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Homegain: 1 win and Too Many Losses

By Afie Makinde

Real Estate Agent with Exit Realty Properties

October 07, 2007 08:53 AM

I got my first ever million dollar Lead from Homegain, just the next day after I signed up with the service so my first thought is it works. It definitely. works. Like everything else, there is a big price to pay. What got me very interested was when someone told me that they spent $10,000 in 18 months on Homegain and made $50,000. I think this is definitely a worthwhile opportunity but mine was the first big win but too many losses to continue.

Homegain is a lead generation site but like click and pay on search engines, you pick an area and every lead that hits that area gets billed to you. You have to set the maximum you want to spend per month though so let's say my area costs $200 every month, I may be billed more or less, depending on the number of hits. At one point, I was convinced that the owner of this site was getting people to log in just to charge me because it seemed like every 3-4 leads provided a fake email or phone number and that was worse than not getting any leads at all. I had these alerts transferred to my phone as well so you can imagine the excitement everytime I got a lead, just to call or send the email only to get a "sorry, wrong number" or error because the email does not exist. By the time I received these errors on the 20th time two months in a row, I cancelled the service immediately, $500 later.

If you are closing transactions, one a month at a minimum, it could be worth it because you could come across a serious buyer. In some cases, I had buyers who were very unrealistic with what they were looking for. I found a number of them were just speculating and you have to be careful when you continue to approach them frequently so they don't blacklist your emails or phonecalls.

By the way, I have become friends with one lead who will eventually buy a home through me but I just couldn't continue to spend $250 a month with no returns.

Does anyone have any stories to share from Homegain?

Call me if you have any referrals for the Coral Springs area...residential or commercial.

Afie Makinde (484.410.6569)

Exit Realty Properties

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Bryant Tutas

Tutas Towne Realty, Inc and Garden Views Realty, LLC - Winter Garden, FL

Selling Florida one home at a time

Alfie, I am one oft he original HomeGain members and have closed about 10 deals with them over the years. The only advantage I have is I pay nothing for my membership. I do however pay a 35% referal fee. I actually have worked the leads for a couple of years now but do still get them. I've just been too busy to go after them. When I did work them I only worked the sellers.

Oct 07, 2007 09:08 AM

Anthony Stokes-Pereira /REALTOR

Howard Hanna Rand Realty - Nanuet, NY

Howard Hanna Rand Realty

Hi Afie,

Sorry to hear about you disappointment, I had the same and I always advise new agents not to get involve with these websites........Good Luck!!!!!!!

Andrew Trevino

ADT Real Estate - Wilkes Barre, PA

Wilkes-Barre Homes For Sale

Hey Afie,

I heard early on about the lead services and was warned against them. Your post just confirms that this is good advice. I'm sorry that you had that experience.

Oct 07, 2007 09:17 AM

Afie Makinde

Exit Realty Properties - Coral Springs, FL

Realtor, Broward County, FL

Thank you but you know what, just that one lead resulted in a closed transaction of $1.3MM and I made $27,000. This was my second deal in RE, having been in RE only about 4 months at the time.

I actually only worked with buyer leads and if you are not paying anything on a monthly basis, it could be worth it.

Nonetheless, I agree. It can be disheartening.

Afie Makinde: Exit Realty Properties, Coral Springs, FL. 484.410.6569

www.makinhomes.com; www.makinhomes.net;

Oct 07, 2007 09:22 AM

Eric Anderson

Eric Anderson Realty Group - Fayetteville, NC

Fort Bragg Military Relocation Services, Fayettevi

Afie,I've had nothing but positive experience with HomeGains Buyerlink program. Realtors have to be patient, were dealing with Internet leads. The higher volume will raise your conversion rates. If your budget was $250 @ a dollar per click, that would yield you 3000 leads in a year for the cost of $3000. If your average home sales are 200,000 @ 3% = GCI = $6000 per deal. If you convert 10 out of the 3000 = $60,000.

The key is being patient, we as Realtors want instant results. The Homegain program has accounts for 40% of wife's business this year. In hard numbers $40,000 GCI on a $3000 investment so far this year.

You will get Mickey and Donald duck signing up. If we have the correct mindset when dealing with the leads, we will not feel like, "We were over promised, and the program under delivered"

Eric Anderson, Team Leader
Keller Williams Realty - Fayetteville
mailto:EricAndersonNC@kw.com

Oct 07, 2007 09:42 AM

Hayden Gerson

HPM Financial LLC - San Diego, CA

Homegain is a joke. IMO they are a ripoff. They used to have like 30 agents in the same neighborhood.

Oct 07, 2007 09:50 AM

Eric, I congratualte your wife for her success with Homegain. Your calculations are correct hwoever you are assuming that those transactions will occur as a result. Also, you assume that every agent has that money. First of all, we are in a market where we are not seeing as many buyers as years past hence those transactions are not frequent which means those marketing dollars are not as much. In additon, you have other forms of prospecting and advertising where you have to spend money as well so you should spread the risk. To top it all, it is tough for a new agent to spend $250 a month only to get very few serious buyers. I was patient and in three months, I had spent $750. That does add up significantly.

All the same, we all just keep trying until we hit the RE jackpots!!

Afie
Exit Realty Properties
484.410.6569
www.makinhomes.com

Oct 08, 2007 01:55 PM

Afie, sorry it didn't work out for you. If your a brand new agent, training is where you should be sinking you teeth into. You should focus on your sphere of influence and enjoy the hunt. The best way to meet buyers our sellers is to position yourself in the areas you know they exist. A number of strategies can bring you buyers, "Forget about the Media"! In your area you have someone buying and selling daily.

Oct 08, 2007 02:54 PM

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Afie Makinde

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