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On the surface, real estate lead generation seems easy. Just work hard and your phone will never stop ringing. Of course in reality, generating enough leads to sustain your business for the long haul is one of the hardest challenges of any sales profession. The key to success in generating leads is finding the right mix of strategies that work for your personality, budget, and skills. To help, Sean Moudry and I used our combined 30-plus years of real estate sales and coaching experience to put together this list of underrated real estate lead generation ideas.
We’ll show you the best online strategies to get you from first click to closing faster, offline strategies that too many agents ignore, and some creative strategies to fill in the gaps in your customer relationship manager (CRM). We also include actionable tips to get started today and links to our deep-dive strategy and buyer’s guides so you can hit the ground running.
So turn off your notifications, grab a cup of coffee, and check out our 33 best real estate lead generation ideas for 2023.
Online Real Estate Lead Generation Ideas
1. Use a Custom Friends List on Facebook to Engage With Former Clients & Prospects Every Morning
When it comes to staying top of mind on Facebook, liking and commenting on your former clients’ and prospects’ posts works better than posting on your own profile. Why? The odds of your post showing up on their feed when they log in are slim, but the odds of them seeing your comment are virtually 100%. This is why a custom friends list you engage with every morning can be a powerful (and free) lead generation tool.
How to get started today: Create a custom friends list consisting of past clients and future prospects. Monitor it every morning and like and comment whenever you have something to add. Just don’t overdo it, as it will appear deliberate instead of casual and friendly. One to two comments per week, per friend is more than enough.
2. Learn How to Prospect on LinkedIn
This strategy makes so much sense, because, as Close contributor Beverly Ruffner notes, why prospect for leads on Facebook or Instagram where you have to compete with cute kitten videos? Instead, use the platform that was specifically designed for professional networking. I am, of course, talking about LinkedIn: the one social media platform agents still seem to ignore.
How to get started today: Sign up for a LinkedIn Premium Account and learn the three key ways to generate leads on LinkedIn: building your account, creating compelling content, and identifying individuals and companies who are planning a move to your farm area. To get the details on prospecting on LinkedIn, check out Beverly’s strategy guide below.
Related Strategy Guide
10 Ways Smart Real Estate Agents Are Using LinkedIn to Get Better Leads
Agents love to complain about them, but when it comes to getting prospects fast, lead generation services are in a class of their own. An astonishing 48.1% of all real estate website traffic is on Zillow and more than 28% of Zillow’s traffic comes from search engines like Google. While we will explore ways to get noticed on Google later in the article, the process can take months or even years. Lead generation services get you leads from these platforms instantly.
How to get started today: If you’re not sure where to start buying leads or want to make sure the service you’re using is right for you, check out our picks for the premier lead generation companies and what we think they are best for:
Best Lead Generation Companies
Related Buyer’s Guide
The Top 7 Real Estate Lead Generation Companies for 2023 (+ 3 to Avoid)
4. Drive More Engagement With Instagram Stories & Reels
Want leads from Instagram? Focusing on the engagement you generate from short-form videos is the way to get them. Here’s why: Instagram’s algorithm has always rewarded posts that amass likes and comments. The more likes and comments your posts get, the more people Instagram shows them to. But since social media apps like TikTok have become more popular, Instagram’s algorithm is now rewarding engagement on video features like Reels and Stories MUCH more than in static posts.
How to get started today: If you want to learn the ropes of building engagement on Instagram, check out this excellent article from Eric Simon (aka The Broke Agent) below. Eric built his Instagram account to 423,000 followers and a good source of leads using these strategies.
Related Strategy Guide
Instagram Stories for Agents: 12 Easy Ways to Drive Engagement
5. Offer Your Real Estate Expertise to Local Communities on Reddit, Facebook & Nextdoor
Offering your real estate expertise to local groups on social media sites like Reddit, Facebook, and Nextdoor is an excellent way to generate free leads and become a valued member of your local community while you’re at it.
How to get started today: Join local groups and start engaging with your neighbors on topics that are important to them. When members of the group have real estate questions (trust me, they will have tons of questions!), offer your honest opinion without trying to sell them a thing. Eventually they will come to you for advice and you will get clients. I have used this strategy myself in my local community in Brooklyn and got great leads.
If you’re still using a free CRM or worse, Excel (!!) to manage your contacts, you are leaving money on the table. Period. Trust me, working with subpar tools is much, much harder. I should know. Ten years ago, I scaled a brokerage to 100 people, but it didn’t last. The problem was that there were only so many hours in a day, and our leads and clients needed us ASAP, 24/7. Our systems couldn’t keep up … then the recession hit.
Luckily, now it’s 2023, so we have apps like Zurple that use patent-pending software to analyze a lead’s behavior and figure out when they’re ready to transact, BEFORE they’re ready to transact. Even better, they generate those leads for you so you can actually focus on closing. It’s the software I wish I had 10 years ago.
How to get started today: Learn more about Zurple or check out our buyer’s guide below to find a smart CRM that works for you.
Related Buyer’s Guide
The Best Real Estate CRM for 2023: In-depth Reviews & Pricing
7. Scale Up Facebook & Instagram Ads
While building your Instagram following by increasing engagement will eventually get you leads, buying ads on the platform will get you leads faster. After all, paid advertising is the main way Facebook and Instagram make money. So if you want to get the best leads from these platforms without the grind, then buying ads is the way to do it.
Like any lead source, there will be a bit of a learning curve to advertising on Facebook and Instagram, but trust me, the results are well worth the effort. The key to success in getting high quality leads from your Facebook ads is to design irresistible lead magnets to convince people to stop scrolling cute cat pictures and click on your ad. Then you need to design a compelling landing page in order to convince them to leave their contact information.
How to get started today: If you want to try your hand at advertising on Facebook and Instagram, read my in-depth guide below. Or, if you want to get a head start, you can use the built-in Facebook advertising tools in lead generation apps like Real Geeks.
Related Strategy Guide
How to Create Real Estate Facebook Ads That Actually Generate Leads
While many agents think IDX websites are no longer necessary when they can build their brand and generate leads on social media, I disagree. Strongly. Having a website is still a crucial way to prove your value to buyers and sellers. Many potential clients will think less of you for not having one. As the kids say, no cap. Websites are not optional for real estate agents in 2023.
How to get started today: Luckily, creating your own IDX website is easier than ever. You can sign up for a lead generation website provider, such as Luxury Presence, Real Geeks, or Propertybase. Or you can build your own IDX website using templates and an IDX plugin.
Best Real Estate Lead Generation Websites
| Real Estate Lead Generation Website | Starting Price/Month | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Propertybase GO (Best Overall) |
$399 | Agents seeking a highly customizable website with proven lead generation tools, excellent conversion strategies, and a built-in CRM. Read review |
| Real Geeks | $299 | A solid website/CRM experience with a paid ad option you can scale as your business grows. Read Review |
| Placester | $119 | Agents who don’t have the time to create and manage a high-converting website and want it done for them. Read review |
| Chime | $599 | A website with very short learning curve; something you can start using on day one. Read Review |
| iNCOM | $44.95 | Agents whose customer base would also appreciate having recently sold info and foreclosure data available in search. |
Related Buyer’s Guide
How to Build an IDX Real Estate Website in an Afternoon
While getting your articles to rank on Google for local real estate searches is virtually impossible these days, you can and should try to rank for the micro-niche local topics that the big sites are ignoring. You can write about topics like local zoning changes, new construction, or guides to small subdivisions or neighborhoods that buyers might want to research. For example, I wrote an article on Sears kit houses several years ago that still ranks well on Google, and I continue to get comments on it to this day. You might only get a trickle of traffic to these blog posts, but many of them will be buyers researching their next move!
How to get started today: Check out my guide to real estate search engine optimization (SEO) below, then start a blog on your website where you can write about local topics people might search for on Google.
Related Strategy Guide
Real Estate SEO: The Ultimate Guide (9 Steps to Better Ranking)
Predictive analytics deserves a place in your 2023 lead generation plan for one reason: It’s the first truly disruptive technology for real estate in years. Here’s how it works: Using advanced artificial intelligence, predictive analytics apps sort through reams of data to deliver buyer leads and seller leads before they’re ready to buy or sell a home. So if you get a lead from a predictive analytics provider, there is a very good chance you will be the first real estate agent they talk to. The holy grail of leads!
How to get started today: If you want to take the leap into the future and start using predictive analytics, we’ve included a quick overview of the best providers below, along with what we think they do best. Just make sure you have a solid lead nurturing plan since these leads will not be ready to transact for several months.
Best Predictive Analytics Leads Sources
Related Buyer’s Guide
6 Real Estate Predictive Analytics Companies You Need to Know About
11. Use Deep Insights From Zillow to Convert More Leads
Did you know that even after a buyer contacts an agent, they go back to Zillow an average of 27 times and look at 77 more listing pages in 30 days? That means that even if you answered your phone right away and wowed them, there’s still a huge chance they’ll wind up working with someone else. Even worse, you’ll never even know it. They’ll just stop returning your calls.
How to get started today: If you want to convert more leads, then Zillow Premier Agent’s new feature, My Agent, might be right for you. It puts only your contact information on every single listing your lead looks at after they contact you. Even better, My Agent provides real estate pros with deep insights on which properties their clients are viewing, saving, and searching for on Zillow.
Offline Real Estate Lead Generation Ideas
12. Use Slydial Broadcast to Circle Prospect Just Sold & Open Houses
Circle prospecting, the practice of contacting homeowners surrounding your current listing, is one of the best ways to stake out your claim in your farm area. If you want to become the go-to real estate agent in a neighborhood, you’re going to have to get in front of the neighbors as often as possible.
The only problem is that some farm areas are already blanketed with door hangers, flyers, and postcards from your competition. But with a little creativity, you can beat your competitors to the chase before they get their flyers printed.
Tampa Bay Realtor Christina Griffin came up with an ingenious strategy to reach homeowners in her farm area. She bought lists of homeowners’ cell numbers, then, after cross-checking with the do-not call list, used a clever app called Slydial Broadcast to leave them all voicemails advertising her next open house automatically. The response was immediate and massive. She got 200 leads on her first day.
How to get started today: Learn Christina’s exact Slydial strategy in my article below, sign up for Slydial, and start prospecting around your next open house!
Related Strategy Guide
How Circle Prospecting Got One Tampa Realtor 200 Leads in ONE DAY
If you want to get more listings this year, focusing on older expired listings might get you better results. There is a very simple reason why: Prices have gone up so much over the last two years that the unrealistic price the homeowner was asking way back when might be a realistic price in today’s market.
How to get started today: Here’s a quick rundown of my three-step strategy to prospect old expired listings:
1. Search your MLS for listings that expired over the past three years
2. If the listing has been withdrawn, call the listing agent and ask if it is coming back on the market
3. For older expireds, pick up the phone and call the homeowners
Need some good scripts to use with this group? Check out my 24 best expired listings scripts:
Related Strategy Guide
24 Best Expired Listing Scripts & Objection Handlers
Contrary to what many experienced agents will tell you, open houses are still an excellent source of leads in 2023. You just need to up your game a bit to create memorable experiences for your open house guests and have an actual strategy to get them into your CRM. Once they’re in your database, you need to have something of value to offer them when you reach out.
How to get started today: If you’re a new agent, offer to host an open house this weekend for a listing agent in your office. Here is my simple four-step process to prepare for the big day:
1. Memorize and role-play my open house scripts with a coworker
2. Create a Facebook event to promote your open house and boost it for three days
3. Make sure you have a good open house app to capture contact information
4. Create a helpful lead magnet, like a selection of off-market listings or an actionable guide navigating the local market, to send to open house guests
Related Article
27 Open House Ideas That Will Actually Get You Leads
While other agents are chasing potential clients on TikTok, you can beat them to the best leads with prospecting letters. Why are prospecting letters so much better? Simple. According to the most recent National Association of Realtors (NAR) Profile of Buyers and Sellers, the average age of homesellers in 2022 was 60 years old! So unless 60-year-olds in your farm area are TikTok addicts, you have a much better chance of connecting with them via prospecting letters.
How to get started today: Decide which buyers or sellers you want to target, then modify one of the prospecting letter templates in my article below. You can get addresses from places like ListSource or REDX.
Related Strategy Guide
The 19 Best Real Estate Prospecting Letter Templates
Believe it not, even in the age of TikTok and artificial intelligence, working your sphere of influence is still the best offline lead generation strategy for most agents.
Here’s why: Hopefully, the people in your sphere of influence already know, like, and trust you. Similar to those in your local social media groups, they will also have questions about real estate—and lots of them! If you help them answer those questions, you’ll be top of mind when it comes time to move, and they’ll refer you to their friends and coworkers.
How to get started today:
1. Move the contacts in your address book into your CRM and segment them as your sphere of influence.
2. Next, break them down into groups by how well you know them, how financially solvent or connected they are, and how likely you think they are to transact in the next few months.
3. Then, set up an outreach cadence to touch base with them. You should reach out to people you know well by phone once per quarter, and people you know less well by email or social media. Check out my sphere-building tips below to learn more.
Related Strategy Guide
7 Tips for Building Your Sphere of Influence in Real Estate (+ Script)
Many top-producing agents cut their teeth as listing agents by prospecting FSBOs. Believe it or not, today’s market is the perfect opportunity to get started with this same technique.
Here’s why: With inventory still tight and prices softening slowly, FSBOs are now facing one of the trickiest markets in a generation. Most don’t have the skill set to navigate it successfully. Of course, that doesn’t mean they no longer want (or maybe even need) to sell their home. It just means they are much more likely to need help doing it. That’s where you come in.
How to get started today:
1. Check out our guide to the best FSBO scripts below.
2. Then practice your scripts and role-play with fellow agents before you start calling to increase your chances of success.
3. Sign up for prospecting software like REDX or Vulcan7 and start calling those FSBOs!
Related Strategy Guide
The 9 Best FSBO Scripts (+ Why They Work)
If you’re not getting enough high-quality leads, you might be in the wrong niche or worse, not working a niche at all. Many agents just kind of fall into whatever transaction types seem easy during their first two or three years in real estate. They never take the time to find a niche that works for their personality and skill set and makes them money.
How to get started today:
1. Take my Real Estate Agent Personality Quiz to learn more about your individual traits and motivations.
2. Then, research niches in your farm area that work with your sales personality. For example, the FSBO niche is best for extroverts, while corporate relocations will work better for introverts.
3. After you take the test, check out Emile’s guide to real estate niches below to find a new niche to work this year.
Related Strategy Guide
6 Red-hot Real Estate Niches That Can Double Your GCI
While everyone else in your office is busy with the latest social media fad (TikTok, anyone?), why not head out into the fresh air and fill your CRM with leads the old-fashioned way? Go knock on some doors! It’s actually a lot easier than you might think, and it’s also a fantastic way to hone your elevator pitch and flex your sales muscles.
How to get started today:
1. Get some comfortable shoes and check out my in-depth guide to door knocking below for tips and scripts to get started.
2. Choose a neighborhood with homeowners who fit your real estate niche.
3. Head out door knocking on a Sunday morning.
4. Keep showing up!
Related Strategy Guide
Door Knocking for Real Estate: Does It Still Work? (+ Tips & Scripts)
20. Pick Up the Phone & Make Outbound Calls
While Slydial can be a great prospecting tool, becoming too reliant on technology and ignoring good old-fashioned phone calls will hurt your career in the long run. I chatted with real estate superstar, NAR keynote speaker, and all-around lovely person Leigh Brown, and she agrees:
“Statistics show that an estimated one-third of the public does something related to real estate annually―renovations, updates, repairs, refinancing, buying, or selling―and savvy Realtors are there for all of those steps in the work of being the trusted Realtor adviser over time.”
“How to make it happen? Set a doable goal of one call per day. It will get done—and once you do one, you’re likely to make two.”
How to get started today:
1. Check out our best cold calling scripts below and start role-playing with your coworkers.
2. Then start integrating cold calls to your sphere, FSBOs, or expireds into your daily schedule.
Related Strategy Guide
7 Real Estate Cold Calling Scripts + Tips to Conquer Your Fears
While most agents have thought about hosting first-time buyer’s seminars to attract leads, they fall short when it comes to choosing the location. First-time buyers are spoiled for choice in real estate education these days, so why not offer them the same information someplace fun? A broker I worked with in Brooklyn actually built a 100-agent brokerage partly because he hosted his buyer and renter seminars in cool bars in Williamsburg. This helped him relate to the young professionals he was targeting and filled his CRM with eager leads.
How to get started today:
1. Write a presentation script that walks first-time buyers through the homebuying process.
2. Practice your presentation until you can deliver it confidently.
3. Choose a fun location to host your buyer seminar. Local bars can be a good choice, but why not think outside the box and host your seminar in the park, at a local art gallery, a brewery, or any other place your leads might enjoy?
Pitching your services to small local real estate investors can get you a steady source of leads who often buy homes in cash and transact multiple times per year. While high interest rates have slowed down investment activity, many cash-rich investors are still hunting for deals or selling properties they already own. Since so many agents are ignoring them these days, 2023 might be a good chance to build relationships with investors and let them know you can help them when they’re ready to dive back in.
How to get started today: You need to learn the skills investors look for in agents, including how to find undervalued off-market properties, how to analyze investment opportunities, and how to be a trusted adviser to busy investors. Check out our strategy guide below to learn more.
Related Strategy Guide
9 Skills Agents Need to Work With Investors & Close 50-100 Deals a Year
While testimonials on your website or landing page will help you convert leads into clients, getting your name in the press as a real estate expert is even better. Why? Simple. You can include logos of all the news outlets you’ve been quoted on on your website, business cards, and landing pages. Unlike testimonials, news outlet logos will be instantly recognizable–and trusted—by almost everyone in your farm area.
How to get started today:
1. Make a list of local news outlets or blogs to pitch and find the editors’ contact information using Hunter.io or LinkedIn.
2. Write quick-hit blog posts on trending real estate topics to send to editors and pitch yourself as a source for their real estate articles.
3. Sign up for Help A Reporter Out and start answering reporters’ requests for quotes.
Related Strategy Guide
5 PR Strategies Any Agent Can Use to Get Free Press
24. Reward Your Referral Sources With a Handwritten Note & Gift Card
Everyone loves getting presents, even small ones. That’s why Coldwell Banker agent Heidi Sutter’s system of rewarding referral sources helps keep a steady stream of referrals in her inbox:
“For me, one of the best lead generating tools has been to reward my referrals with a handwritten note and gift card. Doing so has been key for my business and proven to be one of the best ways to connect with clients, friends, and family who are kind enough to refer my services.”
How to get started today: Here’s Heidi’s exact formula for generating leads with handwritten notes:
- $5 gift card and thank-you note at introduction to the referral
- $10 gift card for gas, along with a handwritten note thanking them for the referral again and providing a quick update on the progress once the buyer or seller signs a contract or lists with you
- Hand-delivered $50 gift card to a local restaurant once the client closes
Related Strategy Guide
9 Real Estate Thank-you Notes That Create Clients for Life (Templates)
Creative Real Estate Lead Generation Ideas
25. Drive Around With Gifts at the Ready
Instead of using pop-bys with clever cards, I always kept coffee mugs filled with candy in my car. When I was out on showings and drove near a former client’s house, I would stop by and give them one. This sweet strategy actually led to an introduction to an asset manager who brought in $500,000 in referred business to my brokerage over two years.
26. Pitch Absentee Landlords & Owners of Distressed Properties
If your local inventory is tight, try offering absentee landlords and owners of distressed properties your services. Tracking down their contact information can be challenging, but since most other agents are ignoring them, they can be an excellent source of listings.
How to get started today: The next time you notice a house with overgrown grass, for rent signs that never come down, or piled up newspapers, see if you can track down the owner to list the property for sale. Here are a few ways to do it:
- Look up the property in your county records.
- Use data from the U.S. Postal Service.
- Order an owner & encumbrances report from a title company.
- Use Freedomsoft to investigate.
Related Strategy Guide
9 Proven Strategies to Find Hidden Listing Inventory
While formal client appreciation parties are a great way to stay top of mind to generate referrals, they’re expensive and put pressure on your former clients to attend. Social happy hours are less formal, more fun, and in my experience, at least, more people show up.
The best part is that even the people who don’t show up after you call (yes, call!) to invite them will appreciate the fact that you thought enough of them to actually call and invite them.
Pop-by gifts, small gifts agents hand out to former clients with a clever note attached, can work wonders to keep you top of mind and drive referrals. They help remind people you’ve already worked with that you are not only a trusted adviser and negotiator, but that you’re also a fun person to spend time with. People want to work with people they like!
Related Strategy Guide
17 Clever Real Estate Pop-by Ideas to Get More Referrals
29. Drive Referrals by Promoting Local Businesses
If you have a network of contractors you’ve worked with, promoting their services to your clients is a great way to get them to send you buyer and seller referrals in return. All you need to do is put together a list of financial planners, landscapers, movers, painters, and other professionals you trust and share it on your social media accounts, your email list, your website, and as a concierge package when you close deals. Once they start getting business from your promotion, they will be more likely to send you referrals.
If you want to generate leads from local businesses on autopilot, Parkbench makes it easy. They build you a hyperlocal website and offer expert training to help you use it to generate the referrals that lead to more referrals. The best part? Parkbench only allows a limited number of agents per local area. Click below to find out if your farm area is still available.
Visit Parkbench
Related Article
How Parkbench Drives Community Connection & Generates Leads
While it may seem like a waste of time if you’re struggling to find leads, starting your lead generation journey by building a compelling personal brand is still the advice I give every new and struggling agent. A personal brand that resonates with your target audience does something that buying leads or running Facebook ads never will. It helps you build your unique selling proposition. This is what will separate you from all the other agents in your farm area. It’s more important than ever in 2023 because every agent in your farm area has access to the same tools. Standing out from the crowd will mean more leads and more closed deals.
Related Strategy Guide
Real Estate Branding: How to Build Your Brand (+ Case Studies)
32. Work With Divorce, Bankruptcy, and Probate Attorneys
Attorneys who specialize in divorce, bankruptcy, or probate have clients who not only want to buy or sell a home, but need to buy or sell a home. If you build a relationship with a busy attorney, they will send you more referrals than you can handle. As long as you can transact quickly and have a thick skin, you just might find a new niche to work.
Related Interview
How to Work with Real Estate Divorce Leads the Right Way
33. Network at More Events Unrelated to Real Estate
If you hate networking at non-real estate events, you might be doing it wrong. Instead of making it a chore to go to boring events with high-net-worth people since they buy at higher price points, why not go to events you actually enjoy?
The trick to successful networking is to not sell to people, which is much easier when you are at an event you actually want to attend. Just let conversations flow naturally and people will eventually ask about your business. Easy, right?
Over to You
What real estate lead generation ideas and strategies are you using to gin up new business in 2023? Still sticking with Zillow or have you discovered something new? Let us know in the comments.
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