for the starving ones, like me...pretty close to zero dollars in market if we could. I know it's tough without costs, but prospecting seems to be the #1 way to have a no cost marketing.

I honestly dont believe in purchasing real estate leads. If you can get leads on your site then their is no reason I cant pump that same $3600 into my own site and gain valuable leads of people wanting to be in that area and taking the time to fill out my form and possibly being a more bona fide lead and not just contact information. Everyone is out there to make a dime and honestly lead generation is just that. While if you close a deal the money you shelled out over time makes sense, but where is the cost per item of work that is being done to cultivate those leads? Im sure that alone if I am trying to take 720 leads and make a few of them stick, Im sure I worked some hours which cost me more then just $300. Of course that is just my opinion

I have used Homes.com lead generation and ZIP is what came from that. I was very disappointed and spent $150 for 2 months of nothing. I do not receive leads from my company now and the market is slow as well as we all are having to watch our pennies.  I work a lot for my clients and hope that the service I give is enough for a referral, that is my lead generation at this point.

If I had 60 leads a month I would find that hard to believe that many people are serious in the process. But that is just from the experience that I have had. I have been with a company that had lead generations and the ones that I received we renters, did not qualify or did not really want to buy.

I agree with you in part Heather, if you have a website, and know what you are doing, then you could take that same money and generate the same or even more leads than you are getting with a service like mine... however, not all agents know what they are doing, and not all agents really have the time, or want to take the time to learn how to do it... Many agents would rather take that time to close the leads they do get instead of using that time to generate the lead in the first place....plus, there are A LOT of scams out there, that will promise to do great things to your website, but not many of them come through... most of the agents in my office come up to me asking me about these various services that different companies are offering, and I have yet to see one legitmate one...

So if you truely know what you are doing, then you don't need to hire someone like myself...however, if you don't know what you are doing... I think you will end up spending a lot more money trying to figure it out yourself, then eventually give up on it... again that is just my opinion...

You are right Jodi, out of those 60 leads, not all of those 60 leads are serious buyers... you get a lot of bogus info, just looking, nosey neighbors etc... however, once you filter through the bad ones, there are definitely some good ones that do need the assistance of a real estate agent like yourself to find a home... the key is powering through the bad ones and finding the good ones...

Plus, there are what I call "Second Chance Leads" that initially registered with bogus information just to get through, but they use your IDX to do their home search anonymously for several months... then out of the blue you get a call, email, or property inquiry from someone who you have no idea who it is, and that is because they registered a long time ago, with bogus info, but now they are ready to buy...

I agree you have to put your money some where, I dont do my website myself and wouldnt want to spend my time doing that either, but rather pump the money into a top notch web company and one that does SEO, but everyone has a price point and yours maybe a more valid one for some and not for others. I honestly think anything that charge $300 a month up front isnt producing top notch leads, but a bag full of information. It's kind of a churn and burn. You made your money up front. The companies that take the money on the back end in my opinion generally give actual leads and not information because they arent making anything unless they can be closed.

Top Notch SEO is rarely cheap =)

I am assuming you are referring to the leads that you pay a referral fee for... I thought about going that route, because I would definately make a lot more money that way.. 20% of $6000 is $1200, not $300! However, there is a lot more work on my end to track leads and if they closed... so I figured it was a win / win for everybody... the agent gets the leads for cheaper, and I don't have to do as much work tracking the lead progress....

Of course I think we got a little off topic here... I am more interested in what kind of rate of return an agent is expecting from their marketing dollars, not the great debate, buy leads or generate them yourself...

It depends how the leads are generated too. And how many people get a crack at them.

I'm a realtor that made 180k last year using leads I gererated myself, in much the same way that the leads for sale from lending tree and the like are generated, only slightly tweaked. I have a team with 3 buyer agents whom I supply as well.  (I hired one because I got so many in an area I wasn't working...)These are good leads that I've relied on for 5 years and built my business on.  My best buyer agent just did 100k in his first 6 months.

Currently I book one appointment for every 5 new leads that come in.  1 in 10 close.  My buyer agents do roughly the same, though closer to 1 in 20. 

These are good solid leads and if anyone is interested in buying my out-of-market leads I'm happy to chat with them about it.  I can also generate leads in your area on a per-lead basis.  I'll even supply the script I use to book appointments and pre-qualify. I'm not a company specializing in lead generation, just a Realtor like yourselves looking to diversify my income.

I'll even throw in some free coaching if you're interested.  email me if you want more information.  Comments welcome!