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What's a Web Lead Worth?

By Lonn Dugan

Industry Observer

December 12, 2007 11:20 PM

Real Estate Lead Generation is a hot topic. Wondering, if it all starts with LEADS then can you have too many? What's a lead worth anyway?

I quit using lead generation sites after my second year in the business, because it just hurt to much to give up the 25% - 30% they got at closing. After a good marketing program is in place, it makes no sense to pay so dearly for leads. But it did help me get started. I listed more from homegain than any of the others - if that helps anybody.

But my question today is - if you look down on using lead generation sites, or even Relo company referrals, as many agents do, then do you feel the same way about personal referrals from other agents that come with a 25% commission sharing agreement?

How about the companies that charge a flat fee, like Servicemaster, of $25/lead no matter how it ends up? Do you look down on those?

Is there a price per lead that you think makes sense? Would you pay $10/lead if one in 10 closed? 1 in 20? 1 in 50?

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Charlie Ragonesi

AllMountainRealty.com - Big Canoe, GA

Homes - Big Canoe, Jasper, North Georgia Pros

We use housevalues. We gave up on Homegain because of the big bite 25 percent. It's not just their 25 percent it's the broker on top of that. If you do a lsiting at 200k get half the commission and then back out the lead and the broker and your work you are not left with much

Dec 12, 2007 11:40 PM

Al Maxwell

Keller Williams - Marietta, GA

Real Estate Agent

I currently use HOUSEVALUES but the ROI has been disappointing. I will be cancelling at the end of the contract. They charge about 40-60 dollars a lead.

Dec 12, 2007 11:43 PM

Brenda & David Wakeman

Russell Realty - Strongsville, OH

We tried housevalues and dropped them after a year. We found them to be to costly and most of the leads were poor at best. We have our own lead generation system that works well.

If you are going to pay for leads, then they should be qualified leads. We would not hesitate to pay a 25% referral fee for a qualified lead. It is one more deal that we otherwise wouldn't have known about.

Dec 12, 2007 11:46 PM

Renee Stengel

Houlihan Lawrence, Associate Broker - Katonah, NY

Westchester County

I have received many cold calls looking for me to sign for leads. Usually, I politely say I am not interested. However, I will check out Servicemaster because if they have a flat fee of $25.00 that is great.

Dec 12, 2007 11:47 PM

I checked Servicemaster and they are a website company? Correrct? I use Advanced Access to host my website. How do they differ???

Renee

Dec 12, 2007 11:51 PM

J Perrin Cornell

Coldwell Banker Cascade Real Estate - Wenatchee, WA

Broker, ABR, VAMRES

Dropping House of Valuert too. BTW you may want to check but I believe they just lost a suit with the WAshington State Atty General...

But that is not why i dropped them... thought Id try and see... as with almost all companies I checked out (and they are better than most) the leads are very low quality, often unreal expectations and a far horizon... though their (HOV) support systems are a good idea

Just my experience

Oh I don't look downon them... i just don't like their results and the cost ratio... from other realtors..sure I take them but the 25% is usually far less than the relos and you have a real client not a shadow like lead generators

Dec 13, 2007 01:03 AM

What's a Web Lead Worth?

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