While some agents continue to experience challenges in managing their pipelines, other agents have successfully implemented multiple marketing strategies to grow their business.
While some agents continue to experience challenges in managing their pipelines, other agents have successfully implemented multiple marketing strategies to grow their business.
What drives this success?
Simple answer: the ability of these agents to be adaptable and use both traditional marketing techniques, along with digital marketing techniques, to generate leads.
Below I will discuss the current strategies and costs associated with generating leads in 2025 and 2026, where agents can best utilize their time and efforts to produce results.
What works today: building your online presence
Your online presence (website, social media) is the foundation of a successful lead generation campaign today:
Website
Developing a user-friendly, mobile responsive website is important because it allows you to present your listing inventory, area expertise, and capture visitor information from people looking at your website.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) helps buyers and sellers searching for a Realtor or agent in your area find you when they search for homes for sale. Get a professional website built with features that showcase your services and properties.
Using a contact form on your website to collect information from potential buyers and sellers is an effective way to start conversations and build your database.
Many companies provide website solutions for their team members.
Social Media
Establishing yourself as an authority in your area through regular posting of market news, neighborhood spotlights, and success stories on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn is an excellent way to create a relationship with potential sellers in your community.
Targeted ads on these platforms can also allow you to reach specific demographics of homeowners that are likely to sell. Partnering with local businesses to promote each other's posts will increase your audience reach.
Sharing content related to commercial property may attract a new group of potential clients (investors).
Advertising
Google Ads and targeted social media advertising are a great way to reach potential clients based on demographics, interests, and behaviors.
However, it is crucial to focus on the demographics and behaviors of someone who has shown selling intent, to avoid wasting your advertising budget.
Advertising Commercial Real Estate Property Listings can generate a significant amount of traffic to your services. Highlight why your team offers unique solutions that meet customers' needs.
Content Marketing
A real estate blog gives you a platform to demonstrate market expertise and share insights on selling homes.
This approach requires patience. Expect gradual results.
Showcase your brand through relevant content that demonstrates all the ways you support both buying and selling customers. Blog posts featuring house reviews and local area trends keep your audience interested and position you as the leading expert.
Email Marketing
Developing segmented email lists and sending personalized, value-driven content to potential sellers keeps you top-of-mind.
Build powerful personal connections that convert
Despite technological advances, real estate remains fundamentally relationship-driven:
Strategic Networking
Create mutually beneficial relationships with mortgage professionals, home inspectors, and other industry partners.
These contacts interact with potential sellers regularly, and good referral partnerships prove highly valuable.
There are free networking events where you can partner with service companies and build your professional connections.
Each connection may lead to prospective customers ready to buy or sell.
Nurturing Referrals
Past clients provide your highest-converting lead source.
You need a system for staying connected with them.
According to NAR research, about 35% of real estate sales start with referrals, and 38% of sellers found their agents through friends or family.
Take time to send personalized messages to your network. Keep in communication with past clients who can provide powerful referrals to interested prospects.
Community Involvement
Become a neighborhood expert by participating in local events and supporting community initiatives.
Being active in communities through events and sponsorships generates higher-quality leads based on personal connections. Partner with local businesses and service providers to showcase your brand at community events.
This is an easy way to make new connections and demonstrate why your real estate services stand out.
Open Houses
These create opportunities to meet neighbors who might consider selling.
Always capture contact information at these events.
MaverickRE:
The data-driven real estate platform that skyrockets your business through predictability, efficiency and control.
Target homeowners ready to list now
Your time is best spent focusing on those potential sellers who are ready to sell their home NOW.
Identify your potential sellers who have the following characteristics:
Expired & Withdrawn Listings: Those that have previously listed their property have demonstrated motivation to sell and may appreciate a new approach to marketing and selling their property after an unsuccessful listing experience. As such, many successful real estate agents target expired listings—those that have already made a decision to sell their property.
For Sale By Owner (FSBO): FSBOs account for approximately 6% of all home sales, typically sell for approximately $55,000 less than homes sold using the services of a licensed real estate agent in 2024. FSBOs also struggle with pricing (17%), meeting their desired selling timeline (13%), and dealing with all of the required paperwork (10%).
Geographic Farming: Building long-term relationships with residents in geographic areas through various methods (mailings, community activities, online campaigns) can result in future referrals and put you at the top of the list as a trusted and knowledgeable realtor when the homeowner decides to sell.
What you really pay for quality leads
When evaluating lead generation investments, consider both upfront costs and potential returns:
| Platform | Pricing Structure | Lead Type / Features |
|---|---|---|
| Ylopo | Custom pricing | Digital marketing platform with IDX websites, Facebook/Google ads, AI-driven lead nurturing |
| Zurple | $149/month + $10–$50 per lead | Automated nurturing, branded landing pages |
| CINC | From $900/month (solo plans) | Hyperlocal leads from Google and Meta |
| Sierra Interactive | Around $400/month | Strong on SEO-driven leads, IDX websites |
| zBuyer | From $400/month | Customizable lead packages, lead replacement policy |
| Market Leader | $189/month + $15–$50 per lead (6-month minimum) | Exclusive leads, full marketing suite |
| Zillow Premier Agent | $300–$1,000+/month (varies by zip code) | Buyer leads, location-based, priority placement |
| REDX | FSBO: $49.99/month; FSBO Plus: $69.99/month | FSBO and expired listing leads, strong filtering options |
| Offrs | From $399/month | Exclusive seller leads, predictive analytics |
| Sold.com | Referral fee on closed deals only | Pre-qualified seller leads, attracts sellers with cash offer promises |
| CatalyzeAI | $180–$240/month for 30 inherited property leads | Inherited property leads |
Cost Factors:
Location affects pricing. Zip codes with higher average property values have significantly higher lead costs due to bigger commission potential. In major metro areas, the average cost per lead is substantially higher ($223) compared to smaller markets ($139).
Competition density makes a difference. Areas with more competing agents typically have higher lead costs as demand increases for the same pool of potential sellers.
Lead quality varies. More qualified leads—those further along in the decision-making process—generally cost more but offer higher conversion potential.
Market conditions affect pricing. In competitive seller's markets, lead costs often increase as agents compete more aggressively for limited listing opportunities.
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Where top producing agents find gold mine opportunities
Highly productive agents do not rely solely on one lead source. Instead, they use a variety of strategies to develop new listings.
Here are some of the top places successful agents find valuable listing opportunities:
Relationships with sphere of influence (SOI) & referrals
The top ROI for all agents comes from relationships developed with prior clients that have referred them to friends, family or other associates based upon their past experience working with them.Other referral sources include strategic partners such as mortgage brokers, home inspectors, etc., who refer leads to the agent. In addition, industry professionals who refer business to the agent outside of their own area of specialization can be gold mines.
Additionally, many successful agents have friends and family members who refer leads to them due to the fact that they trust the agent's expertise.
As reported by the National Association of Realtors, 35% of real estate sales originate from referrals, which is the highest conversion rate for all lead sources.
Online digital lead generation
There are many different types of lead generation opportunities available using the internet. Some of the key areas to focus include:
Instagram Lead Ads that allow you to target specific demographics.
Platforms like Nextdoor, which are focused on neighborhoods and allow you to establish yourself as an authority.
Video marketing, which allows you to increase engagement dramatically compared to static content.
SEO optimized property listings that attract both buyers and potential sellers.
Social marketplace platforms where sellers often start researching.
Google Business Listings that are optimized and show up in search results in your local market.
Zillow and other large platforms that connect agents with potential sellers.
Agents with a sufficient budget to advertise on platforms such as Zillow may receive hundreds of leads.
Zillow is described as the largest single source of hot buyer leads because it is the most used database for searching homes in the U.S.Proven traditional strategies
Although the world of technology has changed the face of how agents generate new leads, there are many traditional methods that remain effective.
These include:
Expired listings, with nearly 40% relisting with a different agent within 30 days.
FSBO (for sale by owner) listings, especially those that have been on the market for several weeks.
Conduct open houses in a strategic manner to identify neighbors that are considering selling.
Use circle prospecting to help find additional seller opportunities around active listings.
Door knocking with messaging focused on providing value continues to work well in many markets.
Consistent direct mail campaigns and neighborhood newsletters continue to produce results.
Emerging opportunity areas
As the real estate landscape changes and becomes increasingly complex, forward thinking agents are developing specialized strategies to find qualified sellers.
Many short term rental owners are reassessing their investment decisions and require expert advice.
Frequently, landlords are experiencing challenges in their local market that cause them to reconsider selling their property.
Developing strong relationships with builders and developers creates ongoing opportunities for new construction referrals.
Using interactive video events to engage potential sellers in new and innovative ways.
Turning your existing contact list into a listing engine
A successful agent's most underutilized resource is likely their existing list of contacts.
Rather than spending countless hours acquiring new leads, successful agents are implementing systems to reactivate their existing contact lists.
Automated reconnection through strategic email campaigns is provided through Ylopo, so that agents can reconnect with previous leads that expressed interest in the agent's services but went inactive.
Priority pond system:
Working aggressively on new leads for 30 days.
Then placing unresponsive leads in a nurture campaign for an additional 30 days.
And then transferring all remaining leads to a Storage Pond and running targeted ads on those leads.
Engaging leads will be automatically elevated to a Priority Pond for immediate follow-up.
Through utilizing the Priority Pond System, teams have grown from managing 6,000 leads to successfully cultivating 250,000 contacts without significantly increasing their acquisition budgets.Smart filtering identifies leads that dropped out of the nurture campaign through "last action plan sent email" filtering, and finds thousands of potential opportunities currently in your contact list.
Struggling agents:
End the vicious cycle of wasted time and money on dead-end leads.
Fill your schedule with qualified appointments
To obtain high-quality listing leads, a complete strategy is needed that includes digital marketing, networking, and follow-up on each contact.
Successful agents use multiple channels to generate new leads and maintain a systematic process to develop each and every contact.
Ultimately, with the right combination of techniques tailored to your market and personal strengths, you can achieve a consistent flow of listing opportunities in any market condition.
Consistency is important and knowing what works best for you is even more important.Not every technique will work for your business. Test, measure, adjust and move forward.
Aaron Franklin
Head of Growth
Aaron "Kiwi" Franklin is the Head of Growth at Ylopo and a serial technologist and entrepreneur who has over 25 years of experience creating digital solutions for major brands and pioneering companies where technology and real estate meet. His depth of expertise stems from leading development of the first website for Apple to founding a global community of over 1,000 elite athletes.