In today's world of real estate there are many offers made to agents that claim to raise their productivity in a variety of ways.  I'm sure all of you have received a phone call from an "Account Manager" or an "Account Executive" (AKA Telemarketers) claiming to have the best lead generating website out there.  They claim that your zip code is one of the only zip codes left in your area, and that if you don't act now another agent will snatch it out from under you, and you don't want to be the last realtor on the block without this miraculous lead generator.  They go on to drop the names of some of the Realtors and companies that have signed on with them.  The only thing they ask of you is a small one time fee that ranges from $200 to $800.  This fee is miniscule compared to the commission checks you'll be collecting! Sounds good right?  Exclusive rights to your own virtual zip code!

From my experience, these sites have not generated any good leads for me or anyone else I have talked to.  What they did accomplish was a big waste of time and money I did not have.  Since the constant media barrage concerning real estate doom started, people outside our industry have figured out that at this point in time many of us are willing to try anything to keep business coming, and therefore we (Realtors and Mortgage Brokers) are susceptible to these schemes.  Now I'm not saying all internet marketing is bad, or all lead generating schemes don't work, on the contrary, there are some that do, Active rain is a prime example.

 It is estimated that 80% of all prospective buyers are surfing the net before they even pick up the phone to call an agent or lender, so obviously the internet is a major tool for our business. The difference is that sites like active rain are FREE and give you a lot more tools from which to better market yourself, and network with other professionals.  Did I mention Free!  I've received more leads from Craig's list and wierdloans.com than I have from anything I had to pay for.  I would like to hear from your experiences with these pay for zip code web sites.  Have any of them helped you get more leads?  If so, which ones?  How much did they cost?  How did they work?  Maybe people just didn't like my zip codes that much.(Yeah right) I look forward to hearing from you, and would appreciate any good advice you have to offer.  Thanks for reading my 1^st blog.  Until next time...

Sergio Convers,                         www.networkrealestatear.com 

Realtor/Mortgage Broker