I don't buy leads. My lead generation is purely local

I've used them and have my website from them. I never got any great leads with them (tried on and off for years). I do like my website though.

Would recommend many other ways of lead generation other than Homes.com.

not in years...forgot about that site actually.

I don't pay for leads... have not heard that homes.com is a particularly good lead generator.

There is better ways to spend you money. Generate your own leads, share with no one unlike online leads. For instance my Active Rain blog generates more leads than any other source except for referrals. 

Never did. Beware in buying leads. It will put you out of business quickly

my review on ALL lead generating companies is to "stay away"....learn to market to get your own leads and strengthen your brand...

Have a profile there and it has not generated anything , but I do not pay for leads and I have not talked w/ anyone who touts the site.

Many agents will give you the "I don't buy leads" remark without any helpful suggestions which can be discouraging.  

From my perspective.  I used to team several years ago and we bought zillow leads.  At that time they were fairly inexpensive compared to today.  Our return was decent but not great.  We managed to pay for our ads and make some money.  But we were advertising in an area which was not really local so did not maintain a lot of contact with those buyers.  Which is a bad follow up situation as it drops your SOI members.  Then the cost crept up and we saw our results decrease and we quit Zillow after about a year or 2. 

So after starting back on my own, I decided to try Zillow again.  The rep LIED to me about the leads.  the clicks are very high but the leads are the butter.  I would not agree to a year contract so was in a 6 month contract.  I dropped it and of course, Zillow tried to talk me back.  That is when I found out the real stats and that the sales rep had LIED to me about the leads I should get.  He had said about 60 / month and it turns out there is only 48/month in my whole zip code which is sold to 10 agents.  REALLY?  

So I would say to you Zillow is not a cost productive lead source unless you are prepared to play in the big leagues with the guys who spend thousands per month.

So what to do?  Some of the suggestions here are good but if you are not the social type you might find them hard or too long a game to play (especially when you are at the mixer with 15 other agents) so I would say referrals are your best source but until that long game starts to produce use pay per click.   

There are several people on AR like Bill Gassett, Katerina Gasset, Anita Clark who understand FB and other techniques to up your game which helps in the long run while you are building your relationships.  Read their blogs which will lead you to others on AR who have good advice and don't be afraid to reach out for help.  

There is a strategy for places like FB and others to become top of mind for your area and using that is a long term goal if you want to succeed. 

Call me if you want some more tips and I will be glad to pass along things others have helped me with.

This has been asked many times here.  I do not use them. I generate my own leads.

Sign up with Redfin to become a showing agent getting paid while finding out if a new agent will get any meaningful calls.  Save your self some money. There is Zillow, Realtor etc they are also after your wallet.

I'd like to say even as a new agent and being in a new community BUT I'm going to say ESPECIALLY as a new agent in a new community it is vital for you to get out in person and meet people in person. You need to develop street credibility in the community and you can not do that on line. Get involved with a cause, a charity, a sport. a church... what ever interests you Develop a SOI. You need to get out there and shake hands!

I'm sure there are plenty here on AR. Save your money, they are worthless.

Never gave it any thought. Might want to explore some other avenues.

Sorry, not used them.

Hi Travis,  You won't get any support here on lead buying... period! It is tempting to buy leads but you need to spend your time and money building your business.  Join clubs, become a volunteer, get out among people. That's how you get known.  

In your first year, you need to spend a significant amount of time getting knowledgeable about your area, the market and the documents you'll be using.  If all you did the first year was to network and build your knowledge that would be your best investment.  Sadly, most agents are undercapitalized and NEED to generate income. That's when it gets tempting to buy leads, which will take you a lot of time to follow up on only to determine they were worthless.

You indicate on your profile, you are affiliated with Keller Williams.  It is my understanding they have a lot of training available to agents. Take advantage of that.   Contact Bob Crane for some guidance if you're not getting it in your local office.

No idea. 

I use MY phone.

I do not.  

Homes.com is not one of the major players in the portal market anymore.  Realtor and Zillow have the lion's share.  Just google any listed address in your area and look where homes.com shows up in the search results.  Something like 85% of people don't go past the third result.  I believe it's around 40% don't go past the first result.

That alone should tell you the value of a homes.com lead.  Now, I do find their Q&A section useful, but not as a lead gen.

As others here will say, there are much better ways to prospect than by giving money to portals for tire kicker leads.  If you generate your own, you won't be dependent on the whims and price increases of zillow/realtor/etc.

I do not.

Nope.

Some agents are very successful with it. They usually tend to not talk about it around here. How expensive any lead generation system is, really depends on the rate of return. You can spend an outrageous amount of money on a system and it would be considered inexpensive if it allows you to double that amount in earnings.

Don't expect to get leads from them. Try to generate your own leads locally.

My first web site was bought by Homes.com, and it did nothing.  I would not use them for lead gen, or any company for that matter.

I would not buy leads, can get expensives.

We have a well-oiled system of working leads including purchased leads. Persistence, consistency, dedicated follow-up are just part of the success path for this business model.

No.

I receive texts and emails from other agents who upload my info( probably along with everyone else in their cell) in their database and invite everyone. I unsubscribe always... yet, soon other invitations follow. 

I've never heard of them.  

I do not and have never used Homes.com for lead generation

However, just like the comments of many agents on AR reveal, most of us have walked a similar path and found their are better ways to spend one time and money.

Be aware, when you have started generating business via your own direct effort, I would find no problem augmenting the pipeline with some Internet leads.

So, what do you need to know about the thousands of companies who want to separate you from you money by dangling 'lead' bait?

How are these leads generated? Are they using placement ads, 'in-bound technology, buying lists, giving away stuff that requires an email (not in-bound), and off course you MUST know what the ads are promising. For a newbie, REBATES may not be objectionable.

Or, are all leads dependent on you promoting the website they provide? This is what Foster Smith states he does.

Word of caution, shiny things of little value cost about $40 a month. Those things in the $100/mo range typically have some intrinsic value that you must discover and leverage.

My suggestion,.....invest in your local garden and do what is necessary to get the citizen engaged in something they love to do, such as express their opinion. For example, use the question of the house $50,000 below market value with the blemishes hidden as a way to engage in relevant discussion from which you CAN benefit.