Debate: Is paying for a real estate lead generation service actually worth it?

I was super skeptical for about 2 years about those monthly lead gen services that cost around $300 a month. I thought it was all just recycled data or bots. Then I tried one for three months last fall and got 4 solid buyer clients out of it, which more than paid for itself. But I've also heard from other freelancers who said they got zero calls and just wasted their money. Has anyone else found these services to be hit or miss based on your local market in a place like Austin or Cleveland?

3 comments

3 Comments

sam_cooper10d agoMost Upvoted

Man, that market difference is crazy right? I think the whole thing comes down to how the service actually vets their leads in each city (like are they just scraping Zillow or actually talking to people). In slower or oversaturated markets, the same $300 buys you way more recycled garbage because there's less fresh inventory to pull from. I'd bet the services that work in Austin are paying for higher-quality lead sources per zip code, while Cleveland gets the cheap leftover data nobody else wanted.

luna26110d ago

See, I'm not so sure it's just about the quality of the lead source. I've talked to a few agents in different markets and the real difference seems to be how fast they follow up. In Austin, those agents are probably calling within minutes, while in Cleveland the same lead sits for a day and goes cold.

skyler_kelly6910d ago

I tried one in Cleveland for exactly 6 months and got maybe 2 real leads out of it (both lowball offers that fell through). My buddy in Austin signed up for the same service at the same time and made like 12 closings in 4 months. I think it really depends on how saturated your local market is and if they actually have boots on the ground scrubbing those leads there.