me (as an ex-CEO of an SEO agency). But you will be better off without an agency, trust me. Agencies do provide results, but it comes at a premium. Invest in your own knowledge, SEO isn’t rocket science 😉
3. Instagram/TikTok
🎚️ Level: Beginner
⏱️ Time to results: Long
💸 Return on investment: High
Instagram and TikTok have both a huge audience, and it’s most likely that your ideal customer profile (ICP) uses these apps regularly. Here is how to get real estate leads leveraging these apps:
- Post regularly
- Your ICP discover your videos in their feed
- They engage with it—like, comment, share, or follow.
- Instagram shows them more of your content.
- When they’re in-market, they will contact you first because the trust has been built already
You can start by posting Reels of your house tours. Make the video dynamic and engaging. You don’t even have to be in it:
- Simply film each part of the property using a smartphone and a stabilizer (gimble)
- Do some simple editing using CapCut
- Add a nice music
- Write the features of the property in the description
- Upload!
Instagram and TikTok are a long-term game. Post regularly, try getting better at it, surf on trends, check what works with other creators in your niche. Results will come with time.
But they offer very good results in the long run, by offering a strong base of followers that trust your expertise.
4. Google Business
🎚️ Level: Intermediate
⏱️ Time to results: Mid-range
💸 Return on investment: High
Google Business Profile is a free tool that lets realtors manage their online presence across Google Search and Maps. Google Business Profiles appear in Google’s Local Pack, a dedicated section for local searches, boosting visibility for local businesses, and generating local real estate leads as a result. Your Google Business Profile appears for local queries such as “realtor in New Jersey”.
The advantage of this placement is that you reach people with high-purchase intent around you. And since 46% of Google searches have a local intent, this placement is a must-have for your real estate business.
It takes some knowledge to rank on top of the Local Pack. You may want to approach an Google Business agency to create and optimize your profile. They tend to deliver good results at an affordable cost.
5. YouTube
🎚️ Level: Beginner
⏱️ Time to results: Mid-range
💸 Return on investment: High
I’m a big fan of content marketing. And YouTube is one of the best content marketing platform. Just by uploading a video tour of your listings, you will get local views.
The results usually look very professional and makes the user want to engage. That’s a small effort that can easily generate real estate leads.
Even if the person is not in-market for that particular listing, if he liked the content of the video, he might contact you to see other properties.
YouTube is where you can get an edge in the market by building your own community, rather than competing in crowded marketplaces.
6. Facebook Ads
🎚️ Level: Intermediate
⏱️ Time to results: Mid-range
💸 Return on investment: Medium
Despite what you may have heard about Facebook, it remains one of the best platform to generate real estate leads. With 3.07 billion monthly active users (in 2024), you can be sure that your ideal customer profile (ICP) is on Facebook.
The other thing I like about Facebook is it’s ad platform. Facebook advertising algorithm has became pretty accurate in targeting your ICP. With a small budget, you can generate a decent volume of real estate leads.
Here is how to get leads in real estate with Facebook ads:
- Run Leads ads: by creating a form directly in Facebook, and generate your leads from there. It optimizes your cost per lead, and doesn’t require a website.
- Strong hook: write a strong hook to grab the attention of your ICP. This is what drives down your cost per lead, and makes your ads profitable.
Facebook ads being a bit more advanced than usual real estate lead sources, it will take a few trial and errors before you get the acquisition right. Constantly run tests: hooks, videos, targeting.
You may consider the help of a Social Media Marketing Agency specialized in real estate. They usually offer good return on investment.
7. LinkedIn
🎚️ Level: Beginner
⏱️ Time to results: Long
💸 Return on investment: High
If your ideal customer profile (ICP) is in the upper middle class, you have to be on LinkedIn. As the #1 professional network, LinkedIn offers many tools to reach potential buyers.
Connect with your ICP: Search your ICP using LinkedIn filters such as: location, industry, job title. You can connect with up to 200 people per month, and can receive a 40% acceptance rate.
Post regularly: Reach out to your connections by writing posts regularly. LinkedIn posts have a particular writing style and structure, familiarize yourself with it by analyzing the posts of your competitors that got a high volume of likes. My personal tip is to block 2-4 hours once a month, and schedule all your posts for the upcoming month.
Create a LinkedIn Group: LinkedIn Groups are a great way to create your community. Create a group around a real estate related topic in your area, invite your new connections to join it, and post added-value content regularly.
LinkedIn Newsletter: You can even create and share your own newsletter to your LinkedIn connections. Newsletters are a great way to activate your community. Use it to publish your latest listings.
8. Emailing
🎚️ Level: Beginner
⏱️ Time to results: Mid-range
💸 Return on investment: High
With time, you will start building your real estate lead base. The next step is to nurture this list with email sequences to make them book a call with you.
In real estate, emails are a great way to activate your leads. You can simply publish your latest listings. I am subscribed to a few real estate newsletters and I like receiving new listings, even if I’m not in market at the moment. The realtors who send me these emails are currently building trust with me, and will be the first I contact when I want to buy a property.
Your emails don’t have to look fancy, simply list your properties and link to their listing page.
Email marketing tools like Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign provide good email creation, and automation features.
9. Google Ads
🎚️ Level: Expert
⏱️ Time to results: Mid-range
💸 Return on investment: Low
Appear on Google’s top search results with PPC ads. Drive people to your website by paying for each click. The Cost Per Click (CPC) varies depending on various factors: bidding competition, location, keyword targeted, etc.
User journey:
- Potential buyers search for a keyword in your niche. Example: “Buy a house in Austin”
- Your ad appear in the first Google search results
- The potential buyer clicks your ad and lands on your website
- The potential buyer fills out your form, or contact you directly
Google Ads have the advantage to provide instant clicks, and potential leads. On the other hand, the cost per clicks tend to be high, especially in competitive locations, making it hard to run ads in a profitable way.
To run Google Ads successfully, everything needs to be optimized:
- Target keywords
- Location
- Time of the day
- Demographics
- Bidding strategy
- Landing page
Count at least 3 months of intensive tests before generating qualified leads at an acceptable cost per lead. This would require a few thousands of euro of ad spent, and that’s just for testing!
That is why most real estate agents fail in running successful Google Ads to get real estate leads.
But, when done properly, it can add a recurring stream of fresh leads.
If you want to start with Google Ads, you may be tempted to hire a Google Ads agency specialized in real estate.
10. Meetup events
🎚️ Level: Beginner
⏱️ Time to results: Long
💸 Return on investment: High
Meetup is a social app that allows to create events around a particular topic. Realtors can use it effectively by simply creating a “Thursday Afterwork Event” at a local bar, targeting their ICP. People are coming to have a good time without feeling that they are being sold something. You can socialize with everyone, introduce yourself, and increase your network. These people will get back to you whenever they are in-market for a property.
11. Cold calling FSBOs
🎚️ Level: Expert
⏱️ Time to results: Long
💸 Return on investment: High
Cold calling is a volume game. You only get better by practicing them. Find your FSBO leads from marketplaces like Zillow, Facebook Marketplace or Craiglist, and start dialing. Set a daily objective of X calls, and block a time to perform your daily calls.
There is a big learning curve here. Learn from every call, and adapt your script accordingly until you find the right script/ICP fit that works for you.
12. Hold open houses
🎚️ Level: Intermediate
⏱️ Time to results: Immediate
💸 Return on investment: High
Organizing an open house is a great way both generate new leads and activate your current leads. Use this event to reach new leads on platforms like Facebook Marketplace or Facebook Ads. Contact your current leads by advertising the event top your community though social media, emailing, SMS.
Aim for an objective of X open houses a month.
Again, think of it a a number game: X open houses * Y visitors per house * Visit-to-purchase ratio = Z sales
Real estate leads pay at closing
🎚️ Level: Intermediate
⏱️ Time to results: Mid-range
💸 Return on investment: Mid-range
The pay at closing business model is hugely popular in real estate since it provides control over costs as the realtors only pay for the leads that result in a transaction.
Advantages:
- Realtors offload risk
- Control return on investment.
I will list a few real estate lead source that offer a pay at closing option:
13. Agent Pronto: 25% – 35% of commission
14. HomeLight: 33% of commission
15. List with Clever: 1.5% listing fee
16. ReferralExchange: 35% of commission
17. Rocket Homes: 1% of est. home value
18. SOLD.COM: 30% – 35% of commission
19. UpNest: 30% of commission
20. Zillow Premier Agent: 15% – 40% of commission
