In this training episode we’re covering everything you need to know about buying leads from Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com. To begin you can listen to the podcast episode here and read the rest of the article below.
Should you buy leads from Zillow, Trulia, and/or Realtor.com?
Are they worth your money?
Which ones are better?
These are some pretty common questions I get from real estate agents. They are good questions, but these agents are asking the wrong things.
The RIGHT question to ask is….
I would like to generate more Cold Online Leads from Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com. What are the best practices for generating more leads from these websites and what should I know about them.
The right questions will always dig deeper into what the real truth is. Unfortunately, when it comes to Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com marketing there is often no easy single answers.
Why?
Each one of these platforms has the potential to generate substantial leads for any agent. However, they don’t all produce the same results for all agents. There are several variables which can each play a role in whether this type of marketing will work for any one particular real estate agent.
In this article, video, and podcast I’m going to break it all down for you so you can make the best decision when it comes to purchasing Zip Codes Leads from Zillow, Trulia, and/or Realtor.com. This is the information your brokers simply don’t know, and what most other agents will not share with you.
First let me answer the three questions I posted above.
Should you buy leads from Zillow, Trulia, and/or Realtor.com?
It depends on what your marketing plan is. These can provide cold lead sources for your business. But you’ll have to understand how to work and qualify these lead sources. Plus, make sure you have a good system in place for responding back to these leads quickly.
Are they worth your money?
They can be if you’re able to convert these leads into buyers. There is no guarantee that you’ll get an actual qualified buyer.
Each one of these leads will be in a different step along the home buying process. Some leads are ready to buy today, while others are at least six months away from when they will be ready to buy. In both case, these are good leads. It’s just how you manage them.
Which ones are better?
I wouldn’t say that any one of these is better than the other. I’ve seen agents produce phenomenal results on Zillow, but have had really bad results on Trulia for the same zip code. I’ve also seen other agents do great on Trulia with poor results on the other platforms.
Different agents and different zip codes will just produce varying results. I wish I had a better answer there for you, but it’s the truth I see from my experience.
How Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com lead systems work…
Before you can make an educated decision about purchasing leads from these companies we have to make sure you understand how these marketing programs work.
Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com all sell what I call “Cold Zip Code Leads”. These are inquiries from buyers who are on these websites and searching for homes. The buyers see a real estate agents profile picture along with some minimal information in the agent advertising space and then makes contact from there by entering info and clicking. When the agent purchases these leads they are purchasing them from one specific zip code. Ads are sold to be placed into only one single zip code.
Example of Agent Advertising Space on Zillow for a Non-Featured Listing
Example of Agent Advertising Space on Zillow for a Featured Listing
(NOTE: on Trulia the setup is almost identical)
All three of the websites usually require the agent purchase these leads in a contract for a minimum of six months. The prices for these leads vary from each zip code. The main variable which determines the costs is the amount of search activity taking place in that zip code. The more prospects that search in the specified zip code, then the higher the price will be for purchasing those leads from it.
There is no guarantee to how many leads you will actually get from any one of these programs. However, the sales reps who work for these companies will usually try to hard sell you on them because of the success they say they’re seeing other agents having with it. Be really careful about that when you do get a sales call from one of these reps.
Leads generated are then filtered into the built-in CRM on each one of these platforms and an email is generated and sent to your inbox.
Zillow and Trulia sell ads for listings which are “non-Featured”. This means if an agent doesn’t pay to Feature a listing on Zillow/Trulia then they will sell advertising space adding an additional 3 agents to the listing. If the listing is Featured then no advertising space by other agents is sold.
If you’re an agent this one should really make your blood boil….
Realtor.com operates a little differently. If you don’t purchase a Featured listings package on Realtor.com then the leads from the listing are all sold to whomever purchases that zip code. Your information is on the actual listing, but the contact form will not be connected to the agent. Leads generated by call in’s to the posted phone number or by using the contact form are submitted to Realtor.com and then handed down to the agent who is purchasing those leads.
At least on Zillow and Trulia you share the advertising space equally for a non Featured Listing. You don’t really get that with Realtor.com.
Example of a Listing on Realtor.com without a Featured Listings Package
Example of a Listing on Realtor.com with a Featured Listings Package
Why Different Agents get Different Results
Several factors go into determining how effective these advertising programs will work and I’ll list them out here for you.
1. Incomplete or Partially Incomplete Profiles.
Many agents will purchase these leads but have incomplete profiles. This is a huge mistake and you’re literally just throwing away money if you don’t have a completed profile with a good pictures, reviews, and closed sales info.
2. Bad Profile Pictures.
This is pretty common. Many real estate agents have a huge problem with their profile pictures. Some pictures are really outdated and others are super cheesey with the typical “Salesperson” pose.
3. Some Zip Codes Just Don’t Produce Leads.
Certain zip codes just don’t produce the amount of qualified leads you’re going to want. Usually, the lower and uppers ends of the property searches can produce mixed results for lead generation from these websites. Your middle markets are always going to produce the best results.
There is also some other variable at play here. Sometimes its just changing up your profile picture which can make the difference. During a six month contract of purchasing zip code leads if you’re getting poor results you have to change something up and since your profile picture is the most obvious point of distinction on the advertisement just changing it for something better can turn it around for you.
Lastly, sometimes Zillow and Trulia oversell the advertising space for a single zip code. If you want to see an example of this in real time simply go to Zillow or Trulia and pick a popular zip code in your area to search for properties on. Then search for properties and choose one property which is not featured. Next, refresh your web browser several times.
You’ll see the list of agents names in the ad space change over. Count to see how many different agents are purchasing zip codes and how many times you have to refresh the page to have them all repeat. If it takes several refreshes then there are too many agents on that single zip code. When this happens the zip code advertising space becomes too diluted and will generate poorer results.
4. Follow Up, Nurturing, and Qualifying Leads.
It’s so important to realize that not all leads which come in from these ads are ready to buy now. Many agents are expecting to quickly qualify buyers and write up a contract from a Zillow, Trulia, or Realtor.com lead. It simply doesn’t work that way.
Concentrate on starting to build a relationship first than making a sale. All cold leads (even if they are ready to buy now) need some relationship building at first. Ask questions, find out more about what they are looking for, make small talk, be nice, and don’t try to hard sell them on a house.
A professional attitude, being courteous, and not being a pushy salesperson goes a long way when you’re first communicating with a cold lead on the phone or email.
Many of the leads you’ll get inquiries from will already be represented by an other agent. In many of these cases the prospect is looking for information online about properties and they may want a showing or just get some questions answered. They aren’t trying to waste your time, and don’t often realize they are if they already have representation. It’s important to know this on the first phone call you have with a lead.
Finally, many buyers will not be ready to buy at the moment they reach out to you. In these cases, it’s crucial you add them into your database and schedule follow up phone calls and emails. Many real estate agents are quick to drop these leads simply because they are not ready to buy now. Even more agents don’t have a database or follow up system in place to manage and nurture a lead like this.
5. Slow Response Times.
We live in a world where we get information instantaneously. Prospecting leads online expect to get an email, text, or phone call back quickly. Remember, this is a COLD lead and it can die off very quickly.
You’ll have to make sure you have the capability and drive to respond back promptly to these leads.
6. Pushy Phone Salespeople.
I cannot stress enough to be cautious when your talking to a salesperson from one of these companies. In my experience these are energetic pros at phone sales.
Don’t get caught up in all of the hype they are trying to sell you on. Typically, they will tell you a story of an agent in the proposed zip code who is really “crushing it” with these ads.
You can always ask for name of that agent and then look up the agent online and even contact him/her yourself to verify if what the salesperson is saying is actually true.
We’ve done this multiple times with agents to verify if what was being sold was actually true.
Should You Buy These Leads?
Each one of these websites can be used to create more lead generation into your business. I’ve met many agents who are successfully using each one of these platforms and performing well with them. On the other hand, I’ve met agents who have had poor results from their Cold Lead Zip Code ads on these websites.
Many zip code ads are not cheap ranging any where from $150/month to $300/month. With a six month commitment you can easily spend over $1000 on these ads. However, the payoff if you can convert just 2 leads from them will pay for itself and leave you with a profit.
Purchasing zip code leads from Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com should only be executed once you have all of your other basic marketing in place. For example, if you don’t have a basic database system to add prospects into then you should work on that first. Furthermore, you have to get your profiles 100% up to date with a good profile picture.
Make sure you have done the marketing basics first and see how these ads can fit into your overall marketing efforts to determine if it’s the best use of your time, money, and other valuable resources.
You can use my Real Estate Agent Marketing Plan to help you put together your own marketing plan for your business.
Finally, I want to make sure you know something about me and this article. I don’t love or hate any of these websites. They are not perfect, but not completely bad either for an agent to use in their business. One is not necessarily better than the other. I ask that you keep an open mind about these websites and don’t completely write them off because they all play a big role in how buyers and sellers are getting their real estate information today.
My job is to help you make a better informed choice about where and how you market your brand and listings online.
What to do now…
Are you purchasing leads from any of these websites now? If so, share your results and experiences with me here in the comment section below.
Hope you enjoyed this training article for real estate agents, see you on the next one. George
John
April 3, 2019 at 8:05 pmNO, they don’t work! I was with Zillow for 6 months. Out of all the leads I received only 1 could even buy a home. Zillow promised at least 6-9 deals and I got the one. It is not worth the money…
George Cuevas
April 3, 2019 at 9:05 pmSorry John that you had to figure that out after 6 months, but at least now to you know.
Matt
August 16, 2017 at 8:19 amThank you. I actually have a lender that I believe Is going to split the cost with me. So $3000 over 6 months is much easier to handle and I’ll still get the same exposure.
Matt
August 14, 2017 at 8:26 pmFor got to add that I purchased 64% of a zip code and I am paying about $1000 a month for this. Yes I am nervous about it.
George Cuevas
August 15, 2017 at 6:55 amGood luck. All I can say is try and make the best of your 6K investment. Even if you dont get any leads from it think of it as getting your Marketing Degree into digital advertising, and use this experience to help you with where to invest your time and money. I truly hope it works out and your able to at least get a deal or two out of it so that you can come out ahead of the overall investment of the 6K.
Matt
August 14, 2017 at 8:25 pmI would like to hear more reviews of Zillow. I just signed up and plan on making a very serious attempt at making it work. Even if buyers aren’t ready now I will continue to follow up with them.
George Cuevas
August 15, 2017 at 6:57 amIt’s a very mixed bag. In my experience there are a few agents doing well with them, but they are investing big dollars in to Zillow. For the majority of my clients though they have seen the quality of their zillow leads consistently drop over the past 2-3 years. This is due to zillow overselling zip codes and by doing so they are actually diluting the quality of the leads coming thru.
Brad Rock
June 17, 2017 at 5:55 amGreat information George Thank You
Is their any way to keep these big corporations from stealing our listings and essentially selling them back to us ???
George Cuevas
June 17, 2017 at 6:08 amThanks for your comment Brad.
Its important to note that these companies are not stealing your data. They are requesting a feed from the local MLS’s and the MLS’s are freely giving away your data and listings.
Therefore, we shouldn all be focused and applying very direct pressure to the local MLS boards.
The way to fix this is we need to rethink the way our current system operates and severly disrupte it ourselves to be able to fix it and lead the way into the future.
This means we need to begin creating a single national public MLS.
EDcook Real Estate
April 10, 2017 at 8:23 pmThis is one of the most informative information I’ve read. It really helps a lot. Thanks for sharing this and teaching some of your Idea’s!
George Cuevas
April 12, 2017 at 1:09 pmThanks Ed, I appreciate the comment.
Lilibeth Garcia
December 27, 2016 at 12:14 amHi, Thanks for the article.
I’m new Licensed Realtor, I recently joined Zillow paying $600 a month. I do respond very quickly to the cold leads, via text, phone and email. I have been able to scheduled showing, however, I’m seeking for tips on how I should make a deal/contract? I have set the clients up in our MLS sending more listings and have added them in my database for prospecting…anything else I should do to get to the contract stage?
do you have a script that you can share when speaking to cold leads? Thanks!
George Cuevas
December 27, 2016 at 9:42 amHola Lilibeth,
Wow $600 per month? (hopefully in the future we can get you to divert some of that away from zillow and into running facebooks ads)
So it sounds like you are staying on top of it by being quick to respond back to the cold leads from Zillow. But this is also what a lot of other agents are doing, plus, these are cold leads where there is a commoditization of agents value proposition. So what I would do is start looking for ways to stand out in front of these cold leads. For this you must be willing, able, and actually execute some experimentation.
This is so important to learn and actually do as a business owner: To experiment and take some chances with your marketing. I would relook and analyze everything. First start with your zillow profile, profile photo, bio, and do you have a video up there. Next, I would look at every single person that contacted from zillow and how you responded back to them. Was there anything that seemed to work better? Was there anything that seemed to not work?
Next, relook at copywriting. What exactly are you saying, or what is your message in your texts, emails, and phone calls when responding back.
Is it generic, does it sound pre-formatted? Is it personable? Are you asking the right questions to find out what exactly they need instead of what you need?
i would also revisit how you are prospecting your database. Are you sending out quality messages and content, or is it very pre-formatted, generic, and salesy?
From doing a full analysis like this you should come to the conclusion that scripts are not what you need from me or anyone else because you should develop your own scripts internally. But scripts should just be a general path you’re taking in your conversations with prospects to identify what they need and want, and then to find out if you can actually help them with that problem.
Sales is about solving problems.
Consider responding back to Zillow leads with a custom video message using BombBomb.
Consider writing a short 2 to 5 page PDF ebook for home buyers to send to prospects.
Consider making a series of videos about living in the zip code where you are purchasing leads from zillow.
And finally, if you really want to learn digital marketing watch this (all of the answers are there): https://youtu.be/JLh7OBI1lqg
I hope this helps and keep us posted if any of this worked….
George
Brant The REALTOR
December 14, 2017 at 3:40 amLilibeth,
It’s less complicated than revamping anything you are doing. Don’t even put more time there – you have the client! Script are EXACTLY what you need right now. Not problem solving. There is NO problem. Do not create one. You simply need to convert them to contract, and no amount of marketing is going to make a pen sign a paper. Your next script is, “Are you going to buy all cash or will you need a loan? Cash great! (A loan, perfect! Let me introduce you to my lender he/she is amazing, unless you already have a pre-approval letter for your own loan officer? The is the first step in the process.”)
“Let’s meet for a cup of coffee, and I will walk you though the process from A to Z. Would that be helpful?”
Then you bring some marketing in hard copy as fluff about your real estate accomplishments are your bio. And YOU BRING A CONTRACT – A Buyer Rep Agreement Exclusive, and tell them 100% of your clients sign one in good faith that you are their Agent. (And it’s true because if someone does not sign, they are not your client, so the math adds up.) Of course you can work with someone w/o singing with you, but it better to get it.
At that meeting tell them they will never find a perfect 10, even if they built it themselves. If they like it from 6-8…remind them WHY they are moving, tell them “Let’s purchase this house. We’ll put in an offer so we don’t lose it.”
George Cuevas
December 15, 2017 at 5:17 amHey Brant, thanks for the very detailed strategy and sharing it here with everyone…
Andrew Mooers
October 26, 2016 at 2:07 pmIn small rural areas, there are less agents, no people, and more acreage. Farming, land acreages make the marketing not just houses, homes in subdivisions. And low to the ground prices. REALTOR dot com is too expensive and your blogging, video and other social media marketing SEO efforts can do more ROI of money and time. It was the big monkey, but now fell behind and lots of other players keeping it re-invented, fresh and productive besides the big R.
George Cuevas
October 27, 2016 at 6:17 amHola Andrew. I absolutely agree, in smaller local markets there is even more opportunity for an agent to take advantage of web and social.
Jonathan
October 8, 2016 at 2:25 amZ T R , the way they sell these leads to real estate agents is wrong. You pay to eat what they fed you. Many times the food coming from them is ,either uncooked and many times not tasty and above all I pay for it. That makes no sense. I am willing to pay for online leads only if I can choose them. Yes, revenue is what their concern is and that is understandable but,,,, How can you make people to pay you on leads that are absolutely not guaranteed? or poor! Maybe their system works well to agents with deep pockets but the average agent does not have the money to spend on this “Luxury“
Let the agents choose the leads and let them make the decision if they wish to pay for it or not. In this way no one will blame ZTR for extorting money from real estate agents. It is only fair in this way. Being fully transparent on what you charge agents is crucial. All these sales tactics are hurting many agents who are spending lots of money every month on a system that simply does not work for them.
George Cuevas
October 10, 2016 at 7:31 amThanks for your comment Jonathan, and you’re absolutely correct.
Jennifer Harper
October 7, 2016 at 12:25 pmThank you George (and Felipe) for some great information. I am contemplating buying into a zipcode with Realtor.com
I have considered Zillow in the past but do not like the direction it’s heading (more agents per zipcode, price for impressions increasing year over year). Zillow is getting too greedy and it leaves a poor potential ROI. However, Zillow does continue to grow in popularity with the general public so it’s a tough decision.
If there is an agent out there that has used both for over a year that can share their bottom line like Felipe has. What are you cost per month per zipcode, avg number of leads per month, quality of those leads, closing rate and ROI? It would be very much appreciated.
George Cuevas
October 7, 2016 at 5:39 pmThanks Heather for your comment and questions. Costs per zip code will vary depending on the search traffic of that area, the more traffic, the more higher the cost they will be charging. The biggest factor is the commitment. They are going to make you commit to a 6 month agreement. I had one agent who did and only got one lead on the last month. She called her sales rep and complained to him, and his supervisor and they extended her contract for another 4 months at no charge. And then “magically” there were some leads created and she made it work.
With Realtor.com you don’t see all of the agents they are selling the leads to, like you do on Zillow/trulia. So there is a contact form but its generic in the sense that you don’t see an agent directly in the form.
It’s just how it’s being presented. Zillow/Trulia is just being more upfront about it and saying to the consumer “here’s 3-4 agents pick the one you like best or that calls you back quickest”.
Felipe Arias
August 27, 2016 at 7:42 amGeorge,
Great post. I think know you are absolutely right on how these websites work. I’m currently testing realtor.com and zillow.com leads., spending roughly $2900/mo between the 2 sites. I can tell you the big difference between them is that realtor.com sells you leads and Zillow sells you impressions. When trying to determine your cost per lead, conversion rate and your ROI it is much easier to calculate when you know what your cost per lead and only Realtor.com promises X amount of leads for X amount of dollars. With Zillow you need to run at least a 6 month campaign to really nail down your ROI. I’m 3 months deep and my Realtor.com cost per lead averages about $68 and for Zillow is about $115. The concierge service Zillow offers does help you filter bad leads but it is a double edged sword since they been know to turn down potential buyers that were interested in my listing just because they are already working with an agent. So far I have 1 listing and 5 potential buyers. No closed sales yet so I can’t tell you my ROI. I believe that if it at least pays for itself it was a good run for purposes of research. Anything over that is a plus of course but the uncertainty of prices per lead going up once your contract expires is a big variable that can really hurt your overall profits. For this reason I cannot utilize online leads as the majority source of my business. My goal is for 10% of my business to come from online leadshopping and 90% from other traditional methods (i.e. mailers, referrals, open houses, etc.)
George Cuevas
August 27, 2016 at 9:34 amGreat info, thanks for sharing Felipe. I agree also it Zillow is selling impressions but what they don’t tell you is that they are selling overall impressions for a particular zip code, and that doesn’t mean your name will be on each one of those impressions. Which is exactly why it does take time to “dial it in”. Your experiance with Realtor.com is also similar to that of many other agents using it.
Have you considered taking some of that $2900 budget and running some Facebook Ads?
Also, did you check out the interview I did with Jorge Guerra? In it he shares his database marketing plan. It’s a pretty simple exercise for getting your database together. https://agentredefined.com/podcast/margaritas-and-marketing-podcast/real-estate-marketing-social-media-video-jorge-l-guerra-jr-resf/
Renee
August 19, 2016 at 7:17 pmI’m talking with Zillow now. I’m wondering if Johanna had the concierge service? I was told that they will make sure the lead is viable before they pass it to you. In other words, that they are not working with another agent and that they are seriously looking. I think the concierge service is somewhat new, so if anyone has any feedback, that would be great.
Thanks!
George Cuevas
August 24, 2016 at 1:54 pmHola Renee, thanks for the comment. I don’t know if Johanna had the concierge service. I’ve heard mixed reviews on the service from agents. But one of the agents I interviewed on the pocast (Brent Wilk), was big time into Zillow and successful with using the concierge service. The service is about a year old now starting sometime in 2015.
Johanna Arce
July 25, 2016 at 7:01 pmI’ve been with Zillow for 8-9 months.. though I do get leads 95% of them are not serious ones. they are either inquiring behind their realtor’s back, or just looking around not interested in buying. I’ve spoken to my sales rep about this at length and although Zillow does do it’s part on sending you the lead, I don’t put too much hope in it. I call right away, text, email, do follow ups and nothing, just leads from people who are not serious.
George Cuevas
July 26, 2016 at 5:57 amThanks for sharing your experience of working with Zillow over the past months. What you’re saying here is what I hear a lot from many of my agents. The lead is just an introduction and many of them are still early on in the process and “just looking” when they are on Zillow searching. So it’s how you take that simple introduction and see if it can be nurtured into a future sale or referral at some point.
Belvedere Realtor
July 7, 2016 at 5:39 pmI am much happier with Zillow/Trulia than Realtor.com. Realtor.com got me 1 lead per month for $100 and with Zillow/Trulia over 20 good ones for $116. I was working with Jacki Tuomey | Account Specialist at Realtor.com who was very rude and would talk over me when I tried to explain. Very unprofessional and kept trying to sell me stuff I didn’t want like many of the reps at Realtor.com there, which is a shame because they are in business because of us of us Realtors.
George Cuevas
July 8, 2016 at 6:36 amthanks for your input Belvedere.
i’ve listened in on sales calls that my agents were recieving from all three, there is no doubt that some are very pushy.
Chelsea Whaling
April 20, 2016 at 3:46 pmWhat do you think about Zillow’s new Premier Concierge? They just tried to sell me on it for $500 more than I’m paying now. The good part is that you’re getting $500 worth of impressions too, not just paying $500 a month for Zillow to handle all the leads. However, I’m hesitant because that’ll put me a little above $1,000 a month.
George Cuevas
April 21, 2016 at 9:57 amHola Chelsea.
IT’s a very good question because Zillow has been pushing the concierge service for several months now.
Like I say in the article I’m not for zillow/trulia, but im not against them either.
I’ve seen some agents do very well and others not do well with zip codes ads from zillow.
A few agents I know using the concierge service have had a mixed bag on results. I actually know one who is at like 12K a month on zillow ads.
Anything can work if you put the work into it, but when you’re buying leads it’s not as simple as just paying more money to get more leads. There are other variables that play into it. For example, the zip code itself, how many other agents have been sold on it (many have 9 to 14 agents per zip code now), profile photos, your profile, reviews, closed transactions, video…..
Remember, the guy your speaking to at zillow is a PHONE SALESMAN who has a script and that script is trying to sell you something that is TIME SENSITIVE. so they will pull on your emotions and pain points for getting more business and talk about IMPRESSIONS and try to convince you that you need more impressions if you want more market share in that zip code.
The impressions are all bullshit. If you go to the zip code and do a search, simply refresh your browser and you’ll see how many other agents are also trying to capture leads on it.
It’s a risk you take for up to 6 months that you’re in the program. If you have the budget, go for it. But with that kind of money I would work on other things, your database, your website, facebook ads, etc….
Hope that helps…
TonyC
January 5, 2016 at 11:02 pmI’m actually a loan officer considering paying for advertisement on these sites if possible. My goal is to qualify the lead then pass along to realtor in my area and then build relationship with a realtor. Have you heard of this and do you think could be a good idea?
Tonycerminara@yahoo.com
George Cuevas
January 5, 2016 at 11:11 pmHey Tony. A lot of LO’s utilize this type of practice. Check with your company first before buying any ads and make sure you 100% compliant with the laws and the rules of your company. Once you have that figured out the next step is to determine who would be a Realtor client that is worthy of the investment. These are 6-months contract terms from Zillow and you’re locked in for it. Therefore, you want to make sure the Realtor is ready to take in the leads, has a completed profile, has a basic online presence, and is skilled with followup.
Greg Libby
December 29, 2015 at 8:05 pmThis is a really good description of these different lead sources and what to expect from them. This type of expectation setting is crucial for agents looking to purchase online leads. You’ve got to know what you’re getting into!
George Cuevas
December 30, 2015 at 6:38 amThanks Greg, I really appreciate you checking out the article and podcast here. These platforms can work, but you have to work them and make adjustments where necessary. In 2016, Zillow will be making more changes to their ad/zip codes leads and I believe it will become more expensive. Realtor.com is still trying to play catch up with their lead generation system and I believe they will have more competitive pricing in 2016.
Melissa
November 8, 2015 at 10:37 amI am newly licensed and want to buy leads from trulia however, after listening to the podcast I definitely need to fix my profile and picture before I do. I want to know if you suggest new agents take the route of purchasing leads from Zillow or trulia especially without having sales listings or reviews yet.
Great podcast btw.
George Cuevas
November 8, 2015 at 10:48 amThanks Melissa. Good question. And there is no perfect answer for it. It’s sort of a YES and NO. There is no doubt that purchasing leads from either Zillow, Trulia, or Realtor.com can work. But, and there’s a big but here, there are a lot of other factors that also go into it. Such as:
1. Your Profile Picture, Reviews, Closed Transactions, and Profile: Are they optimized and completely filled out.
2. Your Response time to their emails and phone calls: These are cold leads and they die quickly.
3. Your effectiveness at those first initial conversations with a cold lead: Don’t try and close a cold lead on the first phone call. You have to first start building a relationship. It’s like dating, you don’t get to home plate on the first date.
4. The Zip Code your purchasing in: lots of factors here. Many zip codes are being oversold by Zillow/Trulia. This can dilute the performance of leads coming from it. Plus, some zip codes just perform better than others for each platform.
Chris
October 28, 2015 at 3:44 pmGreat info. Sales 101. Buyers on these sites are early early early in the sales curve. That seems to piss off agents, thus all the negative hubbub. The other 1/2 = fear.
George Cuevas
October 28, 2015 at 5:27 pmI couldnt have said it any better Chris. Fear of the unknown is a big issue for many agents. Every time I speak to a group of agents about Zillow/Trulia half of the room loves them, and the other half cringes at me speaking of them. And you’re correct about the sales curve. I like to look at it as the “sale funnel”. Today’s buyers/sellers don’t need to be “sold” on a house. They already have all the data they need to make the decision to buy or sell. Zillow and Trulia are simply providing that info online because real estate agents, the MLS, and NAR refuse to take listings data and put it out there publicly.
Mike
October 31, 2016 at 8:17 pmIsn’t Realtor.com making the info public? The other sites (Truila, Zillow, etc) are just getting the data feeds from the MLS boards . In other words, they are payin the boards to use the data.
That in my opinion, is making the info available for the public. There are some data feilds/info that is not is not released in those feeds, but nothing that would be detrimental to a home buyer.
Keep in mind that without listing agents there would be no MLS, Zillow or Truila
George Cuevas
November 1, 2016 at 6:59 amThank for your comment Mike. As an agent, working in an online world, when a buyer and/or seller is going online to begin their search, the website they should be getting to first more often should be the MLS. And the MLS (in a future world) should be a website which can deliver a Zillow like experience for the buyer/seller online.
Realtor.com is no different than Zillow/Trulia, it’s a website with a profit model similar to Zillow/Trulia, plus it delivers a much poorer user experience to buyers and sellers which is why it’s dropped off so much and it ranked No. 4 instead of being No. 1.
The MLS is a Marketplace, and it’s a social network. This is the most valuable asset agents have to offer the public. Agents should want both buyers and sellers finding the MLS in their online searches, the site should be controlled by the industry, and provide a great experience.
By not taking part in this, and giving listings away to the portals will continue to diminish what the general public views a Realtor is and what their role is in a transaction.
Closing off the MLS to the outside world is the same as someone sticking their head in the sand and pretending that nothing has changed and maybe things will go back to the way they used to be.
Sarah
June 20, 2017 at 12:22 amHi,
I am reading these comments and interested to see that the price per month is so much less when compared to what zillow and truli quoted me a few weeks ago.
They told me I would need to pay $6,000 (yes, thousand) a month for leads and anything less would not be worth my while.
What are your thoughts on this, obviously this can not be right.