We really are right at the dawn of a new frontier in the digital world and the rise of artificial intelligence as it starts to become more and more pervasive in the fabric of our increasingly digital world. A lot of people find the promise of widespread incorporation of artificial intelligence to be unsettling and a source for concern, and that may be for good reason. But alongside that is all the incredible potential there is in making so many processes much more efficient and accurately oriented by using AI. We’re starting see how AI can be used in real estate too, and for real estate lead generation too.

Even the youngest and most tech-savvy realtors may not have the best handle on how all of that is possible, but that’s a big part of what makes AI so fascinating as it grows in its capabilities by leaps and bounds seemingly by the week. There’s a lot of buzz around ChatGPT for real estate. Many realtors who read of what it may be able to do for them are keen to pay for it the same way they’ve looked into paid real estate leads with an online realtor lead generation service like ours here at Real Estate Leads.

Now granted you can likely use ChatGPT for any number of purposes and being paying less than you would need to for automated lead generation here or elsewhere. But the tradeoff is you’ll need to be much more in the know about how to use the tool so that is does what you’re aiming to have it do. With paid real estate leads you are receiving a much more ready-made product for you to follow up with these would-be clients directly.

So what we’re going to do here with this week’s entry is look at ChatGPT strategies for real estate. Taking advantage of this new technology for real estate business building isn’t as challenging as you might think, and we’re going to show you how that’s possible.

Brainiest Assistant

We’re going to start here by suggesting you imagine having an absolutely free tool that can reduce the time you spend on many of the tasks you have with your business by up to 70%, including personalizing emails, better answering customer questions, generating better quality exclusive content, and even assisting with your SEO strategy. There’s so much that is becoming possible for business of any type with AI, and real estate is definitely no exception when it comes to what you can do in real estate with ChatGPT.

Of course what we’re going to look at here is how it relates to real estate lead generation and we’re here to show you just how this technology-strategy tool can transform your PREC business.

What is ChatGPT?

Before we get into ChatGPT for real estate we had better start at the start and explain the technology for anyone reading this who isn’t familiar with it. It is a cutting-edge AI technology that – among many other different applications – is allowing businesses to automate their communication processes with customers.

It uses advanced algorithms and machine learning to generate natural language responses in real-time, based on prompts – the term for the information you provide that the AI then ‘works with’ to improve the scope of knowledge that can be gleaned from it and refining the delivery of it. AI can improve the contextual relevance of your communications too, and this is something that is HUGE for business communication no matter what profession you are in.

These prompts and advanced algorithms to analyze data from customer interactions and generate responses in real-time, and by training on large amounts of data an AI can understand how people most effectively communicate around certain questions and statements and the way it analyzes they need to be framed.

ChatGPT has access to enormous amounts of data, and this is why it shows so much promise for automated lead generation. It draws from a corpus of more than 45 terabytes of text, including conversations, news, blogs, books and more and that volume is increasing all the time. This is what allows the AI to accurately understand and respond to a wide variety of questions and situations.

The last thing we should mention here before we move on is that when a customer engages with a business through ChatGPT, the technology uses this data to generate a response that is decidedly more a human-to-human interaction type of communication. It is easy to see how that would be beneficial for realtors and considering how many may not have communication skills that are commensurate with their ability to sell homes as a realtor.

ChatGPT for Lead Generation & Outbound Marketing

ChatGPT excels for improving and streamlining lead generation and outbound marketing for real estate agents. Here are some examples of how ChatGPT for real estate can take what you’re currently doing in these areas and make it so much better.

1. Real Estate Lead Generation : we’re going to dig into this in MUCH more detail below here
2. Customer Service : ChatGPT can be used to automatically respond to customer inquiries, freeing up your customer service team to focus on other types of tasks
3. Content Creation : Generate better articles, blog posts, and other types of content with the help of ChatGPT
4. Social Media Management : This tool does wonders for managing your social media accounts, responding to messages, answering questions, and you’ll have an excellent virtual content write to go at any time
5. Sales Support : ChatGPT can help your sales team by providing information, answering questions, and even generating sales pitches
6. Market Research : You can use it to analyze customer feedback and data to help you better understand your target market and make better decisions

With ChatGPT’s advanced AI technology, there are countless ways it can be used to improve your business operations and drive growth, and there’s a reason why there’s so much buzz about ChatGPT for real estate.

11 Ways to Get Real Estate Leads Using ChatGPT

1. Cold Email Personalization with ChatGPT

Personalizing your emails and trying to find the best tone for making them the right mix of assertiveness and not being too-pushy can be a challenge, but with ChatGPT you can easily build and transform your cold emails. Done right this can make each email feel like a one-on-one conversation with your customer and increase the chances of conversion. AI can also help realtors by generating email lists with your potential customers to setting up cold emailing campaigns.

2. Increase LinkedIn Engagement

AI can be used to make you a more regular contributor on LinkedIn, which can increase the likelihood that you’re featured as a realtor to other professionals who are using the app or are already a part of your professional circle.

3. Better / Smarter Social Networks

We’ve covered professional networking, but we know as well that social media is a crucial part of any business’s marketing strategy and that will apply for automated lead generation too. ChatGPT can serve as your social media and customer support agent that answers customer questions and inquiries that come to you through your social networks.

4. Better & More Unique Content Generation

These days there is so much value in having genuine, expert-source content that is optimized for SEO working to funnel clients towards you when you are working as a realtor. Creating unique and engaging content for your audience is essential for any successful business, and even in B2B Outbound marketing-based companies Inbound is a must.

ChatGPT strategies for real estate here can involve you planning to easily generate customized content tailored to your specific audience. Simply input relevant information, such as industry, target audience, and desired tone, and ChatGPT will take it from there, creating content that is both relevant and engaging.

5. Adapt Blog Content for Different Social Networks

It is smart to adapt your Social media content to match the style and tone of different social media networks. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, ChatGPT can help you create optimized social media posts for maximum engagement and reach.

We’re not skilled with that either, but with an AI working for you it becomes possible to have your communications revised to be better suited for a more positive reception based on the user profiles for which social media platform we’re talking about.

6. Summarize Long Content to Generate Smaller Lead Magnets

Easily editing lengthy blog posts, articles or reports into smaller and more approachable / digestible pieces of content is another area where AIs like ChatGPT excel. They can be used as powerful lead magnets for real estate agents. These smaller pieces of content are more appealing to busy readers and can be more easily shared on social media.

Shorter is always better when you’re writing for the web, and so many realtors are going to have an AI writing for them in the very near future. They are powerful tools that can streamline your lead generation strategy and reach your target audience in much more effective ways and resulting in more real estate leads being converted into clients

7. Custom Keyword Generation for SEO by ChatGPT

ChatGPT can fully revitalize the SEO optimization of a real estate agent website as well as all their digital communications. With AIs you can better target and analyze your audience and industry to generate unique, high-performing keywords that will take your lead generation efforts to the next level. Providing the right prompts is especially important when it comes to using AI for keyword generation in real estate.

8. ChatGPT for Compelling Real Estate Ad Copy

Many realtors may have written ad copy for Google Ads and had very little if any return on the investment they’ve made in those ads. ChatGPT can help in a big way here too.

This AI technology can bring you enough ideas and inspiration to make your ads more efficient, and you can have the AI craft optimized AD copy for you. From creating headlines and AD descriptions to identifying the best keywords to use.

9. Better Storytelling in AI-generated Content for Real Estate

ChatGPT can also be a part of real estate lead generation through online content if it is used to incorporate storytelling elements. This tool can write for you compelling stories that engage your audience and create more of the type of impact where they will be inclined to contact you if they need the services of a realtor.

Blog posts, social media updates, and email marketing campaigns are all areas where realtors can and should be putting ChatGPT to work for creating better content.

10. ChatGPT for Custom B2B Case Studies Showcasing Your Expertise

ChatGPT is also impressively capable with creating unique and compelling stories that are optimized for business-2-business communications and can showcase your expertise and resonate with your target audience. For example, you may want marketing materials that are more tailored to REITS that are buying homes as real estate investments for example. This is what you’d provide in the prompts you enter into the AI.

Better B2B communications can be huge for outbound marketing in real estate.

11. Better Drawing

There may be realtors who are also good artists, but the majority of them may not be able to do anything more than doodle. The reason we bring this up is that while only some people can sketch and draw well, a lot of people – prospective real estate clients included – respond more favorably to anything that’s sent to them is a hand-drawn image of some sort is included. Some people will like to see something that’s cute, some people will like to see something that’s funny. Some people will like to see something that’s inappropriate. Everyone’s different.

Even if you don’t draw well, you can have ChatGPT draw cartoons for real estate agents, and then you can include your drawings with your real estate marketing materials and you will likely find some clients reach out to you because you’ve taken a thoughtful and creative way of approaching them.

It’s great to think creatively when it comes to real estate lead generation, and this is a prime example here. We imagine we’ll be talking more about ChatGPT for real estate lead generation here in the future, so if this is something that’s really piqued your interest then make sure to follow us more here.

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The digital revolution is in full swing here in 2021, and there’s really not any aspect of our day-to-day lives that hasn’t been affected by it. It’s no secret that pretty much every would-be homebuyer is using the World Wide Web to find and cross-reference properties they’re considering making offers on, but one thing that’s become very clear over the last year and some is that the role of technology in real estate is truly more prominent than ever before.

This of course benefits home buyers and home sellers in very obvious ways, but it’s just as much a great thing for the real estate agents who are helping them with those aims. We’ve gone on at great length about how the real estate market in Canada has shown itself to be plenty resilient in the face of the economic negatives of the pandemic, and looking at it on a more micro level we can agree that technology has played a part in all of that.

Most specifically, we can generalize the role to say that it’s made it easier for buyers who’ve remained as qualified ones to access and view properties in ways that wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for certain digital technology advances. Internet marketing was ‘new’ a long time ago, but even our online real estate lead generation system for realtors in Canada here at Real Estate Leads can be mentioned with the same subject here. It’s built on the same basic principles to help realtors get much more in the way of direct and measurable results from their online marketing efforts.

But back to topic, and let’s look specifically at how technology has played a role in keeping Canada’s real estate market going at a solid clip.

The E-Homebuying Process

We can now conclude that Canadians are remarkably comfortable with the electronic homebuying process, and the convenience it has provided may well be driving sales higher. For evidence of that we don’t need to look any further than Proscriptions. Ones on open houses and in-person meetings have had the effect of making home purchases more convenient, and even a little leisurely if that’s possible. It is, but not if you’re a first-time homebuyer. That’s for sure.

What we’re talking about here is how a virtual property tour can be enjoyed from the comfort of the person’s own living room couch—and with tech like DocuSign they can even close the deal without leaving their home deals are closing faster.

It’s becoming increasingly common for the whole home buying process to be fully digitized with virtual tours and virtual walk-throughs, client meetings on Zoom, and the entirety of the marketing materials for the home for sale being created and sent out electronically.

Big-Time Sales Driver

While it is true that for multi-family residential developments you do still needed an actual physical sales centre, for detached home sales and original owner sales of townhomes and the like there is becoming less and less of a need for people to be meeting face-to-face. The connector in all of this is how sales have upsurged exactly when technology was directly and clearly attached to the physical experience of buying a home.

The experiential nature of that had to remain the same, and the good news is that it has for the most part. The key has been in finding the right mix of technology, and being very selective with how and when it’s applied. For realtors this is a learning process on their end too, and especially for older realtors who – while very successful in the business – aren’t nearly as digitally savvy as some of their younger counterparts in the business.

Trend Reinforces Buyer Enthusiasm

There may also be a lesser affect here in the way that having homes selling as quickly as they are all across the country is making it so that buyers are familiarizing themselves with these related technologies much more enthusiastically. And that’s primarily because they don’t want to be at a disadvantage compared to others who might have that savvy when it comes to competing bids on a home.

Under the duress of high pressure sales tactics and the threat of another buyer waiting in the wings, people can feel rushed into purchasing. That could partly explain buyers’ enthusiastic adoption of technology.

Successful realtors will know they need to move in step with this. If you’re one who struggles with technology then it really does make sense to get yourself at least sufficiently up to speed with all of this. Either that or pay someone to take care of these new sales tactics and client accommodation practices.

It’s a pivotal time in the industry right now with would-be buyers having the opportunity to shop on their own schedule and without having to leave their homes. Plus, another major advantage to digitizing sales is people from outside of Canada can purchase homes here before they even arrive. It’s difficult to imagine that tangibility will ever be removed from the process of buying a home, but COVID may well be changing how people shop for them and the changes are likely permanent.

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Sign up for Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads that are delivered to you. But more to the point, they’re delivered to only you. That’s right, you’ll be the only one to receive these leads and they will be for individuals, couples, or families that are living in the same area where you’re practicing real estate. They’ve shown a genuine willingness to make a move in the market, and as such they’re ready to be contacted by a quality real estate agent like you.

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We have dedicated our blog to talking about the ramifications of the COVID pandemic on the housing market for months now, and it’s been quite a while since we’ve dedicated a blog to advice for real estate professional who might be newer to the profession. These days our interests are primarily in the health of the real estate market in Canada, and we imagine it’s the same for most of you too. And so we will continue to talk about real estate in Canada in future entries here.

But today we’re going to segue back to tips for realtors in Canada, and one that will be particularly well received for newish realtors who see the need to close deals with first-time homebuyers more quickly in order to both put them in the home you know is right for them and earn the commission on the services you’ve provided for them. Both of which are important, as one reality that’s never going away – pandemic or not – is that real estate is a very competitive business, and you need to do everything you can to gain advantages.

Which is a big part of why our Canada online real estate lead generation system here at Real Estate Leads is as highly recommended as it is. What it does is harness the power of Internet Marketing and voluntary online surveys to identify prospective clients who are genuinely considering making a move in the local real estate market. And we don’t need to tell you how being able to be the first realtor to get in touch with these folks has the potential to be hugely beneficial and advantageous for you.

So let’s have a look at this topic here today – how to be quicker with closing deals with first time home buyers.

Establish Expectations Upfront and Often

There’s no debating the fact that communication is a cornerstone of a successful real estate practice and client relationship. When you’re conducting a transaction as complex as the purchase or sale of a home, it’s important that no one on either side of the equation gets their wires crossed or has a catastrophic misunderstanding. To this end, it’s very important that the realtor establish communication parameters with your clients up front.

You can start by inquiring about the communication medium they’re most comfortable with. That could be texts, calls, emails, etc. Then you need to establish how you’ll reach out accordingly. Another good idea is to set up a weekly ‘check-in’ time, and this is something you should do even if it’s clear no new progress has been made since the last check-in.

Another helpful tool is to draft a transaction timeline for your client outlining any major milestones along the way, the types of information needing to be gathered, what steps are to be taken, and what possible outcomes exist. This may seem like a lot, but you need to keep in mind that in today’s super-connected digital world clients will come to their own conclusions if you’re not very proactive in doing that for them.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it has the potential to be one.

Be in the Know with all First-Time Homebuyer Programs and Perks

Here in Canada, every realtor will be (or should be) aware of the Federal Liberal Government’s First-Time Homebuyer’s Income Assistance Program. If there are any provincial grants and programs that aid first-time homebuyers in your Province you should be explicitly aware of them too, as well as having at least a functional understanding of how they work.

Sometimes these programs are neighborhood-specific in certain cities, with incentives to buy in up and coming areas. In other instances there are grants that support under-represented minority communities who face greater obstacles when buying a first home. Do your research on all of this, because not only is it part of your diligence in being a realtor in Canada but it also goes a LONG way in establishing you as your client’s real estate expert, and trust goes a long way when it comes to getting them to put their name to paper with buying the home.

Push Mortgage Pre-approvals & Know Where Best Rates Are

Mortgage rates and terms will always vary, and there’s definitely mortgages any new first-time homebuyer should be avoiding. Every reputable realtor anywhere in Canada will have a good, honest, and reliable mortgage broker that they are able to refer to their clients. You need to be the same way, if you’re not already.

They should be able to rely on you to find the rate that suits their long-term housing goals, and trusting that you’ve done that for them definitely helps speed the home buying process. Keep in mind that first-time homebuyers are new to this process, and borrowing and lending processes can be intimidating to them. As an agent, it’s your job to play intermediary and instructor, letting your clients know their options and guiding them towards making educated decisions or – in the case of a reputable mortgage broker – pointing them in the right direction to be able to do that. ,

There’s no doubt that with first-time homebuyers can be an exciting and rewarding opportunity, but you should be prepared – and able – to be much more involved in the process and ‘taking their hand’ as it were when it comes to getting them to take the next step, and the next, and so on until they’re reading to sign the papers. Do it right and you’ll also likely enjoy being referred to their friends and family, many of whom may well become your real estate clients as well.

Sign up with Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads that are delivered to you exclusively. You’ll be the only realtor to receive these leads, and they will be for soon-to-be buyers or sellers of homes who are living in the same area of any city or town in Canada where you are working as a real estate agent. It’s an excellent way to supercharge your client prospecting efforts, and you’ll quickly see it as a solid investment in your business success.

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Owning a home in Canada is an increasingly difficult proposition for people nowadays, and that can be true for people looking to move up the property ladder into 2^nd or 3^rd homes as their realties change as much as it is for 1^st-time homebuyers looking to purchase a home for the first time. With the upcoming election in a few weeks time the major party leaders are all promising measures that will re-establish access to the housing market for people who currently can’t afford to buy the home they need.

This is a daunting challenge and there really is no quick fix. But among the other things being proposed is significantly increased taxes on big banks as proposed by the Liberals to address the ridiculous and obscene amount of national debt they’ve run up in a very short period of time. Fiscal responsibility is not part of the equation with these politicians, but even if the ‘bank tax’ might help pay down the debt it turns out that some economists and industry experts feel this may make the scenario worse for disadvantaged would-be homeowners.

The belief is very much that Trudeau’s election campaign promise to raise taxes on Canada’s biggest banks is going to backfire and actually result in homes becoming even less affordable, which would be harming his goal of helping buyers in one of the world’s hottest markets. Which in theory would benefit those working in the real estate business and especially for agents who may be struggling to bring new clients into the fold to the extent they’d like.

This makes our online real estate lead generation system in Canada here at Real Estate Leads such a good choice, but we’ll stay on topic and expand on why the general thinking is the Liberal’s ‘bank tax’ isn’t likely to provide what they’re hoping for it and will also won’t be any type of a fix for an overheated housing market that many people are struggling to get into.

Here’s Why

The way banks usually respond to tax increases is to pass on the cost to borrowers, and the standard way is through higher interest rates and service fees. That means home buyers assuming extra expenses in a housing market that’s already out of reach for many Canadians – the average cost of a home is up 16% over the past year to just under $670K. When you consider that’s a median price for homes ALL across the country it’s really something of a staggering figure and highlights how many middle-income earners won’t be able to even consider paying that amount for a home.

Last week the PM said that his government would add to the tax rate on bank and insurer profits above C$1 billion, and take it to 18% from the current rate of 15%, claiming that would raise C$2.5 billion over the next four years.

But again experts say the increase in bank fees and rates would be transferred to borrowers and not existing business clients. This is because they have fewer alternatives and because lenders would be wary of upsetting larger and much more profitable customers. Keep in mind as well that higher costs for borrowers could also have a trickle-down effect for purchases at retailers and restaurants. All of which factors in further to a reduction in purchasing power for many looking to buy a home.

Let’s not look past he fact that the bank’s job is to make money and raise money for shareholders and they have the means to make sure they can take on an obstacle put in their way. It is true that this tax was announced the tax during a week in which 4 of the country’s largest 5 banks posted quarterly profits above C$2 billion.

This proposed bank tax may also negatively affect homebuyers because it could also spur banks to take on more debt and buy tax-advantaged government bonds to soften the impact on them rather than raising capital by putting more equity up for sale.

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Sign up with Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online generated buyer and / or seller leads that are delivered exclusively to you. No other realtor will receive them, and they’ll be for people living in your area who have proven themselves to be genuinely ready to buy or sell a home. You’ll have the opportunity to convince them that you are the best real estate professional to give them the assistance and guidance they’ll want in buying the right home or making sure they get the best value of out of one they are going to sell.

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There’s the expression that even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes, but if you are working in any sort of sales or sales-related profession then you can’t take any type of cavalier attitude to the success of your business. A listing will fall into your lap from time to time, but you are 100% going to have to be putting much more hustle and initiative into the way you generate leads for real estate. You want to be drumming up leads for real estate in volume, because there’s no surefire way for converting leads into listings for realtors.

You will have leads that go cold and disappear, and that’s why we talk about ways to generate leads in real estate to the extent that we do. The advent of the Internet 25+ years ago revolutionized every aspect of business, and the real estate business was no exception and especially with what the web did for marketing homes to client. Talk about expanding horizons in the biggest way possible!

And of course it did so much for what realtors have in the way of options when it comes to how to generate leads for real estate. Some agents who are charismatic, gregarious and can handle their liquor will do well with more traditional approaches to generate leads real estate like door knocking or volunteering to be their brokerage’s representative at community events that will allow for promotion of your real estate services.

So what we’ll look at with this blog entry here are 8 organic and easy ways to generate leads. Go over them and see which ones are those that you think suit your self-promotion business style.

Add Any Property on Marketplaces

It is all about maximum exposure when you are looking to generate leads for real estate and you are aiming to have your current listings attracting would-be home sellers contacting you as a realtor they’re interested in working with. What’s recommended here is to start with at least 5 groups, 1 micro site, 5 different city names real estate pages and that start accordingly.

You can post about your property and get interested leads right into your inbox. This is pretty effective considering many people use the marketplace these days.

Look for Expired Listings

There can be any number of reasons why a listing has expired and the property has yet to sell, and unless you can see something obvious suggesting why then you can see expired listings as a way to generate leads for real estate. You will need to be tactful and timely with the way you approach the homeowners, but if you can do well with this it is possible to turn them into a lead that you may convert if and when they decide to put the home on the market again.

Sometimes agents are hesitant to reach out to homeowners whose listings have expired, but it’s recommended and sometimes it can be done by just leaving your card and suggesting that you’d be happy to provide them with a more current free market evaluation anytime they’re thinking that they may list the home again. That could be next month, it could be next year, it could anytime.

This is best done when you have a strategy in place to convince the homeowner that you’ll take a better and more effective approach to their listing than their last agent. Rejection can and will be part of the game here, but that is always how it goes when you generate leads for real estate.

Attend or Host Real Estate Events

Good ideas here can be any of the many Expos and tradeshows happening across the country almost every month. Confident realtors nearly always do well when they attend these events on a regular basis as it is a wonderful place to get quality leads for real estate. You can even choose to exhibit at these events to attract potential buyers or to enjoy more opportunities for philandering.

There are always many potential homebuyers who are in attendance at any local real estate expo and if you can establish a connection and rapport with them they may choose you as their realtor down the road. Some realtors will be able to show them one or more of the properties they currently have listed. You can hand out a few flyers and exchange a few cards.

Advertise Online

These days every prospective homebuyer does is going to be looking at real estate listings online and doing most of their research there. And for most of them Google will probably be their first stop. Having paid ad listings there can be a good idea too if you have a larger budget for the way you promote yourself as a realtor. In addition to search engines, you should definitely look at advertising on social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube.

Original Content

Blogs and posting unique content to your social media pages is a huge opportunity for connecting with buyers and sellers in your local market. You can build your brand and increase your organic search rankings by creating helpful blog posts, creating videos, or sharing a market analysis of your local area can build your authority as an expert and make you a go-to source for information and real estate services. This will help you generate leads for real estate too.

Open Houses

One of the most old-school real estate lead generation means is holding open houses. Now that’s done to provide service to an existing client who’s listed a home with you, but every good realtor will be keeping an eye out for prospective homebuyer clients in attendance who may not be working with a realtor at this time. Open houses are often used as a marketing tool for agents to get new clients, and again often because many of the folks who attend open houses will be ‘browsing’ and in the earliest stages of their interest in buying a home.

Be Creative

People love to see others using creative and funny yet harmless ways of promoting yourself. Some realtors get very creative and irreverent approach to getting real estate leads and promoting themselves. There is one realtor here in Vancouver who has his face superimposed onto different scenes and then a funny one-liner that works well with the image. And you know what? We all remember his name and that’s exactly what he’s going for to get real estate leads differently

Volunteer with the Church

Provided it lines up with your belief and whether or not you are supportive of it, getting involved with any of the local churches in your community is also very beneficial for getting new clients in real estate. Some realtors will be quite keen to be extensively involved because they are already a member of the church, but even realtors who aren’t especially religious can promote themselves through it.

One idea that we know of is a realtor who sends 48 assorted donuts to his local church every Sunday morning. One the inside of each of the 4 boxes of 12 there is his business card, and then a stack of the cards next to each box. This is another example of creative things you can do to generate real estate leads, and there’s so many of creative and thoughtful ways of doing that.

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All hands on deck may have been an expression that grew out of seafaring and naval experiences, but it has come to be used in all sorts of different ways when someone or something needs all the help it can get when it comes to finding a success. Real estate agents will only be making a living from working as a realtor when they are having clients sell and buy home through them, and that is not an easy thing to do to a sufficient extent. Effective and ongoing lead generation strategy is key, but sometimes even that is not enough

The amount of realtors working in any are of the country will exceed the volume of business to be had there, and we need to keep in mind that it will always be that only a small percentage of the people in any given area will be in the position to buy or sell a home at any given time. A dearth of clients to be had is an ongoing and unavoidable reality in this business, and so all that is left for you to do is work to securing as many of those leads as possible for yourself.

Newer approaches to real estate agent leads have made that much more doable than was the case for previous generations of agents. The Internet has been hugely advantageous in that regard, and so many agents are now opting to pursue real estate lead generation through paid leads like the ones we provide here at Real Estate Leads.

It is likely that most agents will be able to manage and pursue their leads on their own, but in the event that’s not the case then making use of a virtual assistant may be helpful, and that’s what we’re going to look at with this blog entry.

Defining Virtual Assistant

It’s fairly common for realtors to not able to squeeze everything they need to do into the number of available hours in a week. This can spill over into managing your real estate lead generation too, and especially if you have a bulk of warm but not-hot leads where more is required of you for the individual follow-ups with each.

Among others, it’s in these instances that realtors may benefit greatly from having a virtual assistant to both generate leads and manage them to some extent. Clients will expect their agents to be available to them at all times of the day to handle contracts, submit and accept bids, answer incoming calls, and do much more and it sometimes becomes a lot of one person to handle. Agents may quickly become exhausted by doing this on their own.

A virtual assistant in this instance with lead generations manages everyday company tasks like cold contacting, lead generation, tracking finances, website building, marketing, and database maintenance. Most often they will operate remotely and offer knowledge so agents can focus on their essential duties and with this aim focusing on the more immediate and pressing parts of converting real estate leads into clients.

Realtor Virtual Assistant Advantages

Virtual assistants will primarily be involved in taking care of all the menial tasks that would otherwise be eating up a lot of time in a day that would be better spent on actions with more productive and profitable outcomes. And a big part of the advantage of this with real estate agent leads is that they are a more cost-effective option in comparison to hiring someone on as a paid employee who is part of your real estate team.

That’s because virtual assistants typically bill based on the number of hours worked. A virtual real estate assistant’s cost is also often tax deductible, as compared to an in-house hire and employee that may come with tax obligations and the need to offer them perks. There are also usually more options with how they work for you / work best for you. The fact they will be working remote offers a lot of immediate advantages to the realtor who is employing them.

For starters you are not constrained to interviewing candidates only in your city or even the Province where you are working as a real estate agent. You may also want to consider talent pools abroad that may offer their services at reasonable costs, and employers can also use virtual assistants for jobs or projects requiring specialized skill sets.

Flexibility is a big plus here too, especially when paired with the options made possible with the development of technology. There are plenty of real estate virtual assistants who will like the idea of not having to commute or operate within rigid work-hour restrictions that they would if they were in an office or working in an immediate 1^st-person capacity.

Real Estate Virtual Assistant Disadvantages

Most realtors will prefer a virtual assistant who comes with a basic knowledge of the area and market in which the realtors is actively working as an agent, and this is especially true for effective real estate lead generation. If they are an early point of indirect contact it won’t be beneficial if they can’t answer inquiries that are very locale-specific about the property that is on the market. Or homes those people have an interest in possibly buying.

The only way to counter that is to look closer to home for your real estate virtual assistant. Either that of spend money to have them become up-to-speed on the area and the local real estate market. The absence of their physical presence could be a problem too, and especially if your real estate virtual assistant is working from a different time zone. Sure, tools like Skype and Zoom are great for facilitating remote communication, but coordinating and working with someone who is not physically present may still be a problem. Especially when an emergency or prompt responses are required.

You’ll also need to be more wary of the level of trust you have with this person. Working with a real estate virtual assistant working remotely can make this process more difficult. It usually will not be realistic to monitor assistants to ensure they are working during the stated hours or aren’t otherwise engaged when you’re paying them to work with you and contribute to your lead generation strategy. Constructing procedures may be beneficial to build this sense of trust and make it so that there is less of a need for supervising and ‘checking in’ with them.

Consider as well that it is not possible for virtual real estate assistants to receive in-person training. What will often be required here are innovative workarounds that ensure the assistant successfully carries out duties and projects. Fortunately modern technology makes it possible for anyone to now easily record video training sessions and share computer screens. In rarer instances there may some extent of a language bearer between you and the assistant.

While many virtual assistants may be fluent in English, misunderstandings can arise due to cultural differences, corporate practices, or smaller factors that come from their different experiences. Realtors need to put good effort into communicating clearly, and there may also be a need to use inclusive language depending on certain scenarios.

Paying a Virtual Assistant

Most real estate virtual assistant will be independent contractors or freelancers, and the average hourly wage for them in Canada will be in the vicinity of $25 per hour. In some instances you may find ones that are willing to work for slightly less as they see the work as an introduction to a career that they may choose to pursue in the future, but these type of people are not common.

Plus with virtual assistants there may be many prospects for growth and higher income based on skill level, location, and years of experience. To get an idea of what you might need to pay for a real estate virtual assistant who will help to contribute to and manage lead generation you can see what they are being paid through work outsourcing platforms like Upwork or Fiverr. These are good platforms for finding a solid freelancer and competitive rates for their work.

Next, there are numerous websites to help connect employers and virtual assistants that you may want to consider as well. Upwork in particular is also really good for finding virtual assistants willing to work and learn with entry-level pay rates, especially when they can assume the role without real estate-specific talents already being something they have. The marketplace MyTasker specializes in offering virtual assistants from other countries, and for individuals looking for foreign assistants who have real estate training, websites like MyOutDesk give users access to a thorough and smart vetting process.

You will be best served here by understanding the activities you need assistance with and a means of analyzing whether or not the assistant is likely to be able to complete them before you move further towards hiring them as your real estate lead assistant. It is important to be able to evaluate and sort through potential applicants. You should also pay close attention to a freelancer’s past employment history, credentials, and skills when examining their profile.

Review testimonials and the ratings if any that they have received from prior clients. It is also perfectly alright to ask them to complete a test task so that you can review how they work and whether or not the way complete it will line up with how you tend to work in real estate and whether or not you and the assistant will be compatible with each other.

Also ask around their availability, time zone, and communication style when interviewing prospective real estate virtual assistants who are able to work with real estate agent leads. Focusing intently on all of the specifics of the assignment with required tools and software, payment arrangements, and anything else that you foresee them needing to be proficient with.

From there you can establish clear goals, benchmarks, and a communication plan. Before signing a contract, ensure you and the other party agree on the work’s parameters, deadlines, and payment arrangements. And working with a virtual real estate assistant is a continuous process where you will check in frequently and provide feedback to ensure the job reaches your standards and that problems are resolved promptly.

Standard Assistant Duties

These are the step an agent will need go through when locating and hiring a virtual assistant on Upwork or another comparable website:

1. Register profile on the platform and create account
2. Use pertinent keywords and search criteria – location, hourly rate, and expertise, to find virtual assistants
3. Look through the profiles and portfolios of the freelancers to best match them with your current needs
4. Offer freelancers that interest you an invitation or contact them with Upwork’s DM messaging feature
5. Ask questions and review the job’s intricacies as you interview freelancers
6. After identifying the top candidate you can then extend a formal job offer to them
7. Contracts may be signed, goals can be set, and payments can be made via the platform’s built-in system

Analyzing the freelancer’s profile and portfolio carefully is always helpful for determining whether they fit your needs well. Be aware that Upwork and similar sites can have a sizable pool of smart and experienced virtual assistants, and so it makes sense to take your time and go through them deliberately and thoroughly so you increase your chances of eventually working with the best one.

Business Growth Tasks for a Virtual Real Estate Assistant

Virtual assistants will likely be kept quite busy if there’s a solid customer base for them to be working with. They should be capable of doing a variety of jobs, and business growth tasks like the ones we detail below here is something you can expect of them. Most of them should be proficient with using real estate lead generation software, and using it with a focus on improving the quality of client relationships as well as completing other essential task.

This may include:

1. Automated valuation
2. Email campaigns
3. SMS marketing
4. Facebook advertising
5. Email campaigns, correspondence, and answering calls
6. Lead follow-ups
7. Mobile-friendly landing page management
8. Market research activities
9. Scheduling of meetings, appointments, and inspections
10. Relevant system data entry
11. Improving customer satisfaction
12. Promoting smooth transactions
13. Communications made on the agents’ behalf
14. Performing online marketing tasks
15. Organizing costing gifts
16. Writing real estate marketing collateral

It is true that high school diploma or equivalent is generally required, but virtual real estate assistants are not required to have a formal education. Many people enroll in real estate courses at a community college or vocational school to become sufficiently prepared to start working as a real estate virtual assistant

In some instances, realtors who have their assistant working for the brokerage as a whole may give new hires administrative experience and on-the-job training, and having this understanding of real estate processes will increase their marketability. You may also recommend that they regularly browse the MLS listings to learn how they are presented, and connect with real estate agents to learn about VA opportunities. And of course a dependable internet connection is a must.

Here are companies that offer real estate virtual assistants:

1. TaskBullet
2. WoodBows
3. MyOutDesk
4. Fiver
5. Time
6. Fancy Hands
7. Belay Solutions

These top virtual assistant websites give you access to an account manager who can aid you in finding a VA who is the most ideal fit your working preferences, personality, and also maybe in the type of real estate or properties that you specialize in. In that sense businesses of all sorts have discovered that most of their clients prefer experienced VAs with college degrees to fresh graduates. Choose a supplier here that will give flexible and reasonable offerings and prices to suit your realtor business operating budget.

Hiring a virtual real estate assistant can be a very smart choice for any realtor who is putting a real focus on converting greater numbers of real estate leads into clients. That is lead generation at its best, and when your assistant is capable with the latest software to take your business to the next level there can be real results here.

If you want to expand your real estate business, hiring a virtual assistant can be a smart first step in your growth strategy. This can then let your focus your time and energy on activities that generate revenue by assigning tasks and projects to them, and if they are showing themselves to be very capable then these can include administrative and specialized responsibilities.

A few advantages of using virtual assistants for real estate are price, adaptability, and access to a bigger hiring pool, and weighing potential pros and cons is going to be a part of this for any realtor who is considering any such a hire for the first time. Realtors should carefully weigh potential pros and cons, as it would be with any executive decision made in any other corporation. There’s much to gain from having a real estate lead virtual assistant, but adhering to best practices all the way through the discovery and hiring process is definitely very important. You want to get this right the first time.

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Anyone who has even the most basic interest in real estate will be familiar with the terms ‘buyer’s market’ and ‘seller’s market’, and you will probably also be aware that in major metro centres in Canada it’s primarily been a seller’s market for the better part of 2 decades now. With all sorts of factors – and rising interest rates first and foremost among them – that has changed over the course of 2022 and as we get closer to 2023 Canadian real estate is going to continue to be more of a buyer’s market.

That is a very welcome change for people who are hoping to get into the market, and even if you are someone considering selling your home sometime soon you will likely agree there needs to be more a of balance here. There certainly hasn’t been for a long time now, and so while some will hope the pendulum shifts the other way we likely agree it should come to rest somewhere more in the middle. This is especially true for cities where affordable housing is needed, and that doesn’t just apply to Canada’s biggest cities anymore.

Realtors will see it this way too, and despite what one would see as the obvious advantages to the market being a seller’s market. What is happening right now with regards to the downturn is making it difficult for some, but here at Real Estate Leads our online real estate lead generation system is very effective for countering that and making it easier to generate new clientele. It is particularly recommended for agents who are new to working in the real estate business and working in an area of the country where the business is especially competitive.

Back to topic, we’ll take this week’s entry to talk about the current advantages for homebuyers with this slowed market in more detail.

Added Time

Canada’s housing market is currently staggering under rising interest rates and sagging sales, and this means the prospects for buyers are now considerably better than they were before. Everyone has heard about bidding wars and the FOMO phenomenon that was pushing people to act rashly when it came to submitting offers on homes. So one of the biggest benefits of the market slowdown is that would-be buyers have more time to properly evaluate what they want to do.

60% of markets in Canada saw home sales drop between August and September according to the CREA. Monthly sales activity came in 32% below what was recorded for October of last year, and prices were down 1.4% between August and September of this year. What is more notable is that the declines took place in major markets – the Greater Toronto Area, Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal, and these are areas where high demand typically always neutralized market forces that were major factors elsewhere.

In a hotter market a buyer might have no choice but to put down offers on multiple properties to have a chance at one, and still perhaps be outbid on all of them. The market is less fluid now, still with plenty of inventory. Less competition means that buyers can take the time to have that second look before they make their offer.

More Conditional Sales

Agents are also saying they’re starting to see conditional sales offers come in again. Before it was usually a scenario where buyers had to put in their best bid, but now they can put conditions on their offers. This is smart when those conditions are related to securing financing, insisting on a home inspection, or checking on insurance requirements.

Connected to this it is interesting to note that the buying intensity seems to be concentrated on properties at the lower end of the market, and in desirable markets like Toronto and Vancouver those would be homes for sale in the $800,000 to $1-million price range. This suggests that more entry-level buyers now have the confidence and self-assuredness to be buying homes for themselves.

Some will say it’s ‘crazy’ that entry-level home purchases cost near to a million dollars, but it is what it is for these big cities and it really does come back to the age-old reality of what the market will bear.

Good for 2^nd Time Buyers Too

Realtors will tell you this is a promising market for second-time buyers too. Those who have had ‘seller’s remorse’ because they didn’t get as high a price for their house as they could have last year may now be able to buy their next house cheaper than what they would have paid last year. This is an aspect of an increasingly seller’s market with real estate in Canada that doesn’t get talked about as much, but it is worthy of mention because the number of homeowners who move into a new primary residence within 2 years of purchasing a home is higher than ever before.

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Sign up for Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads that are provided to you exclusively. You will be the only recipient, and these leads put realtors like you in an advantageous position with being able to be first in-touch with these people. They have shown themselves to be genuinely ready to make a move in the real estate market where you are working as realtor. They will be either be selling or buying a home, and you have the opportunity to showcase yourself as the local real estate professional they need to be guiding them through the process.

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Few people if any are successful right off the bat when they begin a career, and everyone will tell you it takes time, effort, and being smart about how learn and grow in order to achieve what you’ve envisioned for yourself when you decided to go into that line of work. This is going to be true of real estate too, and any realtor will tell you that you really only learn a very small portion of what the business entails when you take your real estate licensing course.

So maybe it is here that we can say that perseverance is one of the qualities that will be very beneficial for a realtor as they go through the ‘leaner’ times at the beginning of their career where only a few if any clients are buying or selling real estate through them. One of the things that can help change that is to go into communication opportunities with potential clients armed with real estate scripts. As compared to just winging it and hoping for the best with what you say as you aim to make a good impression.

However, we will all know by this point that the best lead generations for real estate is going to go a lot deeper than that. But it’s a depth that needs to be explored in full by new realtors as meeting people who are ready to make a move in the local real estate market and convincing them to list their home through you is what it’s all about in this business. Or convincing people who want to buy a home to do that through you too.

We talk about lead generation in real estate often here, but we’ll turn off to the side slightly this week and make this blog entry about the types of qualities you’ll find in successful real estate agents in Canada. Sure, the measurables for that might be different depending on what a person considers to be ‘success’ in this business. But maybe we can clarify that somewhat by saying it’s about being satisfied – with both the living you’re earning from working as a realtor AND the satisfaction of knowing you’re helping people be in the best home for themselves.

Nurture, Expand Upon

Some realtors may be blessed to have been born with a gift for being charismatic and charming, but to really excel in the real estate industry you need to have much more than a gift for the gab and the ability to explain market realities in an appealing way. But it certainly WILL help with delivering real estate scripts for maximum effectiveness. But what we’ll start to look at here it’s about consistently honing your skills and understanding the values that you already have and are able to grown on best.

Every realtor is going to have their strong suits, certain qualities that are conducive to converting real estate leads and generally being very persuasive about why a client will do well to buy or sell a home through you. But in the same way each of them will also have qualities where there is definitely room for strengthening and improvement. Self-assessment and the ability to objectively weigh personal strengths and weaknesses is an essential part of the growth process when it comes to that success and the best lead generation for real estate.

Taking the time for self-assessment and learning what needs to go into that assessment is recommended, especially if you genuinely want to assemble the tools to excel as a real estate agent and reinforce the fact that you made a good decision when you chose to go into real estate. So here are a number of qualities all agents need to have in order to be on top of the game.

Successful Real Estate Agent Qualities

Laying out the entirety of all the qualities of a successful real estate agent would require assembling quite a list. So instead we’re only going to look at the primary ones here. For starters they very often exude confidence. That may be among the qualities of a good real estate agent that are not always measurable or tangible, but most of us will know what it’s like to be in the presence of someone who is flush with confidence when it comes to what’s expected of them.

But do you have to be smart and capable in order to have legit confidence? You certainly do, and so having the ability to prove your mettle is also something that we need to add to our collection here. Plus one of the defining qualities of a successful real estate agent is also being able to project authority, and in a lot of ways that attribute goes hand in hand with the confidence one.

The most reliable way to have confidence is by knowing your subject matter backwards and forwards. Agents that understand the market from a buyer’s and seller’s perspective and are able to have that reflected naturally and emphatically in the way they carry themselves and speak on the market is incredibly value in building a name for yourself in the real estate business.

You will also want to have your presentations honed, and be dressed and groomed like the consummate professional. And of course this is equally true of male and females realtors, although of course only the women should wear miniskirts and high heels. Mastering real estate scripts is a very doable and easy way to come across confident when you are in the process of making that all-important first impression on a prospective client.

You will be improving your overall communication skill and the comfort you have in speaking with authority at the same time, and many of the most successful realtors will ooze that type of confidence and authority when they speak of the business, the market, and what they’ve done to maximize outcomes for clients who are either buying or selling homes.

Real estate scripts can also be very helpful when any of the many inevitable objections that homeowners will have come up during the real estate client conversation process. But we should mention that there is a fine line between exuding confidence and coming across as an arrogant doofus. As you work to improve yourself this way it is good to try to refine your approach so that you’re more assured of coming across the right way.

Being seen as energetic and enthusiastic is important too. Nobody is going to be impressed with a realtor who seems like they are only going through the motions, and they will be very unlikely to list with that agent or agree to start looking at homes through them. You don’t need to present yourself as perkily as an inebriated cheerleader, but you will do well if you have a level of self-belief and anticipation of serving clients well that will then manifest itself in coming across as energetic and enthusiastic.

To this end it can be a good idea to put yourself in the client’s seat, and ask whether they would choose to spend time with you when working on their listing. Do you believe you come across that to people? If not, why not? Among all the qualities a real estate agent can have, radiating a genuine enthusiasm for working with clients and helping them get into the best housing for their current life situation will go a long way in increasing the chances they choose you as their realtor.

Client-Focused is Best

A realtor needs to be client-focused, and this is central to the best real estate lead generation approaches too. Every real estate client is going to see their potential purchase or sale as an incredibly big deal, and that’s no surprise considering the value that people have in their homes – both $ literally and figuratively. They are going to be VERY receptive to you if you seem to have the same orientation with your way of thinking. They need to see that YOU see it all as the same type of all-important matter that they do.

Always remember, you are in a SERVICE business and that means you need to have the client’s need front and center in everything you do. You will need to build their trust, and yes that may require more of you depending on the nature of that one individual client. You can add value to the relationship by assisting with their finances, or connecting them with someone who can, like a mortgage broker for example. And of course once you’ve made a sale, it is so important to stay in touch. Being diligent about client care and retention long term is definitely another attribute you’ll find in all realtors who have become successful.

Value Propositions Too

Lead generation in real estate always occurs much more prominently when the individuals or clients you want to turn into clients can see a clear value proposition in working with you. Differentiating yourself from your competitors well is another attribute you’ll see in successful ones too, and if you can it is always best to create your own unique value proposition.

This is best done by taking your values and spending time putting them into words. And then revising them so that you find even more sincere ways of conveying the very specific advantages of what you can offer a would-be client – and something that other realtors may not be offering for whatever reason. Without a doubt, what you are able to offer as an agent is always going to be a powerful tool for you, and it’s also quite easy to test these ones for their effectiveness.

Are the majority of the real estate leads or real estate prospects you meet and have initial conversations with choosing to move further along with you as their realtor? Are they taking the initiative in doing that? If not, why not?

What you may also want to do here is create one short sentence where you clarify what you offer in value. But more to the point, is there anything you can definitely show that indicates how that is unparalleled with other agents that these would-be clients have to choose from as well. What you will do here is build and expand on your value proposition if so.

Do you offer something different? This could be anything from providing professional photography to covering pre-inspection expenses or offering staging advice. It may even be something as simple as having a moving van they can use free of charge if the list with you. Don’t be afraid to get creative when you need to have more of value proposition for real estate clients. And yes, depending on the situation this could be something that you work into your real estate scripts too.

We’ll also say that realtors who can leverage their knowledge of a neighborhood to differentiate themselves may well be starting to establish themselves as the ‘neighborhood expert’ in the eyes of the people, and that can be absolutely huge when it comes to converting real estate leads into clients these days. Especially for people looking to buy a home and work with realtor who clearly knows the neighborhood where they want to buy a home.

Last but not least here is to be authentic, let yourself shine through in the way you present yourself as a real estate agent to clients. Your own style and the way you interact with your customers and clients may be beneficial when done in the way that comes naturally to you!

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There has been much hubbub about how housing in Canada’s big cities is increasingly unaffordable, but some industry experts say ‘unaffordable’ is a relative term and especially when homes for sale in those cities often sell very quickly after being put onto the market. They argue that if they’re nearly all of them are selling then homes are in fact affordable if someone’s able to afford what is required to buy them. The question then becomes affordable for whom, and with that understood it’s important to understand that not everyone is operating with the same financial means.

This way of looking at housing affordability is important, and it is even more relevant in the bigger picture of things when we look at confirmed stats indicating how many of the people who are purchasing property in Vancouver, Toronto or elsewhere with a hot housing market are 1^st-time homebuyers. Sure, they are likely being units in multi-family developments but the fact that they are able to assume the cost of buying a home does mean that it is hard to apply the unaffordable tag across every property and in relation to the purchasing capacity of every buyer.

Again, this is not to make less of the housing affordability crisis in Canada, but perspective is always important. Real estate professionals are also a part of all this and there will be those who say there’s no better place to be a realtor than in a major Canadian metropolis where homes often sell for well over asking price. That may be too simplistic a way of looking at it though, although what is certain is that our online real estate lead generations system here at Real Estate Leads is a proven effective way to build your real estate client base that much more effectively.

But back to topic – what is it that is allowing so many 1^st-time homebuyers to not be prevented from buying a home because of the price of it as is the case with so many others who would like to buy a home – but can’t.

Between 10-20% Increases in 3 Years

A recent report showed that the number of first-time homebuyers buying homes in Vancouver increased between 10 and 20% each year between 2018 and 2020, and industry experts say the increases would have likely continued through 2021 and to where we are here in 2022. Detractors will say the majority of these people have FOMO and are over leveraging themselves to buy a home, but if there’s one thing that is for certain it is definitely not that simple.

Figures for the report were complied by the BC Ministry of Finance, and it also found that 5,602 first-time home buyers bought properties in Metro Vancouver in 2021. That number is about a 10% rise from the 5,114 who did the same in 2020 and is up just under 20% from the 5,602 that bought real estate for the first time in between Jan.1, 2018 and Dec.31 2020.

Another interesting point that goes somewhat against a popular narrative is that the majority of these 1^st-time homebuyers (estimates being nearly 70%) were people who have been living in Vancouver for at least 10 years. This takes away from the credibility of those who’d say it’s foreign money that is making these home purchases possible. That’s just simply not the case, and people taking on mortgages to buy their first home over the last 3+ years face the same supply / demand realities distorting the market that everyone else does.

Dip in Relation to Entire Market

However, despite numbers rising the share of home purchases by first-time buyers of Vancouver real estate relative to the entire market actually went down in 2021, going from a market share of 8.8% for 2020 and then falling to 6.8% in 2021. If there’s any stat that does support the idea of declining overall affordability, that’s the one.

Go back to 2018 and the share by 1^st-time homebuyers was 8.3%, and in 2019 it went up to 9.6% so it’s a fluctuating variable but generally speaking we are seeing the FTHB rate decline as part of the number of overall home purchases and while that may be something to note we also have to keep in mind it may also be a reflection of more of certain types of homes being put on the market as compared to others.

Activity in the pre-sale market has more or less reflected this same pattern though, and of course the majority of these developments will be multi-family housing and that further belies the belief that MANY 1^st-time homebuyers are still able to get in to the market in the same way and buying the same types of homes that others have for generations when buying their first one.

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Sign up for Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of prospective client leads that have qualified and determined to genuine leads connected to individuals, couples, and families that are ready to make a move in your local real estate market. You’ll have the opportunity to be first in touch with them, and with it comes the chance to impress upon them that you are the real estate professional they need to help them with the sale of their home or purchase of a new one. It’s a proven effective and highly recommended way to grow your client base.

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There’s the expression that even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes, and it is to mean that sometimes things just work out favorably for you and what you covet comes to be yours despite the odds being against it happening. But if were are to swing this around and try to have it apply to leads for real estate it doesn’t work as well for a pair of reasons. First, a person who doesn’t have their sight isn’t likely to be working as a realtor. But that’s not to suggest they’re not capable of the work.

Instead it would actually have more to do with the fact that they can’t operate a motor vehicle, and driving a LOT is one thing that every realtor in Canada will be doing. It’s a part of the job. But let’s not stray too far from where we’re going with this; another reason the blind squirrel and nut doesn’t work here is because having it work out from time to time isn’t going to be good enough for a realtor who needs to be better with drumming up new clientele.

After all, there is no guaranteed income in this profession. You’re a realtor and not a janitor, although plenty of realtors may have no choice but to do cleaning when they get home at the end of the day. This business is all about the commissions that come in when clients buy or sell homes through you, and so it becomes quite an urgent matter to find those real estate leads for new agents. No one is a squirrel here, and things can’t be just left to chance when it is the person’s career and livelihood we are talking about here.

So getting the best handle you can on best real estate lead generation approaches becomes important, and that’s why with this entry here we will be sharing what we know about how to find real estate leads.

Fiercely Competitive

Finding quality leads has to be a priority for any successful realtor in any industry that is as highly competitive as this one. You may be a seasoned professional, or you may be relatively new as a real estate agent. Either way a consistent funnel of leads is important for growing your client base, and driving your revenue. But here we are with ever-evolving digital landscape and consumer behaviors that are changing all the time, especially when it comes to the way people search for homes and buy them.

And – to a lesser extent – how they come to be aware of a realtor’s service and decide on whether or not they want to work with them. For all these reasons it’s crucial to adapt your approach to coming up with leads for real estate.

Best Real Estate Lead Generation Approaches

So what constitutes a real estate lead then? IT refers to a potential customer or client who has shown interest in having you provide your services as a real estate professional, and either in helping them sell or buy a home. These folks may be looking to buy or sell a property, or more simply they are a ‘cooler’ lead and they may have general inquiries about the real estate market.

But you can also view a lead as someone who might be open to a pitch from a real estate agent, and for any number of different reasons in this case. For example, it may be an inquiry from a person who needs a realtors help when a parent is downsizing into a smaller home. Leads are the foundation of your business and play a crucial role in generating sales and building your client base.

But the best real estate lead generation approaches are always going to have them being geared to converting real estate leads into clientele. Doing that is essential if you’re going to eventually earn commission for the work you’ve done for them, and it’s important to understand there are plenty of realtors who have been working for only a few years who have already become quite good with this.

Understand though that there here is a great deal of work, time and skill involved in converting a lead into a client, and even thought that is nearly always true of a cooler leads it can also apply to the hottest of them too. Remember that these people will be entrusting you with one of the most important financial decisions of their lives.

The best focuses are on developing a subtle approach to nurturing your prospects in order to gain their confidence and trust to do well with leads for real estate. Once you start to amass leads and begin to qualify and then work with them you will see that the quality, convertibility, and even urgency of different types of real estate leads will vary quite a bit.

More Leads, Reliably

The number of realtors working in Canada has exploded over the last two decades, but very few if any of them will be actively phoning prospect for listings. But the smaller collection of ones that do are more successful and earn significantly more income than the majority of real estate agents who aren’t as proactive with finding leads for real estate clients.

You will always do better in this business if you’re a gregarious individual who is well spoken and you carry yourself well, and we need to stress very emphatically that having English as your first language isn’t a requirement for that. It’s all about pairing real and extensive real estate market knowledge with the right mix of confidence, friendliness, and approachability.

What we’ve also seen is the way top-producing agents understand the value of investing in their success, and this investment usually involves utilizing a paid real estate lead generation platform like the one we have here at 4GoodHosting. But the best thing you can do it pair your paid real estate leads with more of the conventional and traditional real estate client prospecting methods.

And one of the other ones that goes well right along door knocking and the like is identifying and contacting expired listing leads.

2^nd Time Around

There can be a lot that can go into a home not selling and having the listing eventually expire. And yes, the most common one is that the home is overvalued by the owners and they’re not willing to come down on the price they want for it. Only so much a realtor can do to talk them out of that if they’re determined to stick to their guns, and the next realtor who they agree to list the home with may well inherit the same problem.

But if you’re a pro realtor then this is the type of challenge you should be able to take on and work with effectively. Communication is going to be key, and this can be a part of leads for real estate and ways you can generate them if you can convince a homeowner to come around to a way of thinking that is more conducive to getting their home sold.

No matter where in Canada you are working as a real estate agent, it is very likely that many of the top producing agents in the business there focus on finding these expired leads and then reaching out to the homeowner. Ideally the ones who have tried and failed to sell their property are going to be keen to hear what a different agent has to say about listing the property again but marketing it differently.

This is definitely something that you will get better at with practice, but over the years you will likely find that diagnosing why a home didn’t’ sell AND communicating effectively and persuasively with the homeowner is something you become much better at doing.

Prospecting expired leads is good for 2 specific reasons:

1. 1. Instances where are homeowner who did not sell the first time has an increased urgency to sell now and is very much looking for the right realtor to make that happen. In these instances there is a good chance to convert the lead to a listing if you have put together and smart and well-written expired listings prospect script.
   2. Working with expired listings presents an opportunity to make significant GCI over a shorter period of time, and this is especially true in comparison to what a buyer’s agent would be doing with prospective clients of that type.

Paid real estate lead generation services are great, but they aren’t going to be as effective for putting you in touch with homeowners who have already had their property on the MLS at least once before. You will do well to make the effort to find them, and it will require more effort on your part.

Find FSBOs

A FSBO (Fizbo) is a homeowner who has listed their home themselves, and it is something that people do more often nowadays. In certain places you can do alright with it, while in other parts of Canada it’s really something of a silly move if you have any real intentions of selling your home reasonably quickly and for the price you expect to get for it.

The fact that 9 out of 10 FSBO listings fail to sell without an agent getting involved tends to bear that out for us here, and so FSBO listings a great opportunity to generate income. Building a relationship with the owner before they begin actively looking for an agent will put you on their radar for when they come to the understanding it’s going to be much better if they have a real estate agent representing them and putting their home on the market.

This can be a way real estate leads for new agents can be obtained too, especially if you’ve recently made contact and are still front-of-mind for these people when they start to think ‘who might we call or contact by other means to help us with this.’ You want that to be you, but it’s not going to happen unless you’ve reached out to the FSBO before they’ve made the decision to list the home through a realtor.

It’s true FSBO prospects require a bit more input and effort than the average homeowner would. People don’t decide to sell their home on their own without a whole lot of belief going into the idea that it is something they are capable of doing. It can take a lot to undo that level of self-belief, but nothing does that better than having a home that hasn’t sold despite already being on the market for a year or more.

Ideally you make that initial contact, and then stay in touch and build trust so you become their ‘go-to’ agent when they finally give up on selling the home independently.

For Rent by Owner / Investors

FRBO listings represent a unique opportunity when it comes to the best ways to prospect in real estate and finding leads for real estate agents. Sure, these types of owners won’t often be looking to sell that specific property, but what is common is that it is not the only property they own. Working with owners that list FRBO properties can be beneficial for you if you’re playing the long game as they may have real estate assets they want to sell in the not-too-distant future.

For example, investors frequently sell and buy properties, and having a real estate agent assisting them with these transactions is common unless they have an expert understanding of the real estate market. Connections are a massive part of real estate, and someone who has a track record of property ownership is a great start.

Neighborhood Search

It’s a good idea to be proactive in canvassing neighborhoods where you already have a home for sale that is owned by clients who are working with you as their realtor. This can be contacting the neighbors of your listings, creating buzz for your open houses, or just farming buyers and sellers in the neighborhood and seeing who else might be selling a home in the future.

You can distribute your card and leave it at their home, but that’s more than likely not going to get you anywhere. A more personal touch is preferable, and it’s here that we go back to recommending door knocking or making yourself personally available to these homeowners by other means.

We’ll agree that real estate leads for new agents may be harder to come by, especially if would-be clients have any suspicion about the fact you don’t have a lot of listings and then sales under your belt. But a lead is a lead, regardless of your level of experience in the real estate industry. Newer agents always do well to understand that nearly all of the top-producing agents in this business create their own success by taking a multi-tiered approach to real estate lead generation.

More often than not some level of investment is required, and with the power of Internet marketing it makes a lot of sense to be paying for real estate leads given the way providers like Real Estate Leads are able to qualify genuine leads and putting you most directly in touch with folks who are likely to buy or sell a home soon.

We’ll also encourage you to make the leap into using advanced technology and AI to bolster your prospecting efforts.

Other Sources

The goal of any real estate agent will be to take a homeowner/prospect down the funnel and then closing them, which is to mean having them buy or sell a home through you. Along with the proactive approaches we talked about earlier, it’s wise to improve your ability to evaluate homeowners who have already started their journey down the sales funnel. Some of them may have become derailed along the way, and you will do well to know what these homeowners usually do when they start to become exasperated about a home that is not selling

With a newly expired lead you can engage someone who may have a high degree of urgency to sell quickly. For Sale by Owner prospects may also have an urgency to sell, but the crux of the matter here is what direction their thinking goes in when they must come to the realization that they need an agent, and that working with one means they pay a commission and don’t realize quite the same amount of compensation from the sale of the home.

Being adept with social media marketing goes a long way here. It can be a very strong tool for building awareness of your business. It’s possible to generate leads for real estate if you can post relevant content frequently, and also if you feel comfortable in front of the camera. And in general social media can be a great tool for showing any listings you may have or to promote open houses you are hosting for them.

However, social media use for real estate is best done when it shows your personality, and offers homeowners a sense of who you are. Be witty, be funny, maybe even crack a few inappropriate jokes. Share information about the market too, but just be mindful that it is possible to be too robotic and sterile in the way you approach prospective real estate clients.

You’ll also benefit from having a large, social network now, and likes and comments will further your visibility as a good real estate agent that is ready and happy to help homeowners who live in the region. Or those who would like to buying a home there.

Email Marketing

Email marketing remains one of the most cost-efficient ways to stay engaged with prospects and to come up with leads for real estate. The best way to use email marketing is by building your own contact database. It is time consuming for sure, but often worth it in the long run. Open houses are a great resource for collecting emails from potential clients who are getting ready to make a real estate move. And get creative if you can too. For example, someone might share their email if you offer something like a guide to mortgage rates in your area, or other topics that might interest homeowners. And sure, email lists can be purchased but what we’ve found is that often they’re not accurate.

Nurturing local connections is another approach that realtors will tell recommend for you Be visible in as many ways as possible in your area, and always with business cards ready to be handed out. There are always all sorts of community activities that can be a great way to build your personal brand awareness.

Next up is highlighting the value of local advertising when it comes to real estate leads for new agents. Having your photo on a park bench, bus shelter or billboard is a great way to promote yourself and create a lead generation channel. But you will need to way the costs against the sorts of client generation returns this type of advertising is providing for you.

The ranks of people who need to buy or sell a home will always be replenishing themselves, and that’s true even when the market is down or the economy is suppressing the rate at which people are buying homes, or in whatever volume. Whether it’s a homeowner who could not sell their home with another agent, or a FSBO homeowner who has grown impatient with the home not selling, there are all sorts of scenarios where someone is going to need the help of a real estate professional.

Their next question – who might that person be, and where am I contacting them? Put in the work and hustle and be smart with approaches to leads for real estate and it’s more likely that is you and being contacted through the real estate brokerage you’re working with.

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