I rarely quote things for truth but I HIGHLY agree with what gulp is saying here. I had to revamp my entire business plan when I started doing local lead generation because of this.
Critique my idea - Local real estate squeeze page
- Thread starter CygnusX
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I rarely quote things for truth but I HIGHLY agree with what gulp is saying here. I had to revamp my entire business plan when I started doing local lead generation because of this.
It's illegal for a agent to pay a referral fee to a non-licensed individual in practically every state in the US. Referral fees must be paid at the time of closing via the HUD-1 otherwise you run into RESPA and other issues that will result in a lawsuit.
The only way to do this properly is to start a company with a real estate broker as a shareholder or employee and have them manage the company that sends the leads out. In 2008 I generated something like 250 leads on one of my websites, all went to a very reputable company that managed them as I stated, 0 closed (They were very good leads as I personally closed 60% of them that were in my local area). Whether this was by their ineptness or me not getting paid out of closing, I'm quite unsure.
So the other method is to charge a fee per lead, this is how almost every company does it as no state requires you to have a license. The only problem with this is that no real estate agents are currently paying for leads. Some will do adsense, but the chances of you finding a agent that will take decent lead volumes are slim to none.
The only way to do this properly is to start a company with a real estate broker as a shareholder or employee and have them manage the company that sends the leads out. In 2008 I generated something like 250 leads on one of my websites, all went to a very reputable company that managed them as I stated, 0 closed (They were very good leads as I personally closed 60% of them that were in my local area). Whether this was by their ineptness or me not getting paid out of closing, I'm quite unsure.
So the other method is to charge a fee per lead, this is how almost every company does it as no state requires you to have a license. The only problem with this is that no real estate agents are currently paying for leads. Some will do adsense, but the chances of you finding a agent that will take decent lead volumes are slim to none.
In your specific situation for RE this is how i would do it:
Get a couple of realtors together (3 or 4) from different zip codes and then get a crm with cyclic rotation so the leads rotate betweeb 3 or 4 accounts.
Then, charge them a fixed monthly price as advertisement where you guarantee them leads so its not just a crappy ad on a website but a guarantee that they are gonna get quality leads from search engines (best quality...explain why etc)
Your profits will be the difference between that monthly fixed price x 3 or x4 and the PPC costs.
And you dont have to deal with them not converting leads or with comissions becuase they GET ads/advertisement
And of course get the damn bills before starting.
You DO have to show them something beofre, the site, the CRM etc...add value before, why is this different for THEM, etc.
Get a couple of realtors together (3 or 4) from different zip codes and then get a crm with cyclic rotation so the leads rotate betweeb 3 or 4 accounts.
Then, charge them a fixed monthly price as advertisement where you guarantee them leads so its not just a crappy ad on a website but a guarantee that they are gonna get quality leads from search engines (best quality...explain why etc)
Your profits will be the difference between that monthly fixed price x 3 or x4 and the PPC costs.
And you dont have to deal with them not converting leads or with comissions becuase they GET ads/advertisement
And of course get the damn bills before starting.
You DO have to show them something beofre, the site, the CRM etc...add value before, why is this different for THEM, etc.
Yeah, by treating it as an advert rather than lead gen you can charge a monthly fee and automate the process as much as possible, taking yourself out of the equation. In this case, I think the advertising approach is indeed better, with the least headaches, and likely the easiest to scale up.