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Rainmaker
1,239,801
Sam Shueh
(408) 425-1601 - San Jose, CA
mba, cdpe, reopro, pe

Likewise TRU, Z are not useful. These are public companies not even profitable yet. Wait you find out there are 9 other agents on your listing waiting for you to click...

You do better with the basics. I am back to door knocking and mailing...

The internet folks do not call back or return you call. 

May 19, 2015 06:31 AM
Rainmaker
5,772,575
Ron and Alexandra Seigel
Napa Consultants - Carpinteria, CA
Luxury Real Estate Branding, Marketing & Strategy

JJ,

Save you money, you can do so much more with the fundamentals in real estate. A

May 19, 2015 06:09 AM
Rainmaker
175,614
Spirit Messingham
Tierra Antigua Realty - Tucson, AZ
Third Generation Full-Time Realtor® 520 471-6900

I have done much better on Zillow.com (who completed the purchase of Trulia this year).  I spent the same $ on the same zip codes and Zillow crushed Trulia.  The problem here in Tucson, AZ is that Trulia does not have the traffic Zillow does AND they send out an email to 4 agents at a time when a potential client clicks on a property they are interested.  The problem there is lets say they click on 10 properties they like while viewing online, they could potentially be called (bombarded) by 40 hungry, desperate, and demanding agents.   That is why I stopped spending money on Trulia and unless they make some real changes, will not be going back.  Ps Zillow now owns ActiveRain too.

May 19, 2015 09:02 AM
Rainer
87,122
Chris Locke
Acton, CA

Online marketing should be part of the fundamentals of your real estate business.  And you should integrate it with all of your marketing.

In terms of ROI on your lead generation, email marketing is proven to deliver an outstanding return. On average, businesses see close to a 50 to 1 return on their email marketing programs (This is a marketing FACT).  

So how to use email marketing with your real estate business?

1. Create an email newsletter and integrate it with your blogging.  Very easy to do.  If you blog, simply copy part of your blog post and include it in your email marketing with a link to your blog.  It will drive traffic to your blog/site. If your writing quality content, you'll build your brand and business.

2. Create real estate squeeze pages with automated email responses. - Squeeze pages are 1 page lead websites. Create pages specifically for certain groups such as first time buyers.  Give them some useful content in return they give you their contact information.

Example of a real estate squeeze page for first time buyers: http://site4.prophosting.com/

Now to your question of "lead generation that is worth the money?" - See postAprop.com - $19.97/month for email markeitng , unlimited real estate squeeze pages, full hosting, and single property sites.

May 19, 2015 06:42 AM
Rainmaker
1,771,867
Noah Seidenberg
Coldwell Banker - Evanston, IL
Chicagoland and Suburbs (800) 858-7917

Just blog with good solid information on your own. If you write regular market reports on Active Rain and then link them to Google+, Twitter, Face Book Business pages and Linkedin on a daily basis you will get business. The only cost is elbow grease.

May 19, 2015 06:20 AM
Rainer
26,764
Beatrice Briseno
RE/MAX Unlimited - San Antonio, TX
Beatrice M. Briseno, GRI, CDPE, San Antonio, TX

I have tried Trulia twice for six months. The first time I got a new listing and a couple of buyers. This second time around I have forwarded every lead to my team and not one lead of any substance. I only tried it again because every day we get these calls saying "I saw a house on Trulia" etc.....its frustrating but for whatever reason the consumer is using these sites! I agree with Ron and Alexandra Seigel good old fashioned legwork works!

May 19, 2015 06:16 AM
Rainmaker
4,800,082
Gabe Sanders
Real Estate of Florida specializing in Martin County Residential Homes, Condos and Land Sales - Stuart, FL
Stuart Florida Real Estate

Develop your own.

Dec 19, 2018 07:13 AM
Rainmaker
409,203
Jim Paulson
Progressive Realty (Boise Idaho) www.Progressive-Realty.info - Boise, ID
Owner,Broker

I heard a statistic recently claiming there are 4x the number of leads sold per year than there are closings. Have your elevator speach ready to give them a compelling reason to use you or you will be waisting your money for sure.  Unless you have exhausted your "free" leads (sphere, expireds and FSBO's, don't waiste money buying leads. Main thing is follow through, follow up, and follow through again.

May 21, 2015 05:38 AM
Rainmaker
400,356
Jill Murty, Realtor - Orange County, CA
Movoto - Laguna Niguel, CA

JJ Canull - Host open house often.  It is inexpensive and can produce real results.  If you don't have listings, ask colleagues if you can host open house at their listings.  

You'll meet people you may be able to convert to clients.  

I have four properties in escrow at the moment; three are clients I met at open house.  It is the first transaction with one of the open house clients, the fourth with another and the fifth with another.

May 20, 2015 02:43 PM
Rainmaker
921,504
Annette Lawrence , Palm Harbor, FL 727-420-4041
ReMax Realtec Group - Palm Harbor, FL
Making FLORIDA Real Estate EZ

Ok, I'll go out on a limb and ASSUME you are in pursuit of leads that have some probability of closing a transaction within 12 months, (I would advise setting the goal to 90 days) instead of folks trolling for free information, so far upstream they have no hope of buying for 5 years, and are simply window shopping. These folks can consume all your resources, occupy most of your bandwidth and make you feel like business is good while the reality is you will soon be out of business. (welcome to Trulia and Zillow, the darkside of real estate lead generation)

Here is what you MUST do:

1. Define your business. Who is your preferred client? (this is the most important task complete)

2. Identify WHERE (communities) your preferred clients are located?

3. List the events, attractions, topics, issues, teams, or causes these citizens will be aware or passionate about.

4. Use the above information to create and buy Facebook ads that are PERFECT in regards to promise, value, appeal and graphics. Apply the 90 day squeeze as step two.

Of course you can use the same perfect ad in other media and also get great results. 

BUT, if you choose to give your money to the dark side, you own the outcome.

 

May 19, 2015 10:43 PM
Rainmaker
4,434,127
Gita Bantwal
RE/MAX Centre Realtors - Warwick, PA
REALTOR,ABR,CRS,SRES,GRI - Bucks County & Philadel

This is a good question. I have not paid for leads . I will look for the answers here.

May 19, 2015 09:27 PM
Rainmaker
4,882,355
Richard Weeks
Dallas, TX
REALTOR®, Broker

Our brokerage has tried them all, and we think realtor.com gives us the best qualified leads.

May 19, 2015 08:52 PM
Ambassador
3,164,269
Tammy Lankford,
Lane Realty Eatonton, GA Lake Sinclair, Milledgeville, 706-485-9668 - Eatonton, GA
Broker GA Lake Sinclair/Eatonton/Milledgeville

www.listing-pages.com  The only one that has brought me ral success.

May 19, 2015 12:53 PM
Rainmaker
4,319,419
Praful Thakkar
LAER Realty Partners - Andover, MA
Andover, MA: Andover Luxury Homes For Sale

JJ Canull - this answer is also linked to your next question.

The best lead generation technique is - working by referrals!

May 19, 2015 10:06 AM
Ambassador
1,076,551
John Meussner
Mortgages in AZ, CA, CO, DE, FL, GA, IN, MD, MN, MT, NC, NJ, NV, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WI - Fair Oaks, CA
#MortgageMadeEasy Fair Oaks, CA 484-680-4852

For me, doing my own SEO and finding some creative ways to drive web traffic have been the best ROI by a long shot.

May 19, 2015 09:38 AM
Rainer
4,420
Javier Varon
Carlsbad, CA

Don't waste your money.  Call Expireds, FSBOs and Sphere. 

May 19, 2015 07:02 AM
Rainmaker
764,882
John Marshall - FORE!
LoKation Real Estate - Cherry Hills Village, CO
Specializing in Golf Course Properties

Lunch with friends is the best lead generation tool I have ever done, its fun, inexpensive and always produces quality clients for me.

May 19, 2015 06:56 AM
Rainmaker
1,466,207
Michael Setunsky
Woodbridge, VA
Your Commercial Real Estate Link to Northern VA

JJ Canull Save your money and put it into marketing. Create your own leads.

May 19, 2015 06:43 AM
Rainmaker
2,538,633
Joe Petrowsky
Mortgage Consultant, Right Trac Financial Group, Inc. NMLS # 2709 - Manchester, CT
Your Mortgage Consultant for Life

Save your money JJ. Build a referral based business and blog like crazy, much better results will follow.

May 19, 2015 06:37 AM