Hello everybody-
I'm pretty new to the real estate business and have been in it for about 3 months. I'm currently working with a very small real estate agency and I'm not all that happy with my current situation. Their training is non-existent, commission split is pretty poor and the only reason why I signed up with them is because the broker is a friend of the family and he promissed me that everything will be ok.

I should also mention that I'm currently working there part time. Gotta family to feed.

In 3 months that I've been there, I got one listing and about to place an offer on the property for a buyer. All my leads have been generated through my web site.

Here's my question. Which brokerage is better for generating leads for new agents? I heard of Remax's lead routing system and same for C21, but they charge high fees and I'm not sure if it's worth it. I do want to go into it full time eventually and I will try to make a wise decision then.

I will be looking for a good training program and their lead generation system.

Can anyone explain how the lead generation system works? How many leads do you get and how many of them are "good quality" leads? Also, what are the fees that you have to pay at these franshises? I know every office is different, but a ball park figure would really be helpful.

I just want to be prepared for the future.

Thanks in advance.

Lead generation is mostly up to you and feeding your sphere of influence. Feeding your database. The numbers game.
As for a brokerage with good training, I choose Keller Williams. Training everyday...you choose which ones you want to attend. Everyone seems very helpful. And there's this camp 4-4-3 training which I am doing right now, which gives you the tools to jump start your business (alot of it is about lead generation).
I am also in Bucks County. If you're interested, I can have my mentor/team leader call you. Just let me know.

Thanks for your advice.

But what about the lead generation tool from the franchise itself?

I understand that this is how it works. For example, when Remax advertises on TV, newspapers, magazines, etc., people visit their web site, search for a house, find the house they like and ask for either more information or a showing. This email is then routed to one of the agents in the area and then the agent works with that lead. But I understand the fees are kind of high and it's not the best place for a new agent.

Is KW doing the same thing? Do they have that type of system also or is it basically, you have to find your own leads?

Thanks again.

I honestly don't know about the lead generation "tool" from ReMax. Maybe KW has one, but I am not sure. KW does advertise in newspapers, magazines, real estate publications, etc... but it would be your direct info for people to reach you. And I know the office has been talking about putting commercials on Comcast for the local school channel.

Yes, fees are high at different companies.
I choose KW because they had flexible training hours, flexible fees (not just one rate), alot of people whom I've spoken to have switched from other companies (which are high producing agents), and the 70/30 commission split.

I appreciate it.

Sounds like their training program is really top notch. Besides a really good training program, are they helping agents in other ways?

I believe they are very helpful, but what do you mean by helping agents in other ways? could you be more specific?

For example, do they assign you a mentor for some time or are you on your own. I know some brokerages do provide a mentor for new agents.

Also, when someone finds a property on www.kw.com and they call the office, are these leads being distributed throughout the office or you have to do floor time to get anything thrown your way?

Those types of things.

Yes, you get a mentor. I meet with my mentor once a week for an hour or so at a time. Then I attend a few trainings a week, and 2 nights a week I attend 4-4-3. They are n't gonna leave you to your own devices.

As for KW.com, I have no clue. I have been so focused on other things I never thought about it. Floor time is available at our office if you want it...your choice. From my understanding, not many leads come from it, but then again sometimes they do. You should really sit down with my team leader. I think you'll get a great deal of insite. He is the former V.P. of PAR or Bucks Assoc. of realtors...I forget. Do you want me to have him call you. He's very cool.

Thanks. That would be great. I'll PM you with my #.

Cool.

I gotta get running. I have do some work and then training from 6-8pm.

But I will keep in touch.

Russell,
You might want to interview with Coldwell Banker Hearthside Realtors. They have 14 offices in the area and CB generally offers great training Fast Start and then the Fast Forward programs and Fast Start training counts as GRI I and CB offers Lead Router as a lead generation tool and does alot of national advertising. KW does little or no national or regional advertising.
BTW I get nothing for referring you to CB. Bet of luck. If I were you I would also interview with several other area brokers and see what each has to offer.

Thanks Paul. Actually the CB office is half a block away from my house and I am planning on interviewing multiple companies, I just wanted to be prepared and not waste my time in the future. Do you know what kind of fees they charge?

Thanks

Hi Russell,
You may have already seen this link, but this gives you all kind of behind the scenes KW info. KW University It even lets you create a guest account. I am not an agent myself, but I have 1 agent that works with KW, and I know they have a pretty cool intranet, and like JoeyB says, they have extensive training - more than any other company I know. Most of my other agents are with small, local agencies. It is hard to establish yourself with a small local agency. If you have only been in for 3 months, try and keep your chin up, even though I know that it sounds cliche. I just know from experience working with agents, that it can be very frustrating at first. But so far you have gotten some great advice. Again, I have to agree with JoeyB. You have to start with your sphere of influence. This means EVERYONE that you know or used to know. Set them up on a mailing list, and if possible, get their emails and set up some sort of newsletter. (You can do free ones with Microsoft Publisher or the like - here are some templates in case you need them newsletter templates ) Make sure you keep your name out there with your sphere of influence. At some point, these folks or someone they know, are going to have to move. Also make sure you send out just listed and just sold (when appropriate) cards to the surrounding area of your listing. The most important thing it seems, is just to keep your name out there.
Hope this helps.

As far as RE/MAX goes, they charge their agents nothing for ANY leads generated through their national/regional/local websites. Zero. They do have desk fees, etc. etc. but nobody gets free lunch.

As far as training goes, they offer more knowledge than any new agent could ever need. The one shortcoming is that RE/MAX relies on the agents themselves to learn it. They have an awesome Design Center with over 1000 different templates of camera ready art, web graphics, web fliers, printed fliers, etc.

As with anything, those that apply themselves and see value will think it's worth it. My 2 cents.

Thank you all. As always, you guys are a wealth of information. And who said real estate agents are like used car salesmen? LOL

Anyway, I am leaning more towards a brokerage that can help me with leads. I think that if I can get training and leads from the brokerage and from my web site, that could be a good combination.

I know everyone says that your SOI is your number one source of business, but in my SOI, half of people are either in real estate or in mortgages. I talk to all of them frequently and they're all aware that I'm a real estate agent. I'm just looking for other ways to generate leads.

Regarding Remax, what are their desk fees? Approximately.

Thanks again.

Russell,
I cannot help you with fees for a different office as each are Independently Owned & Operated. Fee's will vary by area and offices.

I'm still in process of getting my license, but in any business - you cannot rely on other people to do your work for you. You need to prospect to find new business. If you expect people to hand you leads - you will not succeed and you will resent them for not giving you enough.

I am in sales and have been for years so I do know what I am speaking about. If someone on my sales team isn't working her business (ie: telling everyone she meets about the biz, calling past clients, getting referrals... nothing big, just the basics).. then I don't provide them with leads. If they don't want to earn their own money - why shuold I have it to them vs someone who is working their butt off to get new and repeat business?

So I would consider any company who lets you get floor time to possibly gets leads as an added bonus, but certainly not as a main source of income.

As for C21 - I am researching them and will probably sign with them. their lead routing system basically goes by a rotaion in the office. It calls your phone and if you don't answer it goes to the next one. If someone calls looking specifically for you of course you get the call, but if someone just needs an agent - they go down the list on an automated system.

Good luck.

Russell:

If you need leads... KW is not the place for you, unless you are joining a MegaAgent team as a Buyer/Listing Specialist.

Leads that come in for a specific property at KW go to the agent or the team that owns the listing.

General calls are distributed via floor time and another way to generate leads is sitting open houses on behalf of other agents.

However, unless you are going to be relentless pursuing these two channels it will be tough to build a business with passively generated leads through the KW or Remax programs.

Coldwell Banker or C21, depending on their local market share, will be the best choice for getting immediate broker generated leads.

Now there is an entirely different argument about being in control of your own business and why you should generate your own leads.

Back to the subject, different franchise systems have different strengths and the creation of passive leads for new agents is not a strength of the Keller Williams model.

A great deal depends on the individual brokerage. I've been at a century 21 for a while now - and am deciding which brokerage I will go to next. Very high fees. The splits aren't that nice and in exchange for all that I have received virtually nothing.

Lead generation at Century 21 goes to the broker. In our office, there are only about 6 "fed" agents. Since there are over 90 of us, this doesn't help anyone new. My advice is KNOW THE REPUTATION OF THE BROKER. That will tell you whether or not you will receive anything in return for what you give them. I personally don't mind giving my office 50% - IF - I get mentoring and some leads in return. However, if you add in franchise fees it's really 58% to the brokerage and 42% for me. That's pretty steep for nothing.

As for needing leads. A great deal depends on your location. If you are in an area that is heavily saturated with agents, you need brokerage leads and another JOB to survive until you are established. Period. I'm sick of hearing about working your "sphere". I've poked prodded and pushed my sphere until they are sick to death of hearing about it! We are so super-saturated with agents that my "sphere" is shared by 100 other agents. I've done several things to generate leads on my own and spent a great deal of money to no avail. The only way to grab a toehold is to find a broker that gives leads AND maintain a regular job until you start to "stick". This could take several years though.

One more thing....the last thing you want is to have to compete with your own brokerage for leads. If you are paying 50% PLUS and they aren't sharing any decent leads with you, then you are literally paying them to be your competition with their very deep pockets. Any advertising you do is diluted by the impact of your broker's advertising. Nevertheless, your commissions pay for their advertising. If you have made money for your company, then you deserve to sit at the table when they dole out leads. Floor time, if you get it, needs to be productive. I found that my franchise was advertising extensively using 800 number call capture systems. No wonder the phone never rang in the office! Leads from the internet were never directed to the floor in the first place! If your brokerage is pulling stuff like that - and not sharing - LEAVE. They are only as good for you as their worst customer.

Re/Max desk fees depend on the office. As a new agent, I wouldn't even consider Re/Max - they are specifically geared toward experienced agents who don't need ANY support except for a receptionist. The reason Re/Max charges desk fees is because you get 100%of the commission and there's a reason for that - experienced agents don't want to pay for training and support in their split, so RE/Max accomodates that.

But to answer your question about fees... I've worked in two Re/Max offices and the monthly fees ranged from $700/month (for at-home agents) to $2400/month. This does not include ANY advertising, MLS expenses, insurance, long-distance charges, copies (you pay per copy you make), stationary, other supplies, etc.

Good luck in your search! You'll land in the right spot!

Jennifer

Quote by SiberianWinter
" I'm sick of hearing about working your "sphere". I've poked prodded and pushed my sphere until they are sick to death of hearing about it! We are so super-saturated with agents that my "sphere" is shared by 100 other agents. "


Why would you have other agents in your sphere of influence? I can see having some in your database, but these aren't the people you want to generate leads from.

Wow! So much information to digest and everyone is really helpful. Thank you, really.

Rae-
I'm not looking for passive leads. I'm currently working a 50 hour a week full time job, plus spend about 10 hours a week in the office, I advertise my web site and my services all over the place and about to start PPC for my site. So I am working my butt off and I surely don't expect anyone to just give me the leads. I'm trying really hard and it's all done part time.

SiberianWinter-
I know exactly what you mean. My SOI consists of about 400 people and probably half of them are either in real estate or mortgage business. So my SOI does absolutely nothing to help me. And I don't want to spend my budget on my SOI if I can't justify the ROI. I'd rather spend my money on my web site advertisement.

Jennifer Allan-
thanks for providing some details on Remax fees. That's what I was looking for and it seems like if you're a new agent, it's impossible to survive there.

Anyone has experience with Prudential, CB or Weichert?

I'm in a very saturated residential area outside of Philly. Lots of houses and lots of agents. I receive about 5 greeting cards from other agents who are farming my subdivision. I think it's a very common and expensive technique and it doesn't work for everyone, especially when it takes a long time to get some response back.

I'm looking to do something different, something unusual, something that will make me stand out from the crowd. And I'm looking for a brokerage that will help me do just that.

Again, thank you all for your feedback.

When I was interviewing companies, I went to Weichert first, and again, it seemed like the desk/office fees were way to high for me. I Did not go to CB.

I also see alot of agents adding lots of other agents and mortgage people to their sphere, but I don't think that will help. I know the training we have been doing, there is alot of talk on how to add people to your sphere. New people, not other industry people.

I do believe we need to set ourselves apart, do something different, capture the mind share. The subdivision where I live also has some agents in here who farm. But I will farm it anyways. We have a Christmas Party here with the neighbors and that will all get my info, and I will get theirs. And the neighbors know I like to cook, and in the spring, I will try to throw a neighorhood barbecue.

I have some ideas for a couple websites i would like to try out. Since everyone does their homework these days on the internet, I am try to figure out some ways to set myself apart in that sense also. Most of the agent website I see are not helpful, too busy, and clutered with links.
I think simplicity is the key.

Russell,

After reading your original post and subsequent comments, I have a few thoughts for you... and please take these in the spirit I intend...

As a part time agent (working 50 hours a week elsewhere), your services are going to be a tough sell. Would you hire someone who was only part time when there are 100's of other full-time agents with more experience to choose from? As far as marketing to your SOI - even if I were your best friend, I'd have trouble referring you to my friends, knowing that you can't give them 100% of your attention.

So, yes, I agree, at this point in your career, hitting up your SOI for business might not be the best move, although once you're full-time, I'll argue with you til I'm blue in the face that it's by far the best use of your money, time and energy. But for now, I think you're doing the right thing by looking for an office that will help you with lead generation since you really don't have a lot of time to do it yourself. Once you have enough experience under your belt to feel better about going full-time, then a whole host of other avenues will open up for you.

Of course, the obvious alternative is to put off your real estate career until you are financially able to give it your all. If you figure that 80% of new agents fail in this business and you aren't able to completely commit to this career at this time, it may simply be something to do later...

Again, please don't take offense. I just can't seem to keep my mouth shut when I have something to say!

Why??? I'll tell you why. In our county alone there is such an oversupply of real estate agents that everyone I KNOW PERSONALLY, knows at least 2-3 other agents as well or better than they know me. There are 7400 ACTIVE agents working Westchester - a large percentage of them concentrated in my city. It's THAT saturated. If you are working the NY/NJ/CT TriState area - or some areas in FL and CA, that's what it is.

Read some of the posts from the NY/NJ/CT Tristate area and while you are at it try people from SanFrancisco and LA....you will find that if they entered within the last 2.5 years that they are a discouraged and frightened lot.

Real estate is competative..but here it is competative to the point of being absurd. THere is NO WAY to crack through without leads from your office. PERIOD. I've spent thousands this year trying to drum up business and have come up empty. It wasn't simply that there were no sales...there was no NOTHING from all that money spent. Not so much as a phone call or email.

What precious little business I've gotten has come from open houses and floor time and 2 people from my sphere of influence. 16 months into the business I've grossed $21k - and that's more than anyone else in my office in their first two years.

One person in my office spent a fortune on pay-per-click for his website. He is highly placed (1st page on several signficant Google searches.) Nearly two years later at $600 a MONTH - he has gotten ONE SALE for all that money. That one transaction doesn't even begin to cover the cost of the site. This is someone with extensive sales experience and a ton of personal contacts. From what I can see of his total closings are no better than what I did this year. Pitiful considering the amount of money he spent. At least I only blew $5000.00.

SW:

Options...

Make new friends...

Find new line of work...

Don't EVER talk to me like that again. Some people are just pathetic...you don't like new people doing it part time because we CAN compete with you! You want to force us to do it FT and watch us fail financially. Screw that! Well why don't the bunch of you just face the fact that some of us PT newbies rock and we WILL do well in the long haul - and yes, we WILL harm YOUR bottom line. And I will laugh all the way to the bank.

Fact is that I did better than any other new agent in my office this year. 1/3 of all the deals that were closed by agents that had been in the business less than 3 years were mine. The fact that this was only 6 deals is part of the PROBLEM. Newcomers by that definition only had 18 closed deals total. The place was a puppy mill that offered no training and no help whatsoever which is why I just left.

I've already had two referals from former clients and am doing another transaction on an investment property for a former client.

As far as my friends go - I don't blame them because they weren't moving or because they already knew 25 other agents a couple of whom they had worked with previously. What kind of **** is that?

I will agree with SiberianWinter. It's not about finding new friends, it's about growing your business and being unique and different. I'm not looking for friends so they can make me money. The friends that I have are very loyal and we've been friends for up to 20 years.

Regarding working RE part time, it can be done. My broker has done it for 10 years and then became a broker. If I need time off, I'll take time off from my work, but me working real estate part time will not affect how my clients are treated.

These days it's all about internet. If you can properly advertise yourself on the web, you will get leads, it will cost you, but you will have clients. And for new real estate agents who are working part time, it's kind of difficult shelling out $5K for PPC or other ways of advertisement.

I've been talking to many people who have used PPC successfuly and they were getting 5-10 leads a week and were closing 2-3 deals a month and that's just from PPC. So it works, but it's expensive.

Let's not turn this into a battle, but try to help each other become more successful.

Thanks

There are no shortcuts. It all comes down to creativity and hard-word.

Your competitors are your enemies and they after your business.

They can out-spend you. Out-mail you. Out-advertise you, buy more radio and television commercials and newspaper ads.

But they can't always out-think you.

And they can't always out-market you.

Indeed, if you put up the time, energy and creativity, you can outdistance yourself and generate higher results than the big boys, who put up the big bucks.

Totally agree with you MaxReferrals. That's why it's so difficult for newbies to out-perform the seasoned agents. I trully believe in power of Internet. The real estate is not what it used to be. Your floor time is now being substituted by your website and your email Inbox. Driving buyers to see the house is now substituted by virtual tours and old MLS books are now substituted by IDX. It's new age and sales and marketing is diffirent and the only thing that remains the same is your personal touch and your loyalty to your clients.

To find clients in a very saturated market using the old techniques, like farming, door knocking, etc., is used by so many other agents and if you can be more creative, you can succeed. Even if you're a new agent working part time.

RV:

I understand what you are talking about in the quote below..... I started in this business part-time with no intentions of becoming a realtor - I was just tired of other realtors pushing me and not working in my best interests for the rentals my family want to pursue. Then, on the side, do some representations for friends here and there - just to cover my fees (I was at a discount brokerage and it cost me no more than $1500/yr to maintain my license).

As the years went by, my friends refered me to other friends. I got involved with more church activities (again with no intentions of growing my business that way).... my SOI grew. At the beginning of spring this year was my turning point. It was costing me $$$ to maintain yet for the past 7-8 months, I didnt have any commission coming in. Somehow, I was led to serve more in the real estate arena than my full-time job.... I gathered myself, put on my motivation suit and off I went. Just recently I met this one buyer for the first time. We met at a Starbucks and I did my first "meeting" stuff with her.... I realized I was on fire!!!! I truly have a burning desire to serve real estate needs.

Also, I recently signed up with a mentor and she has been coaching me. Her strategy is more towards SOI for lead generation even though she will help me with my internet leads. This morning (I mean this morning) I got a call from my SOI that his co-worker wants to buy a house.... Remember those people that you always see says things you dont believe, ha, I told her that too... I said you may be lucky, but not me. I didnt really believe in the SOI I had....

With all that being said, I'm not saying that PT will never work. But you would know that your time during the day is more limited than someone who can devote 18hr/day working (if we're talking about a workaholic agent).... I'm not saying the quantity of hours is crucial, but you can only do so much during the day. I do not have family commitment other than taking care of my husband (no kids yet), hence my PT agent stuff becomes even a little easier to handle than those who do it PT with more family commitment.

Yes, it can be done. I think financially, it's even easier to afford marketing dollars than someone who depends the commission for full income.

In 2007, I'll devote this full-time. I have come to a point where I want to make this my passion: serving real estate needs. As a full-time agent now (I wasnt able to when I was doing it PT, maybe you can), I can preview homes, get to know new community sales agent (where I'm at, this is hot), I can put alot more "stuff" together for my clients, I can totally commit myself to my family and my passion.

Back when I was doing it PT, my company, my clients and my family didnt get the best of me. I didnt think it's fair for any of them. In the end, my family suffers the most and I realize that I had all my priorities wrong. I'm a much happier person today because I can be the wife I want to be and a real estate resource to my clients like I should.

PT can be done.... give yourself goals - reach it and then start moving towards full-time. I think lead generation from SOI and the internet should be good. I know of some brokers who do that for their agents. Maybe you should talk to them, then the agents that signed on to the plan.

You're right on the money fatmaxxv. It's about setting goals and then achieving them. I only started doing real estate 3 months ago and since I have a family and 2 young kids, I can't quit my full time job and go into real estate without knowing if my kids will have food on the table tomorrow. Although my plan is to eventually work real estate full time. It will take time, but that's my goal. Corporate environment is just not cutting it for me, but I need to build my business first and then start considering a full time move.

Thanks

Forgive me, but I found that insulting to my friends and family who have only been trying to help. Also, in our area, the number of contacts doesn't seem to have much impact. For example, I have a very close friend who is looking for a new home. For her last home she worked closely with an agent for months and months. Because prices were going up so fast, the whole process was a trauma. She is staying loyal to the agent who brought her through that mess. Frankly, if she just said, "what the hell, I'll work with you" I would think less of her as a person.

Also, working PT is better than being a desperate full time agent. No one who lives in my area will see reasonable money in less than three years. Further, the cost of living around here is so high that you would have to save about $150k before you could begin to do it FT. I see these new full timers all over the plac. They are scared stiff that they can't make the mortgage or don't have enough for groceries. This can lead them to push clients/customers into deals that are NOT IN THEIR BEST INTERESTS. They push too hard for quick turnover - in order to make a quick buck. All this does is help perpetuate the bad reputation that agents have already. A relatively green and untrained newbie that is cash-strapped and desperate is HARDLY a good thing for the people we serve and the industry in general. Many who insist that this is the way it MUST BE, merely want to eliminate comepetition. It's pure garbage.

I agree with Russell Volk that a web site is key. The question is how to make it "different". There are hundreds of sites out there and frankly, they all look nice, have nice information - and 90% of them are pretty much variations on a theme.

I also agree that people can outspend but not outthink you. My comments about the brokerage are this though: If the broker and the franchise are taking 58% of my hard-earned commission, and they are spending extensively on internet and newspaper advertising, relocations etc., then at the very LEAST calls/emails generated from such efforts should be available to uptime individuals as they come in. After all, my commissions helped to PAY for those ads and I DO and SHOULD expect something in return for forking over that much money. All of those leads should not be squirled away for the brokers favored few agents. We had over 90 agents in my former office. Roughly six of them got to split a very large lead pie. Meanwhile, if I got 2 calls a month on uptime I was lucky. The only thing that allowed me to make sales at all was that I was very good at conversion. Apparently I am better than most in that regard. No wonder the phone never rang in that office! It was all going to call-capture systems!

Russell, I think the PPC think depends on where you are. Like I said, the agent who did this had far more money to spend than I can cough up. It's been nearly 2 years. 2 years at $600 a month for ONE CLOSING is not a good ratio.

In my area at least you need more than PPC. You need an excellent site with imagination - and you need to find a niche that is outside the box.
Otherwise you can literally kiss away over $15000 and have nothing to show for it! You need the other stuff IN PLACE first before you spend too much money.

Niche is the key word here. I'm planning on having 8 different PPC campaigns that targets different markets. I would have a separate page on my site that would be developed towards the market that I'm targeting.

I've heard conflicting stories about PPC, but I would say that over 90% of them are positive. People are having good luck with them and make money.

I'm located in suburbs of Philadelphia and we have a ton of agents here, but we also have a lot of houses. Many people from center city are moving to suburbs and a lot of builders buying out farms and building new communities, so the suburban population is growing and those are the areas I will target. I'm planning to spend about 2 months on getting my PPC campaign together and hopefuly it will pay off. I have no choice.

If I was working real estate full time, I don't think I would be talking about the PPC right now.

Thanks

Also, spending $15K over 2 years for PPC and having only 1 closing is not a good ratio. I guarantee that this agent either didn't have a decent site, lead capturing system or just wasn't good in real estate.

Just my opinion.

Don't know. He has thousands of contacts in the city. Ran 2 successful businesses. The ONE THING that I do think he did very wrong was attach himself to the office site. Something I would NEVER, NEVER do. Certainly not with that particular office. Too many agents and too many ways for calls to go into their call-capture system...and if that happened, he would lose out on that action.

Your area is not dissimilar to mine. White Plains is roughly 20 miles north of Manhattan - easy commute. A lot of people are moving out of the city to the area because prices are through the roof. Even so, there has been a very big slowdown. (After all, Westchester is very expensive too) Inventory is very high and buyers are very, very picky. It has left the new agents scrambling for business and the older agents more possessive than ever. My best method of capturing leads was open houses. But these days, with the slowing market, I'm finding that even long-time agents who always outsourced their open houses are sitting at them.

At first I took the office advice for ads doing post cards etc. Unfortunately, I trusted them a bit too much. My voice mail and THE OFFICE PHONE number was on the cards! BIG mistake. It advertised them, not me. If I got some response to those early efforts, someone else got the lead. When I got nothing, I decided to watch and wait and get some work doing other things. I needed to see the lay of the land. So far I invested about $5k in lead generation with zero results. I finally realized that the internet was the answer, but that one agent's bad experience put me off. I couldn't afford more errors.

The answer is the internet, but it has to be done the right way - and in my case - on a shoestring budget.

I am also "part-timing" it because I have to pay my OWN mortgage, too! I'll be working 8-noon at a good old secretarial job, but I'll then be working from noon - 10 pm on my REAL job - being a Realtor - so how exactly is that being a part-time, not 100% committed Realtor?

I've been doing this since September, and have one closed deal done, and three more buyer-brokers (with signed agreements). I'm already tired of hearing how "easy" it was last year, and I'm glad that I'm going to have to learn the hard way - and that I'm learning with the internet as my lead generation. I think that a lot of the market saturation may decline as older realtors or people who started last year discover that it's too hard, or they aren't able to adapt to the internet.

Wow, I went off on a tangent, didn't I?? Whoops!

I'm noticing a LOT of resistence to the internet by older realtors....They really, really resent the technology change. They were used to making the "big bucks" by sending out flyers.

In my old firm we had one older agent who has embraced the internet. She is probably older than most of the agents that have resisted it...but age not withstanding, she is doing better than they are. Although not technically adept, she hired the support she needs. She has survived with a six-figure income while others who were doing very well are running scared.

The older generation that won't use the internet is on its way out. New agents who saw this as "easy money" are also on their way out.

But I think the attitude that prevades the field that you "CAN'T" succeed part time is in part spurred by despiration. They don't WANT to use the internet...the don't WANT to change anything, they want everything to be the way it was - including the big bucks. The best to achieve this is to squeeze out newbies with false information about part-timing. Push them to work full time- and watch as their finances fall apart - forcing them out. I've just noticed that its the very agents that REFUSE to change and grumble the most about the "newbies" and their falling incomes are the very ones who intone that we "CAN'T" do this part-time. Coincidence? I doubt it.

Honestly, if I were in this business for 20 some years and used to running my business a certain way, I would also be reluctant to changing my marketing techniques, but because of Internet, many companies have grown and many companies have failed. You need to be educated about what you're trying to accomplish and continue to reach your goals.

Hello,

I have gathered some advice and methods for lead generation in my sig.
Can i have your opinion?
I will add the best one's .
http://real-estate-leads.info-doctor.com/

Thank you

Alexander

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What C21 fees are you referring to? The franchise fee that is deducted from each transaction? That is the only fee mine has.

I found this thread fascinating.

I'm a broker/owner of a multi-office company. I realize how tough it is to break into real estate.

Every Friday, I do a session with a group of newer agents (It's called PEP -- Productivity Enhancement Process -- my franchise distributes it).

I've got an array of agents in the class. Here are the common denominators among those who are generating business:

* Activity breeds activity. Five days a week, my PEP agents fill out a sheet where they record the contacts they've made, the leads generated, the appointments made, buyer/seller contracts and closings. I ask them to make 21 contacts a day. We are seven weeks into the program but those who are trying are really getting the business --- I've got 15 participants and in 7 weeks they've generated nearly 100 potential buyers and sellers, 26 listings and 33 contracts.

* It is better to do several different kinds of lead activities. This group can pursue FSBOs, expired listings, their Sphere of Influence, send farming mail or flyers or e-mail Egreetings or the Life@Home Newsletter (CENTURY 21 products -- very cool). The more types done, the more activity generated.

* There are no magic bullets. It is common to look for some earthshattering lead strategy --- I've seen agents do billboards, put up web sites, buyer lead generating sources, etc. But, these rarely delivery substantial business. Take the Internet. I'm a huge believer in upgrading listings with multiple photos, virtuals tours, slide shows and detailed write-ups. And, I pay to get Internet leads to my agents in minutes through LeadRouter(R). But, I've rarely seen an agent generate big business off merely having a site, even one backed by lots of pay-per-click advertising. Why? Simply that there are too many places for consumers to go. You will not have the bucks to provide as rich an experience for web visitors as REALTOR.COM, a company site or, even, the local mls site. Many think IDX side-steps this issue. I disagree. Rather, successful agent web sites are very narrowly tailored --- focused on a particular neighborhood with lots of info on recent home sales, garage sales and neighborhood news or a particular niche (ie. waterfront property in the XXX part of town, condos in the XXX area, etc.).

The part-time issue is a difficult one. Consumers really want agents to be available 24/7. That is unrealistic but that is the expectation. I found the best success by pairing two part-time agents together (with alternating schedules). Thus, they can offer "fulltime" schedule. I've had several of these teams migrate to fulltime.

A last thought. Be careful about blaming your office, the local market, or local competition for your struggles. Every profession is tough. Real estate is really not unique in that. Yet, I see dedicated folks with a good attitude and a superior work ethic break-in to the profession each year.

I hate to break this to you, but location is a HUGE issue. In my county alone there are 7400 ACTIVE agents. Prospecting is only going to do so much good with those numbers. I'm in Westchester NY. Relatively speaking, you are in the sticks. I don't mean that in a derogatory way at all. And I'm also speaking relatively. The only way for me to be more urban would be to move to Manhattan. If you look carefully on this forum - the most desperate and frustrated newbies are coming either from CA or the Tristate area (NY/NJ/CT). Most have been running like crazy beating their heads against a wall - and getting nothing. There is a saturation here that you can not comprehend. I and several other agents have sent out THOUSANDS of post cards. I haven't had one reply. Nor has anyone else I know. Not just no sales - NO REPLIES! There is also a cost of living issue that you can't comprehend. You are literally living in poverty if less than $70k is coming in. We actually are having to construct "special housing" for middle class people - and the MINIMUM income to qualify for this housing is $50k. The amount of savings you need to go FT is incomprehensible to someone from the heartland.

This is a whole different ball of wax than other parts of the country.


I've already wasted enough time and spent enough money. I ripped through a ton of savings trying to do RE fulltime and work part time. I'm putting together an individual web site - NOT on the agency site. I will target 4-6 niche markets with some minor advertising accompanying the web site. That is the ONLY money that I am willing to spend right now.

I found an office that doesn't mind Part-timers and gives as well as takes.

As far as time is concerned, in my area everyone works. The stay-at-home wife doesn't exist. Few people have the time to view properties during the work day. It just doesn't happen. I will be showing property all weekend - and a couple of nights during the week.

I will build a referal business over several years. Alot of older agents appear to be biting the dust as are a lot of the newbies. The saturation will ease up eventually and I will be around to pick up the slack. For the time being I will rely on floor duty, open houses, SOI (such as it is) and my web site to generate leads. For the rest of it - I will focus on the clients and customers! HELLO...too many people ignore them in the quest to fill that pipeline. I've already had several referals because I am attentive to them.

I'm sorry to disagree - but my former office IS IN LARGE PART TO BLAME. The only mistake I made was waiting so long to leave. I did this somewhat deliberately. I wanted to get the lay of the land before going elsewhere - and that took time. It was a puppy mill. They wanted people to give them a couple of deals with a nice high split to the office and then go away. I have zero respect for this type of "Bidness" model. There are some very real people who invested a ton of money and time and got nowhere. They will feel the results of this financial debacle for years to come I don't even dignify this with the term "business". If someone takes 58% of my commission - I DO expect something in return - in fact, I expect a great deal in return - and rightly so. Brokerages need to get real about this. If you don't have enough business to help people get started, you have NO BUSINESS taking that kind of a split. PERIOD. Perhaps a little self-policing would go a long way to preventing the supersaturation that I am describing.

Siberian Winter,

I am attempting to provide perspective.

Of note, I formerly lived in the Washington, D.C. suburbs. Cost of living was very high.

I know it is easy to dismiss my comments because I'm in Idaho. Many concieve of my state as something like the Alaskan wilderness, filled with ill-educated folks in poorly-constructed cabins.

Yet, I'm in a community with 9,000 scientists and engineers (we have the nation's leading high tech lab for energy research), lots of locally-grown high tech companies and we were named one of the top 10 small communities in the nation by Money magazine this year. And, Idaho was just named as the #1 state for housing appreciation the past year.

Yes, we have modest cost of living. The average home is about $150,000 (3 bedrooms 2 baths 2 car garage and about 2400 square feet). Utilities are cheap. And, both food and medical care are modest.

But, wages are proportionally lower. And, real estate commissions, because of the relatively low average property price, are also rather low by national standards. Every agent I know undergoes financial pressure when starting out.

And, we face, like virtually every other market, stiff competition for the real estate business. Based on Westchester County's population and your count of active agents, it looks like about .8% of the population are in real estate. In my area, the equivalent number is .7% --- very close.

Over the past couple years, I was in a course with brokers all over the country. As part of that program, I visited all kinds and sizes of brokerages in Maine, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Florida, California, Nevada, Arizona, Washington, and Utah. I spoke with brokers, staff and agents.

I was struck by the fact that regardless of the area, the challenges are almost identical. And, the same things seem to work regardless of where you are.

You had noted that you had had some success with open houses. What about approaching other agents about doing open houses at times they are not (ie. if the listing agent is doing a Sunday one, maybe you could do a Saturday session). Ask attendees for name, address, phone number and e-mail and promise to provide them a list of the new listings in the neighborhood.

Then, go into your mls system and set each up to have listings "auto-sent" to those folks.

Follow-up with postcards to this same audience each month. Provide data on the area (number of homes listed that month, number sold, average sales price, and sales price/list price ratio).

Check the mls religiously. If something special comes up, call each of these folks and tell them about. And, offer to show them.

Do an open house once a week and engage in this kind of follow-up with every lead. I've seen agents build an entire business off of this kind of program. The key is to consistently provide relevant help --- often times for 6 months or a year.

Many open house attendees are future buyers or sellers. This kind of program bonds them to you and can really work.

Best of luck!

First of all, getting a listing is winning the lottery. Few newbies have had listings. I have been lucky enough to have two. I've been doing open houses for other agents all along. Initially, the other newer agents preferred not to do them, so the field was all mine. That is no longer the case. We are crawling all over each other for open houses now. Also, given the poor market, the bigger agents are now desperate enough to sit at their own open houses. The result is that I've only been able to scrounge up one open house all fall. I was only able to get three open houses this summer. All of my current (warm) prospects come from these open houses. I am pretty good at conversion - so I may have as many as 3 customers from the one in the fall (we had 9 visitors). There is absolutely no way that I can get an open house weekly - if there was I'd be there. I am fortunate if I can get one a month.

What I generally do when I get an open house is this: I have sign in sheets - 1 sheet per prospect. As they talk to me I jot down essential information. What they are looking for, why they are moving, if they have something to sell first etc. By using one sheet/prospect I don't get people mixed up. I also get several copies of currently available homes in the same/similar neighborhoods in a similar price range. I attach my card and a post card of my recent closings. If the prospect doesn't appear to be as interested in the property at hand, I talk to them about the other listings in the area and about the neighborhoods in general. If I do an open house on Sunday, my first call is on Tuesday. Tuesday is a day where I keep in touch with all former contacts in general. I just add the prospects to the list. These people get regular email and regular snail mail from me. I will call them at least 2 more times. If after all of that they no longer show an interest, I let them go. Doing more than that might be construed as stalking. Many leave false names and false numbers and fake emails, so it can be frustrating. At my last open house 3 people already had an agent, 3 never returned any calls or their email addresses didn't work. The final three I am working with at one level or another. Most important - I listen for likes and dislikes - do they like newer construction or do they want something older etc. How many BR/BA - do they want to fix it up or do they want move-in ready?

Anyway, that's the method that has evolved over the past year or so. If you think I am doing anything wrong or can think of a way to increase my probability of conversion, it would be much appreciated.

A note on houses and their prices and commissions. Discounters have eaten away at commissions particularly from the buyer's side. Listing agents have kept the bulk of the money on their side of the deal. For the most part a meager 2% is all the buyer's side gets. With franchise fees, I take home a 0.92% in general. The average cost is also deceptive. The bulk of the closings for newer agents are in the form of condos and co-ops. 4 of my 6 closings were co-ops. So the average commission is much lower than you are expecting for the area. Realistically - for a higher end co-op I will make about $2500, lower end can be less than $1000. On average, I've taken away less than $2000 on deals like that. I was lucky to get one house and a condo, but that is very hard for a new agent to get.

As I said before, I do believe that if the agency is going to do literally NOTHING to provide warm leads - that the splits must change to reflect that. In my former office, the training I had was largely paid for by me, Uptime was a joke because call capture systems took in the majority of the calls and the email leads were not distributed but collected by the powers that be. Trying to get so much as manilla folder and a couple of paper clips from the office was like asking for the moon. If I wanted to contact expireds or FSBOs, stationary was handed out one sheet at a time. I finally bought my own. An office that takes 58% of my very hard-earned money and gives almost nothing in return is a bad deal for any agent. I would be a lousy business person if I ever thought that was OK. My commissions help pay for those leads. I want my fair share - I'm not willing to nor should I have to compete with my own company for leads that they squirrel away for only their top agents. The whole thing was ludicrously exploitive.

Btw, I never thought of Idaho as an energy research hot spot. I know some parts of the West have a lot of natural gas reserves, but that's about it. Has your area attracted a lot of H1B visa people? Of course, I naturally associate the energy industry with Texas. I worked as a scientist for many years - but in immunology - an entirely different can of worms. Maybe biotech could grab a foothold out there as well. It's unfortunate that the cost of living and outsourcing has forced so many in the life sciences from the field.

A question on open houses. What would another agent say if you volunteered to hold an open house on one of their homes on a weekend they are not doing one? Most sellers I know would be tickled if open houses were done every week. But few agents would do that. Could you pick up some that way?

I appreciated you note about our area. We have the Idaho National Laboratory. It is primarily run by the Department of Energy.

It started as a place to test nuclear reactors, both for the navy and for power generation.

Today, it does nuclear, exotic plastics, geothermal, solar, weather, medical and other forms of high tech research.

A few inventions that have come from the Idaho National Lab include the MRI and the armor of the M-1 tank.

There are not alot of H1B visas at the site. Many come from the East for jobs and then decide to stay -- even when their project ends.

I'm sitting about 90 minutes from Yellowstone National Park and Jackson Hole.

It's a big volcanic plain with a high desert climate. We have cold winters but not much snow. Summers are great --- 70s and 80s with almost no humidity. Most homes don't even have air conditioning.

I'm also from another field. I used be a political consultant and practiced law for a few years.

One thing to add to the mix: There is no magic tool for lead generation. No matter who you work for, you should get tips and advice on what, where, how to prospect. Try them all, use what works best for you. Mostly it's a situation where what you get out of it depends largely on what you put into it.

In my office every week agentssend out an email asking if anyone who like to do an open house. All the time!

What I generally do is every few weeks I volunteer to do open houses - by broadcast. You do have to pick and choose though. Our area is very funny. Some places attract a lot of action. Others none. There are also several agents who are trying to get inexperienced agents to sit at an open house for their overpriced listing that is also in a bad location. No one ever shows up at these. I've done several of these, but I have learned to be picky about what I take on. Otherwise you become a doormat for agents who take overpriced listings and are too lazy to deal with the consequences - like the owners clamboring for a weekly open house. In our area, an unadvertised open house with signs only works in popular areas. It goes by school district and specific neighborhood. Some areas are just "hot".

Political consulting and law might be a more "natural" switch than laboratory science. My mother ran for local office and so I found myself being involved locally in spite of my better judgement.

Now I know where you are. Nice area. Very different from DC...which is hot and humid during the summer months. Winters are pretty easy though. Actually, the way things are going, your energy braintrust is going to need more people! And soon, you might be offering beachfront property!

Someone emailed me, but I managed to delete it by mistake. Don't know how it happened, but try again...sorry.