Real Estate Leads: 40+ Ways to Get Real Estate Leads

Need real estate leads?

Why does everyone else seem to be doing so many deals? Where do you get real estate leads from or generate your own on-demand?

Whatever your investment strategy is, here are forty ways to find more people to serve and start doing more real transactions.

Here are 40+ Ways to Get Real Estate Leads

  1. Networking at Real Estate Events

Get out to the right live real estate events and you’ll meet dozens of people, customers and even lead sources in an hour. Cash buyers, motivated sellers, private lenders, real estate wholesalers, rehabbers and renters. They are all out there and invest in going to these events to connect with people like you. Show up and help them. You can just participate, or become a sponsor and have a booth. Try local Realtor events, national seminars, and events similar fields like the construction and mortgage industry.

  1. Chamber of Commerce

Your local Chamber of Commerce can offer a wealth of connections, marketing opportunities, networking events and referral relationships. This will connect you with a group of likeminded local business owners all looking to help each other grow their businesses and exchange leads. You can get lists of other members to market to, and even sponsor events or speak at them yourself. There are many similar associations like this to engage in, such as real estate investor associations (REIA) and local meetup groups.

  1. Realtor Referrals

Get referrals from real estate agents. They are out there every day, talking to the exact leads you want to do business with. They are investing a ton of money and time to connect and generate leads. In addition to doing a lot of your work on any public MLS listed properties, they can also find off market deals. Not every contact they make will be a fit for their services, but many may still be prime prospects to buy or lease from or sell to you. This can be a great hack for leveraging time and money. Just remember that the best way to get a referral is to give one first.

  1. Twitter

Twitter is again one of the top social media platforms for connecting with others and promoting your services. Twitter has become a much more buttoned up platform in recent years. Many professionals use it as their preferred method of contact, including business owners and notable investors. Use it to publish on your feed daily, boost your overall SEO, advertise, and send direct messages to others who can benefit from your services. You may even use it to run competitions and contests or conduct polls.

  1. Snapchat

Snapchat appears to have replaced Facebook and even Instagram as the new and much trendier social media platform. Millions of people may never send an email or ever sign up for Facebook, but will use Snap to communicate on a daily basis. Use it to take your real estate business to the next level and stay relevant. Post, connect and have fun with it.

  1. Facebook

While not nearly as cool as it once was, millions of people continue to use Facebook every day. It’s still the favorite social network among some generations. It can be one of the best platforms to connect with older generations online today. Use it to post your news feed, boost your SEO, stay in touch with real estate leads, provide live customer service, use bots to automate lead generation and run PPC and CPM ads to fuel your funnels.

  1. Linkedin

LinkedIn is by far the most professional business oriented social network online today. It’s where millions go to get news, recruit for their businesses and find other professionals who can help. Like the previous social media platforms, it can be used to post articles, demonstrate your expertise, run paid advertising, conduct direct outbound marketing through DMs, and trade referrals. Ads here will likely be more expensive than on other networks, but may offer the right targeting from some niches.

  1. Instagram

Instagram is another hot social media network that has largely displaced Facebook. Many who will never use Facebook, still actively use Instagram regularly. It’s highly aligned with real estate given how visual it is. A great place to show off your properties, rehab work, rentals, and build connections online. Post frequently, runs ads on it (if you have a Facebook account), send DMs, and feed leads to your real estate blog or website.

  1. Be Social in Real Life

Digital social media is great, but can lack that real world connection. Most people don’t have the bandwidth to go to live events every single day. Yet, there are real estate lead opportunities everywhere we go. Sometimes is seem most of them popup from simple everyday interactions, and often where you least expect them to come from. Your Uber driver, mechanic, coffee barista, the person on the next treadmill or yoga mat at the gym, the others out there surfing or dropping their kids at school. They all need to buy, sell, rent and invest in real estate. Create and practice your elevator pitch and use it everywhere you go.

  1. Email Marketing

While our inboxes may be more inundated with spam than even, email still proves to be a very effective way of connecting, generating and nurturing real estate leads. It is still very much the preferred methods of contact for millions, if not billions of people. It is especially popular with professionals, business owners and investors, who rely on it to communicate every day. Some may never use social media, but they’ll check email each day. Don’t overlook this vital medium for cultivating real estate leads.

  1. Real Estate Auctions

Auctions are a great way to cut right to doing deals. You have seriously motivated sellers who are going to sell their properties. Aside from traditional, local foreclosure auctions at the county courthouse, you’ll find tax lien auctions and online real estate and estate auctions, including HUD homes and government owned commercial property. Many of these auctions can also be sources of other buyers as well as lenders. There are many ways to use them to generate leads if you use a little creativity.

  1. Referrals From Other Real Estate Investors

Other investors don’t have to be your competition. They can be your best allies and business partners. It’s obvious that as a house flipper you may need real estate wholesalers and buy and hold landlords to find and exit deals. Though even other flippers can be allies and referral partners. Not every lead they get will be right for them, but may work for you, and vice versa. Make as many friends in the industry as you can, and be generous with helping them.

  1. Contractor Referrals

Contractors, handymen and builders can all be great sources of real estate leads. They know who is buying and selling, who has off market deals, what condition properties are in, and are out in the street watching neighboring properties daily. They can help you find all levels of deals, and perhaps even sell and lease your properties. Not to mention, you’ll need a good collection of reliable contractors to work on your own deals.

  1. Lender Referrals

Bank loan officers, mortgage brokers and private lenders can all be great sources of real estate leads. They know the investors looking for deals and who need to sell theirs. They have many turndowns, where applicants can’t qualify for mortgage loans and must sell or need partners to fund their deals. Look for ways to create win-win deals and make sure they are sending you their referrals first.

  1. Probate Attorneys

Probate properties can be highly profitable deals. They need to be recycled to stay useful and not become a blight on their local neighborhoods. Heirs need help in liquidating their inherited properties, avoiding taking on the new debt and expenses, and turning their gifts into usable cash. Probate attorneys are going to be a part of this process anyway. They can be much better as allies and referral partners than a roadblock to the deals you are trying to make. Build your lists of these professionals and let them know how you can help.

  1. Bankruptcy Attorneys

Bankruptcy is one of the leading reasons properties need to be sold. Bankruptcy attorneys have to advise their clients on what real estate assets they need to sell, and they may have to recommend some prospects sell o avoid bankruptcy altogether. These lawyers and law firms can be great lead sources for all types of residential and commercial real estate. Some of which may be distressed. Others just come with very motivated owners.

  1. Family Law Firms

Aside from family offices which need to invest their clients’ money, family law firms help clients with bankruptcy situations, foreclosures and inherited properties. They are also first on the scene in separation and divorce cases. Divorce leads offer a valuable way for real estate investors to help others who are really going through a hard time and need liquidity and to find new housing. In a divorce it is virtually always smarter to liquidate the property. Everyone who is moving out needs somewhere to go too.

  1. Direct Mail

It may sound a little old school in this digital age, but we all still have mailboxes. With fewer marketers using mail today, it can be a medium which is even less crowded than Facebook and email. Be creative and willing to go beyond the ‘yellow letter’ and traditional postcard. Know that direct mail is a numbers game. Response rates may typically be low, so be prepared to send out high volumes and to do it every month to build trust and be there at the right time.

  1. Newspaper Ads & Advertorials

In general, newspapers may not be a big classifieds platform anymore. Yet, some do have classified sections which aren’t too crowded. They also take regular columns from market experts, as well as sponsored content and advertorials which can offer large scale credibility and and visibility. Do your research on their numbers and readership and find those which are the best fit.

  1. Article Marketing

In addition to traditional newspapers there are local community newsletters, and the entire web to post your articles on. This can be a great medium for visibility, branding, positioning, reputation management, SEO and generating more leads. Some will take and publish your content for free. Some may require paid sponsorships. Some may even pay you. Try outsourcing copywriting and placement to make it a consistent part of your efforts, while spending your time on higher value tasks.

  1. Blogging

Real estate blogging continues to be a highly valuable tool for generating leads. It is the heart of the machine for SEO, backing up social media campaigns, maintaining website relevance, and nurturing leads. It can deliver one of the best ROIs of real estate marketing when done well and allowed to compound over time. Don’t underestimate it.

  1. Your Own Real Estate Website

Your own real estate website can be a fantastic lead magnet with good SEO. There are a lot of myths and misconceptions about SEO, and it’s a full time job, often for a whole team. Though it can be one of the best tools for generating short term traffic and long term value.

  1. Google Ads

For those who want to drive in large numbers of online real estate leads or inbound phone calls, Google Ads can be an easy to turn on tool for getting the machine running quickly. It will take some mastering, and a reasonable budget, but can be used to fill in while other mediums are gaining steam and to scale.

  1. Text Messaging

Texting appears to be far more popular than voice calls today. The masses seem to far prefer communicating by text over the phone. Bulk SMS is a tool for blasting out dozens, hundreds and even thousands of texts in seconds. This technology can be used to generate new real estate leads and nurture those already in your CRM from other campaigns. One of its superior advantages is that these texts can’t be bounced by recipients like cold calls.

  1. Buying Lead Lists

There are clearly many ways to organically generate traffic and leads. This is smart and valuable. Though not everyone has the patience or luxury of time to wait. The short cut is just renting or buying lead lists or using software to filter and identify ripe leads in your niche.

  1. Bandit Signs

Bandit signs can be used locally to find properties to buy and advertise properties for sale. They are inexpensive and fast to deploy. They can range from the rough DIY versions done with permanent marker to professionally designed signs that boost your branding, visibility and marketing dominance.

  1. Craigslist

Like some other mediums, Craigslist has become flooded with scams and noise. There is a lot of junk. It can be harder to stand out today. Yet, it is a popular platform where others go daily to sell and buy properties. It’s easy to use and often free, depending on what and where you are promoting.

  1. Voice Broadcast

Voicemail broadcasts work much the same as bulk SMS and texting. Use it to send dozens, hundreds or thousands of voicemails simultaneously. Again, these ringless voicemail drops go right into users’ inboxes without being bounced. They have high open rates, and are a modern method of communicating which can cut through the clutter of direct mail, email and social.

  1. Press Releases

Much of today’s news is user generated content and sponsored content supplied by those who want to promote their businesses and influence public opinion and markets. Don’t let your competition control the news. Put your own voice and company out there. Be seen as the experts, and promote your thought leadership in a passive way.

  1. Employees

You can also recruit people in a variety of roles to find and close real estate leads for you. This can range from technical marketers to phone agents and call centers to local property scouts and acquisition managers. They can be salaried, on commission or work on a referral or affiliate basis.

  1. Public Records

Public records are generally free to search and can be used to identify a wide range of real estate leads. This includes divorcing property owners, tax delinquent properties, and those in foreclosure.

  1. Banks

Banks and mortgage lenders will always end up taking back or repossessing a percentage of properties which they’ve made loans on. These REO or OREO can offer discounted distressed property deals and objective owners who need to recoup their capital.

  1. Radio & Cable TV

While radio and television advertising may seem a little old school, they can still work. They can be an integral part of dominating your local market and rounding out those ‘seven touches’ required to move a prospect to closed deal. They may now even be much cheaper than you think.

  1. Podcasting

Podcasting is the new blogging. Though it may be even more effective when they are combined together. Some people just don’t read anymore. Giving them audio they can listen to on the go can help them absorb the messages they really want from you in a convenient medium.

  1. YouTube

YouTube is becoming more and more important. As 5G spreads and making high quality videos becomes even easier and cheaper, this is likely to be one of the top mediums out there. More people turn to YouTube videos to learn than dictionaries or public libraries. It’s an important resource, perhaps more engaging for entertainment than television, and an easily accessible platform for real estate marketing.

  1. Billboards & Outdoor Advertising

Billboards, bench ads, bus ads, and other signage still has its place. It may not be as responsive as other forms of lead generation, but it can do a lot for visibility and branding. It still carries a lot of credibility. It may not be cheap in comparison, but there may be times to use it. Take a look at the options and price differences and see what you can afford to do.

  1. Cold Calling

This may not be the sexiest and most appealing lead generation method for most real estate investors, but it still works. It can still deliver a high ROI on your time. It’s an important skill to learn and maintain, even if you focus most of your budget on other channels. You don’t even have to make most of the calls yourself. Hire your own phone agents or outsource to a call center. Just be keenly aware of phone regulations to avoid bug fines.

  1. Educational Events

Why not host your own educational events? Host seminars and learning lunches for first time home buyers or those needing foreclosure help. This is a great way to put your value out there and share, while becoming the natural choice to help them and their circle of friends and family.

  1. Magazine Ads

Magazines can bring together a lot of the benefits of newspapers, press releases, billboards and online article marketing. Choose from publishing in a wide array of local, national, niche, digital and print magazines. It can provide great credibility and branding.

  1. TV Shows

While many investors would never want to appear on one of these ‘reality’ shows, there is no question it can do a lot for your personal branding and business, and to crank up the volume of your inbound real estate leads.