I’m new to Real Estate and I’m having trouble getting leads. I don’t want to pay for them. What would be the most cost effective way to generate leads? Would a website help?
Cold calling is the cheapest most effective way of generating leads. But you have to remember that you are now self employed and when you own your own business you almost always have to spend money to make money.
Networking is another cheap effective way of generating leads. I am not just talking about contact with friends and acquaintances (and that of your relatives), but getting involved in organizations to expand your "sphere of influence". i had a cousin who was a Realtor who belonged to 3 churches to develop new business.
Recently expired listings is another idea.
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Read your trade magazines. Every article, has ways to improve including issues with technology. Good luck
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Title reports, call your title company and give them the criteria for the type of customers you want…then its cold calling city! Thats the easiest way to get free "leads". But it isnt the easiest close.
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I would write a special report on something people you seek would be looking to find out more about in your area, compile it as a PDF file and give it away. Of course there would be a link to your website or you phone number at the end.
Remember, don’t try to sell them on anything, just give them good information with no expectation of any return, It will pass around like a virus.
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Congratulations on your decision,
I’m a REALTOR in Arizona and have found ActiveRain http://activerain.com/action/referrals/t... to be a great source of business. It is an online community of real estate agents across the country. Best of all, it is free.
Choose a domain name that reflects what you do. Put it on everything and use it in your signature line on your email.
Offer to sit open houses for other agents in your office.
Get a point2agent website which is also free and will automatically set you up with listings to advertise. You can contact me and I will provide you with a free one http://www.AgentFastStart.com
Choose a geographical farm and start sending information on the real estate market to those who live in the neighborhood.
Good Luck.
http://www.AZHomeBuyerHelp.com
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Cold calling is the cheapest most effective way of generating leads. But you have to remember that you are now self employed and when you own your own business you almost always have to spend money to make money.
Networking is another cheap effective way of generating leads. I am not just talking about contact with friends and acquaintances (and that of your relatives), but getting involved in organizations to expand your "sphere of influence". i had a cousin who was a Realtor who belonged to 3 churches to develop new business.
Recently expired listings is another idea.
References :
A website would ABSOLUTELY help. The NAR put out a study in 2005 saying that the use of the Internet to search for a home has risen from 2% in 1995 to 77% in 2005 and agents with websites has increased 129% over the past 5 years. It also said that In terms of lead generation, only referrals and repeat clients rank above the Internet as the most effective methods of gaining new business.
Unfortunately the real estate industry is a little bit behind in marketing themselves online, so having a website that displays the MLS data with an integrated IDX feed is probably your best bet to beat the competition. Especially since most of the real estate being sold is being done so by the newly established realtors who have mastered online marketing.
Some good website design companies are http://www.bayshoresolutions.com or http://www.13avenue.com
But the real kicker is being able to display MLS listings on your site and integrate search tools using an IDX feed. IDX Broker is definitely a superior product: http://www.idxbroker.com
Good luck!
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You can get free leads at http://www.BuySellListings.com. There’s a Real Estate directory you can join and it’s free to add your agent profile.
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