9 best places to buy real estate leads in 2024

Exclusive leads for solo agents

Market Leader

From $189 / month + $15-$50/lead

Lead nurturing and conversion

Zurple

From $149 / month + $10-$50/lead

Exclusive seller leads + no contract

Offrs

Inherited property leads

CatalyzeAI

$180 – $240 / month for 30 leads

$300 – $1,000+ / month + lead costs

Targeted geo-farming leads

SmartZip

Set up fee $396, $99 / month + lead costs

Pre-qualified seller leads

Sold.com

Set up is free; you pay referral fees

End-to-end lead generation and nurturing

CINC

From $899 / month for solo agents

FSBO and Expired leads

REDX

A la carte w/ lead packages from $50

Whether you love or hate Zillow, they’re still the biggest game in town when it comes to buyers. Zillow continues to dominate as the most searched real estate platform. Zillow Premier Agent can help you get in front of the millions of potential buyers and sellers who use it daily.

The program is designed to help agents connect with buyers, improve their brand recognition, and convert leads into clients. As a Zillow Premier Agent, your display ads appear next to listings in your chosen ZIP codes. Many Zillow users are actively seeking both a property to purchase AND an agent to represent them. Unlike generic Facebook or Google ads, the leads you’ll get from Zillow are further along in their buying journey.

Note that costs vary, and leads are shared among agents who share your zip code. This makes Zillow Premier Agent a better fit for brokerages with a substantial marketing budget (and even better follow-up skills) looking to earn some good reviews.

How much real estate professionals spend on buying real estate leads depends on their business level. If you’re just starting out, you don’t want to overspend and get into a financial hole.

It makes a lot of sense to diversify your lead generation to include some free and low-cost options until you get a couple of transactions under your belt. There’s nothing wrong with starting out by sitting open houses, cold-calling FSBOs and expireds, or networking in your community.

Couple that with a solid and consistent social media campaign to get the ball rolling. Once you build enough cash reserves for a bigger marketing budget, you can consider scaling your business with higher-level paid leads.

But you might consider hiring an assistant to help you function at that level. You can scale your business once you get some processes in place to handle the influx of paid leads without letting too many slip through the cracks.

Believe it or not, many Realtors never pay for leads. They rely on referrals and repeat business from their past clients. That will come once you’ve been in the industry for a few years. In the meantime, you’ll most likely start with the people in your orbit you already know. That’s the fastest and easiest way to drum up your first couple of deals.

Think of places you go, things you do, etc. Do you attend church? Do you participate in volunteer work, hobby groups, or social networks? Are you involved in sports or your children’s school. Get in the habit of telling everyone about your career path and encourage questions about the industry to show off your local expertise.

Honestly, yes. Zillow is the single greatest source of hot buyer leads. It’s the most searched database for homes in the U.S. and beyond. If you want to get in front of all those buyers, Zillow is where you need to be. You will get a lot of leads that are not quite ready to buy, but they’re looking ahead and anticipating (and maybe dreaming about) their next move.

Many of the prospecting from Zillow could have a lead time of six to twelve months, so you’ll want to set up an effective (and ideally automated) system to stay in close contact with them. Check out our favorite lead nurturing and marketing tools here.

The secret is not to lose touch with your network of leads. To stay top of mind, it’s a great idea to reach out with a friendly phone call every so often.

Having said that, not all leads are created equal. Some leads will be better qualified from the start, while others, like social media leads, will need a lot more time and effort to convert. Some leads will be easy to turn into clients, ready to make a home-buying decision this week. While others may be looking 12 months out.

You won’t convert all your leads, but aim for one to two out of ten listing appointments and one to two out of 100 top-of-funnel leads (like those from social media) who may need a longer nurturing period. There are immediate pay-offs, and there’s also a long game. Get good at your long game!

Buying leads can complement traditional lead generation strategies like hosting open houses or first-time homebuyer seminars.

There are so many ways to generate leads — including many free ways. Start by telling your friends, family and former colleagues that you’re embarking on a new career in the real estate industry. Then, make an announcement on all your socials about your new career.

If you’re an experienced agent, remind your friends and followers on social media and in person that you’re open to referrals and looking to help people reach their financial goals.

Raise the topic of real estate in conversations, go to networking events and talk about your market, answer homebuyers’ and sellers’ questions with posts on social media, ask for referrals from people you know or meet.

If you need more great ideas, don’t forget to check out our article on how to generate leads here.