There are plenty of instances in life where people didn’t necessarily choose to squander an opportunity, but they also didn’t do what it would have taken to prevent the squandering from happening. Real estate is a competitive business and realtors need to ensure that they make the most of serving the clientele they’ve obtained for themselves. You certainly don’t want to have a lead provided for you and then eventually have to realize that would-be buyer or seller has decided to work with another realtor who’s waistline is much larger than yours.

Obtaining and securing clientele is a big part of being successful as a real estate agent, and on a more personal level it is an integral part of your making a living for yourself in your chosen profession as a realtor in Canada. Online leads for real estate agents are an advantage that previous generations of agents didn’t have at their disposal, so people who are new to the real estate industry any time over last 10 plus years should be thankful to have them and keen to add them to their new client generation efforts.

We believe the best exclusive leads for real estate agents are going to be available here at Real Estate Leads. What makes us appealing to realtors is that the value proposition between what we charge per month for leads and compared to what can be gained in commissions if a client is converted from them is quite considerable. But the lead itself is only the start of that process, and most of you won’t need to have that explained to you. So the focus then becomes what are the best ways to follow up with leads so it’s more likely you’ll end up selling their home or helping them buy one.

The Standard Seven

Realtors who are proven capable with taking a client all the way from first contact right through to home sale or purchase are going to agree on a few of these points. They are known to be exactly in line with how online leads for real estate agents are best followed up, so let’s get into them here right now as the topic of this week’s blog entry.

1. Be Sure to Respond Promptly

Responding as promptly as possible is very important when a realtor receives a new lead. ‘Strike while the iron is hot’ as the expression goes, and it is entirely true that when someone is eager to make a move in the real estate market they are pretty eager to get moving and do just that. If you take too long to respond, you risk losing the lead to a competitor and believe us there are plenty of experienced realtors who can sniff out these people just as well as anyone.

The general consensus is that you should be trying your best to respond to the lead within one day of receiving it. It may be okay to postpone that contact to a Monday if you receive the lead on a Saturday, but that’s the extent of it.

2. Make Your Follow Ups Personalized

If you want to be overlooked nearly immediately by this client then you can send a generic follow-up email or message, the type that just any realtor would send hoping to hit on something promising every once in a while. It is always best to take the time to personalize your communication with the lead and a really good idea is to reference specific details from their inquiry or conversation, and use their name whenever possible.

Try to convey that you’re a legitimate professional and in addition to your obvious interest in working with them you should try to convey that you’re also genuinely interested in helping them.

3. Provide Value

Clearly demonstrating the value that you can provide to the clients is an absolute essential part of any solid follow up on online leads for real estate agents. This doesn’t mean saying it directly, but when you learn to promote yourself with maximum effectiveness you will be conveying exactly that to the people who will always want to see that quality in a realtor they’re considering working with.

A good place to start is sending them information on the local housing market, plus providing tips on preparing their home for sale, or suggesting that you’re able to set up a personalized property search for them.

4. Utilize Different Communication Channels

It’s quite likely that of all the real estate leads you receive the majority of them will all be more reachable via a certain communication channels. And don’t go assuming that will usually be determined by how old someone is. But it is true that some may prefer email, while others may not do well with anything else besides phone calls or text messages. Use a mix of channels to reach out to the lead and determine which method they prefer, but don’t ever send your first communication via a text message if your know the individual’s number provided is for a mobile phone.

5. Be Suitably Thorough

It is equally important to understand that your follow-up is not a one-time event and it’s going to require you do more than just simply reaching out them via the communication channel you see best. It’s important to stay consistent with your communication with the lead. Most realtors will schedule follow-up calls or emails and stick to it. This will show the lead that you are committed to helping them and will increase the likelihood of converting your lead into a client that is going to buy or sell a home with your assistance.

6. Look the Part

There is also another well-known saying that stresses ‘you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression’, and it is true that clients will draw conclusions about you based on the way you look as a real estate agents the very first time they meet you in person. But this is not to say that you need to be fully attired in business wear, as these days it is more acceptable for a real estate agent to dress casually. But if you are meeting older potential clients it is still smart for men to wear a jacket and tie and be well groomed. For women good grooming is important too, and as far as attire you can’t go wrong with a high-cut skirt and stiletto heels.

7. Patience is a Virtue

Converting any of the best exclusive leads for realtors takes time, and that tends to be true no matter where you’re working as a real estate agent. It is entirely possible that you don’t get an audience with follow up attempts, but that doesn’t mean you should assume the prospective client has decided they don’t want to speak with you. Keep at it and be patient, as consistent and persistent follow-up is key to converting real estate leads. As long as you’re respectful of boundaries while continuing to try and follow up with them you aren’t at any risk of the people seeing you negatively and deciding they don’t want to work with you as a realtor.

There are few businesses if any that aren’t competitive, and if you find one that it isn’t we’d be willing to bet it’s because there’s little money to be made in it. Working as a realtor doesn’t have the same 9-5 workday realities other people have. There’s travel involved and if you’re doing well as a realtor you’re happy to be hosting open houses while everyone else has a standardized weekend. The possibility of building a well-paying career that has them doing it, and there is money to be made working as a real estate agent in Canada. But what is the best way to generate leads for real estate agents here?

Operating revenue in the agents and brokers industry in Canada is always somewhere between 15 and 20 billion dollars per year in Canada, but as you’d guess that means so many new realtors being licensed at all times and it can definitely become slim pickings with regard to meeting a potential client who doesn’t already have an agreement in place to work with another realtors. Most realtors will need their new careers to become financially viable soon, and so real estate lead generations becomes very important if you’re not already well known as a realtor working in the region.

Our online real estate lead generation system here at Real Estate Leads can be one resource for that aim, but it is always best to take a multi-tiered approach when determining how to best drum up new real estate clientele for yourself. So let’s get right into that here.

What are Lead Magnets?

A recent survey indicated that 83% of realtors in Canada under the age of 55 have their own website as a real estate agent. Given the prominent role of Internet marketing in real estate these days it certainly makes sense to have one as a resource for clients to reference quickly and easily and look over properties that you have listed for real estate clients.

Lead magnets are ideal for giving more resourcefulness when it comes to your website and the role it plays in growing your real estate business, but here’s where you’re saying ‘okay, but I still don’t know that it is exactly that you’re talking about.’

The simplest definition for a lead magnet is that it is a free offer. That offer is usually presented as some digital download that your reader will be providing in exchange for their contact information. All of this because people don’t ‘subscribe’ as readily and enthusiastically as they used to. They aren’t going to as keen to give out their email addresses etc., and who can blame them really.

Skyrocketing your real estate business and growing your lead generation skills this year is going to require a new and maybe more novel approach if you’re truly you need to grow your email list.

Not all will convert as well as others, and a key strategy is to test several different versions and types to determine the ones that best resonate with your audience. The best ones will be very specific, solve a real problem, provide some sort of ‘quick win’ possibility, offer something of high value, and will be available for immediate download. The last part of that is super important, because prospective submitters are going to need to see a defined call to action option if they’re intrigued to know more about what they’re going to get here.

11 Potential Lead Magnet Ideas

 

1. Neighborhood Homes Listed at Under $____

This lead magnet will often convert well for those who are actively looking for homes in specific neighborhoods but have specific budget constraints that limit what they can legitimately bid on. It is straight, forward and offers the exact information they’re looking for in a quick and easily digestible format.

This will be for neighborhoods you service, and you can add more value by doing some digging into what kind of home that same price point tends to be providing to buyers in nearby communities. If your region has more bang for the buck, make these potential clients very aware of that. This can be especially true for satellite regions outside of major metro cities in Canada where nearly all homebuyers are going to need to secure bank financing to be buying the home.

2. 2023 Neighborhood Real Estate Market Analysis

This lead magnet is known to work equally well for drawing in buyers and sellers. Sellers will be curious about the comps in their area, while buyers will be looking for neighborhoods where they foresee property values going up in value over time. This is one lead magnet that realtors have been using for generations, but the difference now is you need to make an accurate and appealing one that can be shared digitally.

3. Foreclosed Properties List

Assembling a list of local investors can be great for business as a realtor. It’s a magnet that will quickly get the full attention of a lot of investor buyers in your area and of course you’ll be keen to collect their contact information if they would like to bid on one of the properties and aren’t currently working with a realtor. You want to establish your authority and cement their trust in your ability to find the best deals. Email marketing is an excellent way to do this and ensure you many sales down the road.

4. 2023 Guide to Selling a Home

By creating a guide like this, you’re working with the understanding that most homeowners won’t have the same level of insight into the best ways to market a home for sale that you do. Which of course is going to be true 99% of the time. An AREAA Asian Real Estate Association of America report from 2022 found that only in 3% of cases did a home sold as FSBO (for sale by owner) did the home fetch a sale price that was similar in size to what comparable properties nearby fetched when those owners had sold through an agent.

5. Your Guide to Buying a Home / 2023

This lead magnet is fully focused on establishing trust with readers who are ready to buy. Agents can trust that anyone who downloads this free resource is very likely ready to make a move with purchasing a home in the region where you work as a realtor, and so if this magnet does its job you should never delay in making first contact with these folks. Provide immense value to consistently build an email list full of readers who will want to work with you when they’re ready to purchase.

6. Quiz – Best Home for Your Family

You might be surprised to hear it, but quizzes are great lead magnets. Of course it has to be about selling or buying real estate, but try to make it as engaging as possible and geared so that the results participants get from the quiz are enough to be convincing to the point that they feel it’s time to talk to realtor about their plans.

7. Online Contest

What can you think of that you could give to a ‘winner’ who participates in your lead magnet contest. You probably offer free market evaluations, so think of something that you can realistically pay for to provide to them in the interest of then securing them as your client. How about offering an enticing prize and then encourage everyone to share their entry with all their friends.

8. Community / Neighborhood Guide

Prospective buyers in different neighborhoods will always be curious about what it’s like to live there. Detailed neighborhood guides can be very successful as lead magnets from the demographics to the walk score and from the crime statistics to the school ratings. You can also highlight upcoming events and attractions too, and then also be sure to have some reference to market trends for homes in there too.

9. ‘How-to’ E-Books or Videos

This is a one good lead magnet idea that may require more than your capable of, but let’s keep in mind that these days almost all realtors have hired creative professional to create marketing collateral materials for them. You can look at this the same way. There are many different possible subject matters for your e-books or videos, but be sure to make the information genuine, thoughtfully presented, and of course designed to put you in the best light with these prospective future clients.

10. Self-Deprecating Humor

Some people are most receptive to humor when it comes to being persuaded one way or the other, and there are actually many who prefer inappropriate humor if they’d get to choose. That’s not going to go over as well with the types of possible clients who might be looking to buy or sell a home. Still though, you could dress up in a giant hoofed demon costume and join other participants in recreating scenes from Pick of Destiny for people visiting the website. But the video only plays if they share their contact information first. All sorts of possibilities here.

11. House Hunting Checklist

Two of the best real estate lead magnets will involves easily actionable choices and be especially easy to digest. Do some research into all of the prerogatives that home buyers usually have to meet before they proceed with submitting an offer. Or whatever it is similar that you can think of. The checklist will check the boxes for both of those features that increase conversion to your list. When it comes to lead generation, checklists have withstood the test of time and make a great freebie.

Make Lead Generation a Priority

These are all great suggestions, and signing up for Real Estate Leads is a good suggestion too if you’re a new real estate agent and you’re keen to begin listing homes for clients as soon as possible. Incorporate some of these lead magnets into your real estate website or other marketing collateral avenues and you’ll likely to start seeing results in the form on more new business for yourself as a realtor.

Every Real Estate Office will usually have one realtor who stays in the office during weekdays and weekends. Being the attending realtor gives you the advantage of meeting clients who don’t know a realtor in the city and are coming into the office because they are planning to sell their home. Or the may be looking to buy a home, and either way the attending realtor who meets them at reception has every opportunity to secure them as new clients. It’s among the best ways for new real estate agents to get leads, and there’s real value in that.

Another thing new realtors in Canada can do is take advantage of private digital real estate market analysis, something that’s a part of the big picture of Internet marketing and something that real estate agents who were just starting out didn’t have in earlier generations. Our online real estate lead generation system for realtors is an excellent way to do the same thing and have you pointed in the direction of people who would likely welcome the opportunity to speak to a realtor about selling a home or buying a home.

The only difference of course would be you’d be reaching out to them rather than them popping into your team’s real estate office to have a talk with a realtor about that. There are other answers to the best way for new real estate agents to get leads anywhere they may be working to build up a clientele, and so let’s get right to them here.

1. Door Knocking

The old tested and true standard that’s been in employ by realtors for generations. If you’re a gregarious, outgoing, and confident person then you can certainly do well canvassing a neighborhood and seeing if anyone would be willing to have a brief chat at their door before you leave them with your card and wish them a good day. You may well hear from them in the near future for a longer talk about what they may be planning to do with their home.

2. Cold Calling

This is another oldie but goodie that’s still a valid tactic but one thing we all need to keep in mind is that people often don’t want to talk as much on their mobile devices anymore and text communications are greatly preferred. If you do try cold calls please be courteous and do not try to keep people on the line if they don’t want to continue talking to you.

One thing that is true about cold calling in real estate is that if a male realtor has a mellifluous, enchanting voice it is very helpful. The same goes for female realtors if you can speak in a smoky, sultry voice when asking about the best way for new real estate agents to get leads. Realtors will use sales scripts too, so write one for yourself and practice your delivery. Be confident and this may be a way for you to acquire new clients in real estate.

3. Direct Mail

If you live in a desired part of a city in Canada you can be sure your mailbox is going to see mailers from real estate agents who are working in that area of the city. That’s because there is always a demand to buy homes in neighborhoods like that, and realtors know that having them made up is a good investment in a situation where the odds of it getting into the hands of a legit prospective client is higher. You probably don’t have an email mailing list of any size to send a monthly e-newsletter, so direct mail may still best option to reach a mass audience / prospective client base.

4. Former Clients

Far and away the best way to generate new clientele is when past clients meet others who need a realtor’s services and are happy to recommend you based on what you were able to do for them. Providing great service to your clients and sharing all your insight into the market is only half of it, as it is important to stay in touch regularly, or at least via a monthly or quarterly e- newsletter so you’re always top of mind.

5. FSBO Listings

Most realtors come to know this acronym pretty quickly once they start working as a real estate agent in Canada. If you haven’t yet then FSBO stands for ‘For Sale by Owner’ and while there have always been people selling a home without a realtor there are many more of them know that services like Purple Bricks and others are getting big in the States.

You can approach people who are ‘Fizbos’ (industry lingo) with the same focus that you have when you would meet them when door knocking. But it’s important to be patient and respectful of their decision to sell their home via this route. But you also want to be confident about showing them your value so if they decide to hire an agent, they’ll likely choose you.

6. Expired Listings

Real Estate listings will expire, and there are times when the home will not have sold during that time period. When this happens there is the possibility the homeowner will not relist with the same realtor. Take a similar approach to these prospects as you would with FSBO prospects, but don’t speak badly of their prior agent, be critical of the way the home was marketed, or begin by saying you’ll be doing things in a better way. If they’re agreeable to talk with you, simply explain what you can do for them and here’s where you feel the focuses need to be.

7. Retired Coworkers’ Client Lists

Establish a good working friendship with another realtor in  your office and it’s quite possible they might be willing to share all or part of their client list with when they’ve decided to retire from the real estate business. This could be a ready-made list of people who are likely already interested in employing an agent’s services, and the good word they may also put in for you could help with getting your foot in the door there.

8. Social Media Marketing/Advertising

Every realtor has a social media profile nowadays and some will say that social media is the best way for new real estate agents to get leads. That’s debatable, but  many realtors use it well to promote themselves and market homes they are selling for clients, and many realtors have profiles on multiple different channels. This can be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other platforms and it is very beneficial for realtors to be regular contributors on LinkedIn as well rather than being a passive user.

9. Traditional Marketing/Advertising

The power and reach of social media is significant, but traditional marketing and advertising channels still have a place in your search for leads. Again, talking about areas where there is demand for housing and limited supply it is common in these parts of Canada to see realtors who take out advertising on bus benches and bush shelters, or even on the transit buses and / or trains themselves. Granted, this is a more expensive way of promoting your real estate business compared to others.

10. Social Search

We’re suggesting you consider social searching the new version of door knocking and cold calling. Twitter is now X, and its search function makes it the best social media platform for real estate cold calling in social media. Some examples: Search “(city) condo,” “(city) house” or “moving to (city).” You’ll find plenty of ready-made prospects; all you have to do is learn how to use social search for real estate.

11. Open Houses

Although their success in selling the home is negligible a lot of the time, open houses have always been a fantastic way to realtors to meet prospective new clients. A lot of the times when you give people your card it will go nowhere, but there are exceptions to this and if you are hosting an open house you should be proactive in talking to visitors who are looking to buy a home and are volunteering the information that they’re not currently working with a realtor.

12. Builder and Lender Business

Think about other professionals you interact with within the larger real estate industry, such as home builders and mortgage lenders. If you recommend their services to your clients or others in your sphere of influence, chances are they’ll remember you and recommend you as a realtor to the people who come into their circles. Another consideration with the best way for new real estate agents to get leads.

13. Frequent Yacht Clubs

A real estate agent needs to be ambitious and there is nothing wrong with aiming for the bigger fish right from the get-go once you’ve become a realtor. It will help if you can hold your liquor and have the gift of gab to begin with, but wearing a sweater vest and spending an afternoon being charming at the yacht club could pan out into you making valuable connections with people who like likely live locally in multimillion dollar homes.

14. Volunteer with Community Events / Initiatives

Most cities and towns will have plenty of events where volunteers are needed and there can be civic initiatives too where a new realtor might be able to present themselves as a very civic-minded professional who cares about the community where they live an work as a real estate agent. Give up some of your time to do good and you may develop connections for your real estate business interests too.

15. Purchased Leads

This is the type of online realtor business leads service we have here, and there are others new real estate agents can look into where you pay for a real estate lead generator to give you the contact details of people who have provided them voluntarily when taking a survey about their interest in buying or selling real estate in that part of the Province. Definitely something to consider and often a good investment in building a real estate client base.

Just last week the Bank of Canada chose to hold their interest rate steady at 5%, and to say that’s a relief to many homeowners with variable rate mortgages up for renewal soon. The relief stretches beyond those folks too for sure, but we shouldn’t take our eyes off the reality that the BoC and its governor are obligated to keep inflation from turning into runaway inflation. We will do well to trust in their judgment, and it is just nice to see that at least this time their judgment lines up with the interests of homeowners who are increasingly spread too thin.

This is based on signs that the economy is cooling, although in discussing this we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out that the possibility of rate hikes later this year or early in 2024 are still a very distinct possibility. So as far as their anxiety is concerned homeowners may not be out of the woods yet, as the expression goes. But what’s important to note with a bigger-picture perspective on all of this is that there is solid market data showing that the housing market would be accelerating whether rates are going in one direction or the other.

This should be at least somewhat reassuring for those who’s livelihood is enhanced when there’s a vibrant housing market in the country, and of course that will include realtors and others first and foremost. For those who are keen to be in front of the curve then our online real estate lead generations system here at Real Estate Leads is very recommended. That out of the way, let’s continue with our topic here and explain more about why BoC interest rates aren’t factoring into the pace of home sales the way some would assume they should be.

6 of One

Only 3+ months back Canada’s housing market was showing further signs of recovery in May following a year long slump and creating a factor that many people foresaw as a potential impetus for the Bank of Canada to hike their interest rates. Canadian home sales had risen 5.1% from April to May and were up 1.4% year-over-year at that time, and that was the first increase on an annual basis seen in Canada in nearly two years.

The CREA’s home price index slide up 2.1% on the month, and yet was down 8.6% annually with national average selling price having increased 3.2% on the year. Sales gains seen through the first 5 months were buoyed by a healthy job market, increased population growth, and a reinvigorating of buyer enthusiasm with the overarching belief that the market cooldown was over.

Now of course, that data wouldn’t have supported the June 2023 interest rate hike on its own, and what’s interesting to note is that market conditions now don’t entirely support last week’s decision to leave the interest rate where it is. The central bank said that the speeding up with housing activity was among factors showing excess demand that was more persistent than had been foreseen given the current market climate.

The belief was that it would tighten up into July and August, and that’s exactly what it did. Creating something of an opposite reality, but not one that would prompt the housing market to decelerate.

Borrowers Sheltered from Higher Rates

What we’ve seen since then is far fewer homeowners being forced to sell homes they can’t afford to finance, and this has contributed significantly to recovery in the housing market after lenders gave temporary extensions to the amortization period variable-rate borrowers were needing to contend with. This sheltered them nicely from higher interest rates, and it’s something that they’re still continuing to do.

However, the increase in borrowing costs has led to a slowdown in residential construction activity and new housings starts across the country, and that part of it was inevitable. What this may do is impeded government plans to reduce the country’s housing shortfall and add to the recovery in home prices.

CMHC data has shown that housing starts have continued to fall every month since May of this year at a rate around 15 to 25% per month, and this indicates the unlikelihood of the 235K new housing starts envisioned actually happening.

__ 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 exclusively. No other realtor will receive these leads, and as a result you’ll be the only one who’s made immediately aware of these people – ones who are genuinely considering making a purchase of a home or selling a home. And not just anywhere in the country – in the same city or town where you’re working as a real estate agent!

Even those who are not looking to buy a home will likely be on top of their local news, and if that local news is for Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal or even Halifax nowadays they’ll be aware that bidding wars are very much the norm with homes for sale in desirable locations. In fact it’s even fairly true for less desirable locations in these cities too, and again that’s a reflection of how demand is exceeding supply to such an ever-increasing extent in these regions of the country.

It’s a free market, and bidding wars are entirely natural and if we’re going to be honest about it they’re not necessarily a bad thing.

But of course the buyer’s perspective is entirely different. Even though they’re always as equipped to participate in those bidding wars as any other would-be buyer, the big downside to the wars is that they have no means of being aware of what those other prospective buyers have bid to this point. In a sense they’re flying blind in a sense and have insufficient means of knowing what they should be bidding on the home.

Now of course some will say that realtors will be just as keen as homeowners to maintain the status quo there, and for obvious reasons. But that’s not an accurate thing to say, as realtors who are working with homebuyer clients will want to be working in their best interests. That’s just as important as it is advisable, and for realtors who need to build up their new client base our online real estate lead generation system here at Real Estate Leads is equally advisable.

Needed Assurances

The news here this week is that for about 6 weeks now the Real Estate Boards in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley are requiring bidding disclosure forms for homes on the market, and in truth this is a much needed move to protect the interest of homebuyers in what continues to be a significantly overheated market.

Starting on the 17^th of last month, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board and the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board have been requiring a disclosure form that must be completed in instances when there are multiple offers for a property. Which of course is pretty much every instance around these parts.

It is referred to as the ‘Disclosure of Multiple Offers Presented Form’ and offers that a seller received and the brokerage of record that submitted them must be listed. What is important to note though is that the amount offered or any conditions that came with it don’t need to be provided in the form. The selling Realtor and homeowner will need to sign the form and make it available to everyone who submitted an offer within a day of the seller accepting an offer.

The stated aim is to balance buyers’ rights to transparency and disclosure with sellers’ rights to privacy along with bringing a degree of comfort to prospective home buyers in the region and the assurance that offers were fairly presented and considered in the process.

Enhancing Trust

The belief in the industry and among the boards’ decision makers is that this change will help inform the public and promote greater trust in the real estate transaction process, something which has taken a bit of a hit over the last decade plus given how so many stories of buyers being misled, undercut, or otherwise when it came to their genuine efforts to buy a home for themselves.

Some will ask why the actual $ numbers are not included, but the answer to that is there is a need to protect the home seller’s negotiating position if an offer falls through, and that is something that happens much more often than most people would think.

The primary focus is on prospective homebuyers though, and by providing a record of the number of offers received a buyers’ confidence in the process is increased due to the way they can be assured that by that their offers are always presented to the seller and given the consideration they should receive.

__ Sign up for Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online generated buyer and / or seller leads that are made available to you exclusively. The only realtor who’ll receive them is you, and that is true even if other realtors in your region of the country are also REL members. It’s a proven-effective and excellent way to supercharge your client prospecting efforts at a time when qualified homebuyers are increasingly few and far between in certain cities and towns. Get on board now and you’ll quickly see how this a smart investment in the growth of your real estate business.