20 Ideas on How to Get Real Estate Leads in 2024

Rita Akekelwa | August 25, 2023 | Content For Agents, Marketing, Real Estate Leads

If you are a Real Estate Agent, connecting with ideal prospects is essential for your business to succeed in 2024. At times, the process of looking for real estate leads can be overwhelming. The real estate business is no doubt competitive.

Traditionally, real estate agents used to door knock for new business. Either that or buying lists of contacts and cold calling. 

Nowadays you can also use search engines, social media, blogging, and other online channels to attract, engage, and nurture your leads. There are also seller landing pages that can help you convert seller clients.

This guide will discuss 20 ideas for real estate lead generation. 

Table of contents:

  1. FSBO Scripts
  2. Master Referrals
  3. Master Cold Calling
  4. Pet-loving Leads
  5. Meet your Contacts
  6. Blogging & SEO
  7. PPC
  8. Seller Landing Pages
  9. Social Media
  10. Email Marketing
  11. Lead Follow Up
  12. Create an App
  13. Automated SMS Text Marketing
  14. Open Houses
  15. Knock on Doors
  16. Send Postcards
  17. Reviews
  18. Phone Calls
  19. Branded Gear
  20. Partnership with an Attorney
  21. FAQ

1. FSBO Scripts

For-sale-by-owner (FSBO) properties exist because most homeowners believe they can successfully handle the whole process of selling their properties from start to finish in 2024.

FSBO scripts are used by real estate agents to convert owners that are looking to sell their properties. The main aim of FSBO Scripts is to encourage the homeowners to list with you. These scripts help real estate agents use FSBO conversion language that will encourage the homeowner to engage you.

The scripts also help break down barriers with homeowners, make sure things move forward after the initial conversion, and set up expectations. They are important to explain to homeowners why you’re the best real estate agent to help them with their sale.

Actionable Tips

  •  Do your research and ask the right questions
  • Don’t assume you know more than the homeowner

You can find FSBO leads in 2 ways:

  1.  Through FSBO lead services e.g. Redx and Land Voice
  2. On your own- Looking through the sellers’ advertisements on local newspapers, craigslist, etc.

2. Master referrals

These are word of mouth recommendations from professionals, clients, and other agents to potential sellers or buyers, in your favor. A client you may have worked with in the past may know somebody else who may require help from a real estate agent.

Master referrals are a great source of leads for real estate agents. So if you’re really good at your job, people will love to broadcast that to the world. Referrals are free real estate leads that are often underutilized.

Actionable Tips

So how exactly can you drive more referrals?

  • Ask: After helping a client sell their home or close their listing, offer your services to people he/she may know.
  • Send emails: Long after working with clients, send them emails to remind them of your availability to help people they may know.
  • Blog it: If you have a group of clients who came from the same group of referrals, write about it. You may uncover a story about how every person had a unique need and how you were able to help each one.
  • Use social media:  Get your referrals to give their recommendations on social media. 
  • Open houses: Don’t let people coming in and out of your open houses leave without leaving their referrals.

3. Master Cold Calling in 2024

Cold calling entails making unsolicited calls in an attempt to generate leads. It is one of the major ways to generate real estate leads for new agents. If done with diligence, a plan, and smart prospecting, this can be a productive part of your lead generation strategy.

Actionable Tips

  •  Sound Natural: Don’t sound like a robot during the call. Show that you are a real person from the get-go. 
  • Let the conversation flow: If you have a script, don’t necessarily stick to it too much. Allow the conversation to flow naturally. This way you won’t be caught off guard when answering objections.
  • Set an attainable goal (e.g. 5 calls a day).
  • Organize leads by area, source, and dates.

4. Connect with Pet-loving Leads

This involves using pets in your websites and listing photos to generate leads. In recent years, the number of animal lovers has grown exponentially. As a real estate agent, this could present an opportunity to advertise yourself by tugging on people’s heartstrings. This has become an ideal way to get real estate leads.

Actionable Tips

  • Attend pet societies to meet like-minded people
  • Keep pets on your primary marketing materials e.g. Business cards, and the homepage of your website. 
  • Mention relevant pet information in the “about me” section of your website.

5. Meet your Contacts once every 3-5 Months

As a real estate agent, building a strong network is one of your most important tasks. Real estate agents make the mistake to only attend events once.

Building contacts involves more frequent interactions. Meeting your contacts every 3-5 months is essential to sustain your network base as a real estate agent.

Meeting with contacts is probably one of the best ways to generate real estate leads. If you want more business, you need bigger networks and more contacts who can present potential seller leads.

Actionable Tips

  • Be a card taker, not just a giver.
  • Don’t spend your time talking on the phone during networking events.
  •  Try creating your own events to meet your contacts.
  • Be a giver. Give referrals and you’ll get more in return.
  • Really know your contacts on a personal level.

6. Blogging & SEO in 2024

Blogging in 2024 is an inexpensive and effective internet marketing tool for real estate agents. Real Estate Search Engine Optimization is the process of making your website show up higher in search results. Both of these tools can be useful to help get you real estate leads.

Blogging

A good content strategy can really get your name out there. You should create blog posts that show off your expertise while still offering knowledge to readers. It’s simply not enough to only have listings. People require in-depth information for important decisions.

SEO

Making your website stand out is essential to get leads as a real estate agent. This is a fiercely competitive industry. People looking to sell or purchase their homes go to the internet first. Most people won’t see your website unless you’re good at SEO.

Always use appropriate keywords to give your website a better chance of being found on searches. One way to get leads through your website is by having an effective SEO strategy. This will position your website to get a flood of traffic, and ultimately a flood of leads!

Actionable tips

  •  Jot down questions by clients to get blog content
  •  Post articles to your blog regularly
  • Rewrite, republish and refresh past blog posts
  •  Include local keywords in SEO
  • Constantly optimize your websites 

7. PPC: Google Ads & Facebook Ads in 2024

Pay-per-Click Advertising is a model used by many real estate agents to get leads in 2024. Google Ads for realtors is great for getting leads, especially local leads. 

With this kind of advertising, you have control over who sees your ads and you can capture them through emails, phone calls, etc.

Facebook collects numerous amounts of data about what people do online. Facebook ads are great for targeting people. With an effective ad campaign, you can generate numerous leads for your business. It all depends on how good your ads are. 

Actionable Tips

  • Try video marketing with your Ads.
  • Be transparent in your ads to avoid confusion or suspicion.
  •  Use Testimonials and Reviews to instill trust in your services.

8. Seller Landing Pages

A real estate landing page is a standalone page created specifically for a marketing or advertising campaign. This is where sellers land after they click on your ads from Google, Facebook, Instagram, etc. or similar places on the web.

They are a fundamental component in your conversion funnel. The main aim is to generate leads. So once prospective leads land on your page and start following you, you can make them a lead and put them into your pipeline. You can then begin your sales cycle process.

Note that you must continually work your pipeline. Move cold leads up the chain, make them warm or even hot and then replace them with new leads.

For maximum effect, step up your PPC campaigns with real estate seller landing pages.

Home Value Leads Landing Page Service

Home Value Leads was the first-ever standalone seller lead capture page. It aims to help realtors by providing a cost-effective solution for real estate lead generation. 

Our optimized lead capture pages easily turn clicks into leads by giving visitors exactly what they want: the value of their home. Here is how it works:

A seller enters their address on the landing page to get the value of their home. They are sent an accurate and current Home Value Report to their inbox automatically. 

You as a real estate agent are notified of the lead immediately by email and text so you can follow up on the lead. You can then contact them to offer your services. This way, your leads will have you top of their mind when they’re ready to sell.

9. Social Media

The major social platforms are Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. As a real estate agent, you may already have a website. The problem is it’s not that simple or cheap to bring visitors to your site. So, this is exactly where social media comes in.

Due to the increase in use of these social platforms in recent years, businesses have gotten enormous opportunities for little to no cost. 

You can use these social platforms to drive traffic to your site which will significantly increase the number of real estate leads you generate. A lot of people spend a lot of time on social media. Chances of interested parties visiting your site are significantly higher once they see your posts.

Actionable Tips

10. Email Marketing

This involves sending regular emails to prospective clients. Before the internet, the only way to reach target markets on a regular basis was through direct mail.

Nowadays in 2024, you can use websites subscription forms or offer special perks (e.g. Home valuing) in return for people’s email addresses. 

You can then send them regular marketing emails and convert them to leads. The information you send may range from real estate advice to market trends to property listings. 

This is a sure way to generate leads if done well. 

Actionable Tips

  •  Provide value in your email. Not a sales pitch.
  • Consider the perfect timing to send emails.
  • Create engaging subject lines.
  •  Make your emails mobile-friendly.

11. Lead Follow Up

This is reaching out to a lead who has previously interacted with your business. Learning how to get seller leads is great, but if you don’t follow up your real estate lead you aren’t going to close them.

It’s not always about a quick sale. You might get the occasional quick hit but you may end up losing out on a ton of other business. Just implementing a good follow-up system will put you ahead of two-thirds of other agents out there.

There are strategies to follow to ensure that your follow up system is effective. This will ensure you convert more leads and consequently generate even more.

As a real estate agent, your follow up message should be powerful. Whether it’s by text, email, or phone call. Eventually, you will build a strong enough relationship with the client, and chances are they’ll end up listing with you.

Actionable Tips

  • Be persistent but not annoying when following up.
  • Listen more and speak less. When you do speak, offer your expertise.
  • Harness the power of emails and texts for follow-ups.
  • Home Value Leads offer a Lead Follow-Up feature in our software.

12. Create an App

The real estate business is fiercely competitive. So, consider breaking away from generic web pages.

The modern generation more likely than not will scour for mobile apps where they can find all the information they’ll need. 

You can tap into this by creating an app that is user-friendly, informative, and insightful. Chances are that the more your app gets downloaded and used, the more real estate leads you’ll be able to generate.

You should however note that creating an app is not enough. You should learn how to keep your users engaged so they are motivated to continually keep using your app and recommend it to others.

Actionable Tips

  • Be a multi-platform. Provide access to your service on any device.
  •  Ensure top customer support and communication.

13. Automated SMS Text Marketing

This is the automatic writing and scheduling of text messages to potential clients at a specific time. Real estate agents in 2024 usually have to act as skilled negotiators, professional advisors, sales managers, and marketers. 

This is a lot of work to do. Having automated text marketing is essential to balance a hefty workload.  

It is crucial to follow up with potential leads as quickly as possible. Automated Text Marketing enables you to do this. It allows you to connect with seller leads reliably. It is faster and more direct and it has higher response rates than emails alone.

Home Value Leads Automated SMS Follow up

Texting with a qualified lead can increase conversion by up to 100%. Our Automated SMS Follow Up feature goes a long way in helping real estate agents save a lot of time. 

It also communicates the correct message to potential leads. This feature allows you to send real estate-related SMS messages to your leads. It helps keep leads engaged and warm them up for a close. 

 Actionable Tips

14. Open Houses

These are done to allow potential clients to view a property. Open houses help real estate agents sell houses faster. They can also generate leads.

Open houses are all about socializing and networking. They can become a positive, never-ending loop of lead generation platforms.

Open houses are perfect for new agents looking to grow their network. They are a good way to get your name out there and earn you some recognition. 

Offering some perks e.g. Home valuing during open houses is also an effective way to earn free real estate leads.

Actionable Tips

  •  Advertise your open house to get more people to show up e.g. on social media, through your website, etc.
  •  Run multiple open houses in a single neighborhood. This will make you a local real estate figure.
  • The best time to host open houses is during spring and summer.

15. Knock on Doors

This is a traditional but still effective way to generate leads even in 2024. It takes away the need for action on their part (e.g. clicking on banners, asking for info, making calls). 

Real estate door knocking scripts helps to convince prospective clients to list with you in person. 

Actionable Tips

  • Offer helpful information to interested prospects.
  •  Avoid closed “yes” or “no” questions. Get them talking.
  • When they answer the door, make your introduction about them and not you.  You could say you’re in the neighborhood meeting homeowners and answering their questions about the local market.

16. Send Postcards

With all the technology at your disposal in 2024, postcards may seem outdated. But they are actually great for lead capture, conversion and continued follow-up. 

But you should carefully select your prospects. Avoid postcards that are weird and cheesy. These types of postcards are off-putting.

Instead, design postcards that are informative and concise. Then send them out to potential clients.

Actionable Tips

  • Send postcards for holidays
  • Use clear, attention-grabbing headlines in your postcards.
  •  Include your contact info on the postcards you send out.
  •  Include a call to action e.g. visit my website, call for more info, etc.

17. Reviews

Everyone relies on reviews these days. Client reviews on your website can be a useful tool in generating leads. Whether you convert these leads is mostly dependent on your review portfolio. 

The reputation you get from reviews can make or break you. Good reviews create the first impression of trust and reliability.

Most real estate agents don’t have online reviews. They are unaware of the value that reviews provide. 

Actionable Tips

  • Use negative reviews to improve your business. Don’t take reviews personally.
  • Try and reply to every review you get.
  • Ensure customer satisfaction to prevent getting negative reviews.

18. Make Phone Calls

As a real estate agent, you may be required to reach out to potential home sellers that you’ve never been in contact with before.

Reaching out to them through a phone call can be an effective way to get them to list with you. But you just can’t call anyone.

In 2003, the Federal Trade Commission developed a national Do Not Call Registry. You can’t call anyone who is on this list.  

Where you can make legitimate calls, it’s essential you have a script. Scripts allow you to learn new sales approaches and boost your confidence while on the phone. 

Actionable Tips

  • Be direct and concise in your call
  • Formulate a script and stick to it.

19. Wear Branded Gear out in Public

Why not show off branded gear from your business while you’re out and about in town. You never know who’s looking! 

Whether you’re standing in line at the supermarket or walking your pet, people are likely to notice your name and what you do. This may lead to interactions with prospects, that eventuate into solid leads.  

Actionable Tips

  • Customize your clothes to include information about your business.
  • Wear fashionable clothes that can attract people’s attention and which have your logo.
  • Remember real estate business cards still relevant to market yourself as a realtor .

20. Form a Partnership with an Attorney

Partnering with estate and divorce attorneys is a solid way to get real estate leads. 

The attorney should see that you genuinely care for their clients. This will give them more confidence to work with you and send more referrals your way.

Actionable Tips

  •  Do your research on potential partners before approaching them.
  •  Be sure to provide information on what services you actually offer.
  • Try and be sensitive and caring towards the attorneys’ clients. 

Real Estate Lead Generation Software Review:  Best Real Estate Lead Generation Company 2024

Home Value Leads is a real estate lead generation software from which real estate agents can get optimized leads instantly. 

It was founded in 2013 and has been a great tool for agents to get real estate seller leads. Some users of this service have generated 100+ leads during their trial.

The real estate lead generation software helps agents build out custom home valuation landing pages. It also helps agents with the nurturing and conversion of the leads generated via seller landing pages. 

Home Value Leads provides a straightforward way for real estate agents to organize, manage, and keep potential seller leads on track.

Some of its features include:

Ø  Automated Home Value Reports: Which are updated every month.

Ø  Lead Follow Up: It’s built-in drip email campaigns enable agents to nurture their leads until they’re ready to sell.

Ø  Lead Enhancement: This feature allows agents to get the contact information of a lead if they don’t provide it.

Ø  Instant Lead Notification: Real estate agents receive emails and text alerts when a new seller lead comes in.

Ø  Optimized for mobile: Home Value Leads landing page is designed to work on desktops, laptops, and smartphones.

Ø  Automated SMS Follow Up: It helps you send real estate related SMS messages to your leads.

Here’s what other users of the software say about it:

Amazing customer service and very responsive, even at off business hours! My business has doubled due to HVL and I’m grateful to have found them” 

Jolie Kehoe Abreu 

Agent at Keller Williams

“Got a listing a week ago and two more this week. Been using for about 3 months. It’s a process people, work them right and you’ll convert.” 

Ross Hardy 

Hardy Realtor

“Extremely responsive service! I also appreciate their commitment to constantly looking for ways to make an excellent service better!” 

Bill Butler 

RE/MAX of New England

“Best lead capture for listings that I have ever seen or heard of. The customer service and support from Eric and Brian are phenomenal. The cost is exceptional for the product that you get. I highly recommend it!” 

Brenda Mullen 

RE/MAX Access

“My real estate websites have always been great for finding buyers but this is the first one I’ve found that works great to convert seller leads online.” 

Frequently Asked Questions 

How to generate real estate leads for free?

Build partnerships and create networks with other people in the business. This will earn you numerous referrals. You can also take advantage of social media to market your services. It is free and quite effective due to the sheer number of people on social platforms.

You could also try traditional methods like knocking on people’s doors and cold calling to offer your services. Try creating a blog and a website. People who visit your sites will be interested in knowing more about your business and services. There are dozens of other ways to get leads without spending a dime. You need only be creative.

How to generate leads as a new real estate agent?

You can start with people you already know. Tell your family, friends, and acquaintances. Attend as many social gatherings as you can to meet new people. 

Try and get a CRM system. This will store information about your contacts and also help you see different concepts e.g. the number of contacts you have, when you last contacted them, whether they’ve given referrals etc. This will help you build your network.

Take advantage of social media. Join or create social media groups and engage with people on these platforms. This will go a long way in generating leads for you.

How to generate buyer leads in real estate?

Explore advertising on social media. Social media ads like Facebook are usually highly targeted and utilizing this feature will enable you to reach potential buyer leads.

You can also create a website that is optimized for capturing real estate buyer leads. This can consist of a high-quality real estate blog that provides value to visitors. The higher the quality of your site, the more you are likely to get buyer leads.

Networking and socializing is also a good way to generate buyer leads through referrals. Start email drip campaigns that offer useful information to potential buyer leads. Cold calling is also a great way of getting in contact with potential clients who are on the lookout to buy certain properties.

There are also dozens of people on craigslist looking to buy houses. Contact these individuals and offer your services. 

How to generate leads from Facebook for real estate?

Begin by creating a Facebook page. Once you’ve done this create an introductory post and invite friends and family to like your page. As your page grows be sure to post engaging content. This will attract more visits to your page thus generating leads. You can also run targeted Facebook Ad Campaigns which will enable you to reach more people hence attract more leads.

Does Keller Williams give you leads?

Not necessarily. They give you access to sales inquiries which does help you to find leads.

 Is it worth paying for Zillow leads?

Yes and no. The National Association of Realtors estimates that 90% of home buyers use the internet to home hunt. So investing in a giant real estate company like Zillow, which has lots of users, offers you an opportunity to acquire leads. 

The downside is that there is no guarantee that you’ll be able to convert the leads that you buy. Some of the leads give false contact information which complicates things. 

You can always complain to Zillow about this, but you’ll already be at an inconvenience. There are also lots of agents on Zillow so competition is high.

It’s really up to you to weigh your options.

Is buying real estate leads worth it?

Buying real estate leads gives you a chance to contact your leads before they reach out to other agents. 

But the biggest disadvantage is that the leads you get are not always guaranteed to work. 

The quality of leads can at times be a disparaging factor as some may provide false contact information. 

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Rita Akekelwa

Rita is a professional real estate and finance writer who has built up a multi-disciplinary portfolio over the years. She has over ten years of writing experience, focusing on the U.S and Australian markets. Her topics have ranged from credit scores to home loans, mortgage redraws, and refinancing. She has a natural ability to dig deep into her subjects, crafting the highest quality informative texts.