Lead Generation

How to Generate Real Estate Leads

Struggling to keep your real estate pipeline full? You’re not alone – many agents face dry spells that make closing deals harder. The good news? With the right strategies, you can attract a steady stream of buyers and sellers year-round.

In this guide, you’ll learn 12 proven ways to generate leads – like leveraging social media, publishing on trusted sites, and making the most of networking events.

These tactics are designed to boost your visibility, build trust, and help you stay competitive, even when the market feels tough.

What Is Lead Generation in Real Estate?

Lead generation in real estate is the process of attracting and capturing contact information from people who may be interested in buying, selling, or renting a property. The goal is to turn those prospects – often called “leads” – into clients through follow-up, relationship building, and tailored marketing.

Leads can come from both online channels (such as social media ads, SEO-optimized property listings, and email campaigns) and offline methods (like networking events, open houses, and referrals). Effective real estate lead generation focuses on reaching the right audience, providing value, and building trust so potential clients feel confident working with you.

12 Actionable Ways for Generating Real Estate Leads

Here are 12 actionable strategies that can be used to generate quality real estate leads. These tips can help you create a solid foundation for your lead-generation efforts and give you an edge over the competition.

1. Establish your Social Media Presence

A strong social media presence helps real estate agents showcase listings, build credibility, and connect with potential clients. Consistent, engaging content – paired with tools like hashtags, polls, videos, and prompt responses – boosts visibility and strengthens relationships.

Use Instagram / Facebook Stories

Instagram stories are a creative way for real estate agents to generate leads. Not only are they easy to create, but they also provide an opportunity to create engaging content that can attract potential customers. When creating content for Instagram stories, it’s important to ensure the content is relevant and targeted toward your ideal customer.

For example, if you’re looking for real estate leads, you should focus on creating stories that highlight what makes your listings unique. Then, showcase helpful tips about the process of buying or renting a home. Additionally, take advantage of features like polls and questions to track who’s interested in working with you. 

2. Leverage Facebook Lead-generation Ads

Investing in paid online advertising can effectively reach new potential customers. This method allows you to access a greater audience, target specific demographics, and get more control over the content you create.

When investing in paid online advertising, you must target the right demographic with relevant messages. This will ensure that those who view your ad are genuinely interested in what you have to offer. Additionally, tracking performance metrics is essential when conducting any digital marketing campaign – including one for real estate leads – so you can continuously optimize your content for better results.

3. Contribute to Thought Leadership Pieces

Thought leadership content allows real estate professionals to showcase their expertise, share market insights, and highlight industry best practices. By offering valuable perspectives on trends and developments, agents can position themselves as trusted authorities, attract potential clients, and build strong professional relationships.

This approach not only boosts credibility but also keeps professionals connected to the latest shifts in the ever-changing real estate market.

Publishing educational evergreen articles through a blog is a powerful way to attract and nurture leads. Cover timeless topics like securing the best mortgage rates or understanding market trends to provide lasting value. These articles can improve search engine visibility, offer practical resources to homebuyers, and include clear calls-to-action that invite readers to connect for personalized guidance.

4. Guest Blog on Authoritative Websites

Guest blogging on authoritative websites effectively generates real estate leads and builds your online presence. It allows you to demonstrate your expertise and reach a wider audience with your message. You can tap into their already-established readerships and attract new customers to your website or blog by posting content on other, more established websites. 

When looking for authoritative websites, look for those in the same industry as you, such as real estate or finance. Choosing sites with high domain authority ensures that the links from your guest post will be of greater value. Additionally, make sure that any posts adhere to the website’s editorial guidelines.

This will help ensure that it get accepted by the moderators and published quickly. Finally, it is important to remember to promote your post once it is published to maximize its reach and potential lead-generation impact.

5. Start Leveraging Reviews

For real estate professionals, leveraging reviews is a great way to generate leads. Reviews provide potential clients with a succinct overview of your services, allowing them to make more informed decisions when searching for the right person to help with their real estate needs.


As a real estate professional, it’s important to take advantage of reviews, as they can be an effective tool in helping you stand out from the competition and attract new clients.

Reviews have many great uses, from social media posts that feature positive feedback to online directories that allow visitors to read what others have experienced working with you. Additionally, leveraging reviews from authoritative websites allows you to build trustworthiness and credibility.

6. Ensure to Utilize Real Estate SEO

Real estate SEO revolves around ensuring that listings appear prominently on SERPs when potential customers search for properties. To do this, realtors should optimize web pages with keywords and phrases related to local areas or types of homes.

Additionally, incorporating words like “buy” or “sell” into page titles and meta descriptions can help draw attention to pages from potential buyers or sellers.

Finally, SEO techniques like link building can help boost a website’s authority and rankings even further. Using these SEO strategies, agents can attract more qualified leads and increase their chances of closing successful sales.

7. Create Video Testimonials to Spread Social Proof

Real estate leads have become a hot commodity in the current market. For 53% of homebuyers, finding the right property is the most challenging aspect of the home-buying process. Because of this, real estate agents need to use all the tools available to stand out from the competition.

Video testimonials are a great way to create social proof for potential clients browsing properties online. A well-crafted video showing an enthusiastic customer speaking highly of an agent’s work will help build trust and credibility with viewers. Creating video testimonials is relatively easy – all you need is a camera and someone willing to share their experiences working with you as an agent.

8. Speak at Conferences, Meetups, and Events.

Networking is essential in any business. However, it’s even more critical in real estate since deals are based on relationships. Connecting with people face-to-face allows agents to form more meaningful connections, which can lead to referrals and repeat business. Having a presence at local events will enable them to interact with potential clients who may not have heard of them.

It also allows agents to better understand their clients’ needs, creating an opportunity to provide more tailored service and support. Real estate professionals should take advantage of face-to-face meetings by setting up regular check-ins with each client.

Some ideas include hosting brunch or lunch appointments at local cafes or inviting clients to an open house event in your office on a Saturday afternoon.

9. Launch a Referral Campaign

To launch a successful referral campaign, start by crafting an appealing offer to motivate potential referrers. For example, you can provide financial rewards or discounts with additional benefits for each referral or even gift cards or other items that show appreciation.

Additionally, when sharing information about your services with others, ensure your message is clear about how the referrer will benefit from participating in the program.

Finally, proper tracking systems should be in place so both sides of the transaction can be appropriately credited for their efforts.

10. Try LinkedIn for Leads

LinkedIn offers powerful networking opportunities to help you connect with potential clients and grow your network. Unlike other social media networks, LinkedIn allows users to create detailed profiles that showcase their professional backgrounds and accomplishments.

You can easily find people who could be interested in buying or selling a property through targeted searches. You can also join relevant groups related to the real estate industry, allowing you to connect with an even larger audience than before.

11. Follow Up on Expired Listings

Expired listings were not sold or leased at the end of their listing period. These properties can provide an excellent opportunity for agents to make a sale and increase their income.

By following up on these expired listings, agents can reach out to people who may have been interested in the property earlier but were hesitant or couldn’t close the deal in time.

Agents need to be persistent with follow-ups, which could lead them closer to making a successful sale. Agents should also be sure to address all questions and doubts customers may have regarding the property before closing the deal.

12. Invest in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Tool.

Investing in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool can hugely benefit real estate agents and brokers looking to generate more leads. A CRM can help streamline the lead generation and capture process by automating marketing activities and providing insights into customer data.

Using a CRM, real estate agents can quickly segment potential customers, identify buying trends, manage contact information, and ultimately close more deals. With features such as automated emails and text messages, they will have an easier time staying in touch with their prospects while keeping all leads organized in one place.

In addition, they’ll be able to use the data collected from their leads to track sales performance and make improvements accordingly. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the fastest way to generate real estate leads?
The fastest way is usually through paid advertising, such as Facebook or Google ads, combined with retargeting. This method lets you target specific buyer or seller demographics and get inquiries quickly.
Free methods include optimizing your website for SEO, using social media strategically, engaging in local community events, and following up on expired listings. Networking and referrals are also cost-effective lead sources.
Yes, if used strategically. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn allow agents to share listings, post educational content, and interact directly with potential clients, which builds trust and visibility.
Track your results through KPIs like number of leads, conversion rates, cost per lead, and engagement metrics. A CRM system can help monitor these and identify which tactics are most effective.
SEO is a long-term strategy. It can take three to six months to see significant results, depending on your competition, keyword strategy, and content consistency.

Conclusion

Generating real estate leads can seem daunting. However, with the tools and resources listed above, a successful and profitable lead-generation strategy is possible.

Start by utilizing digital marketing tactics such as search engine optimization, email campaigns, and social media marketing. Additionally, remember offline approaches such as meetups and referrals. Finally, consider partnering with other real estate professionals to expand your reach.

Anthony Tareh

Co-founder As the Founder of LeadAdvisors.com, Anthony Tareh brings over a decade of expertise in marketing, lead generation, and business optimization. His focus on reducing customer acquisition costs, enhancing conversion rates, and improving user experience (UX) has helped businesses scale efficiently through conversion rate optimization (CRO), branding, and strategic digital marketing. With a strong background in SEO, direct marketing, and call center operations, Anthony specializes in outsourcing solutions that streamline processes, improve operational efficiencies, and drive measurable revenue growth. Under his leadership, LeadAdvisors is committed to delivering high-quality leads, optimizing business performance, and maximizing ROI for clients in a competitive marketplace. Dedicated to sharing knowledge and empowering businesses, Anthony has years of experience in SEM, automation, and user interaction optimization, helping brands achieve sustainable growth and operational excellence. His passion for data-driven strategies and business transformation ensures that LeadAdvisors continues to provide exceptional value and outstanding results.

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