If you are considering trying to increase your sales by obtaining real estate leads, you need to learn what to expect. Most mortgage sales leads improve your sales, but they are typically not guaranteed. For this reason, you should not spend every last penny you have on mortgage leads. Instead, find out the pricing and costs of mortgage lead generation, and develop a budget.

Before you decide to buy real estate leads, consider your options. Decide what types of leads are most important to you. Do you want to have only unique leads, or do you want to save some money and find free or cheap leads? Think about your options:

1. Consider purchasing exclusive mortgage sales leads.

2. Find out the typical cost of detailed real estate buyer leads.

3. Seek out inexpensive or free leads.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Spend the extra money on exclusive or semi-exclusive sales leads for mortgage for promising results

You will find that most exclusive sales leads are somewhat expensive, and with good reason. Leads that have not been called recently by others in the mortgage industry are considered fresh and most likely to be turned into sales. You will find that the cost for such leads starts in the double digits, from about $40 to more than $100. Semi-exclusive leads are cheaper, as they might be sold to two or three people, and range from $20 to $40.

I recommend: Leads from MostChoice are considered semi-exclusive, meaning they are sold to a very small amount of people. They sell for about $25 to $40 each. Juicy Leads sells exclusive leads for $90 and semi-exclusive leads for $30. Read more about what to expect when it comes to exclusive leads at MortgageLeadsForSale.com.

Purchase real estate sales leads that include many details

The more details in a lead, the better, as it is easier for you to decide if the potential customer even fits your requirements. Don't waste your time on a lead that has few details, as it could be for someone who is unlikely to purchase property. Leads with a good number of details are usually about $12 to $20.

I recommend: Filter the details you want, such as credit type and desired loan type, at BigMortgageLeads.com. Each lead sells for about $20. LeadstoClients.com provides an example of the details that come with each lead, which they sell for $14 each.

Look for free or inexpensive real estate agent leads

Some mortgage lead generation companies offer cheaper leads than others. Usually, such leads are older, less detailed or sold more often than typically desired, but they can still work. If you cannot afford exclusive, detailed or fresh leads currently, these may be better than nothing. Many companies also offer a few free leads to start, or perhaps free leads after you buy a certain amount. Cheap leads are usually less than $10 each.

I recommend: Compare prices on leads at MortgageLeadsGuide.com. Mortgage-X.com sells leads for $6 each. Check out how the pricing and lead qualities differ at eLeadz. If the leads you buy are five to eight weeks old, you can spend only $3 to $7 per lead.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  When choosing a lead type, realize that often the higher quality the lead, the more likely you will close a sale in a short amount of time. While cheaper mortgage broker leads can be good for your budget, consider the amount of time you will have to spend to close an older, less detailed or less exclusive lead.

Mortgage lenders and brokers rely on mortgage leads — potential customers who have expressed an interest in borrowing, and soon — to keep their business humming. But demand for good real estate leads far outstrips supply. Internet mortgage lead generation, however, has streamlined the process, as thousands of potential customers click on Web links or fill in contact data in hopes of getting a competitive offer.

Getting the most, and best, mortgage leads for your lending operation is a matter of understanding the Internet mortgage lead business first. In this guide, you’ll learn:

1. Best sources for mortgage leads.
2. Getting live real estate leads.
3. Internet mortgage lead generation for refinancing.
4. Going in local in your mortgage lead search.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Take advantage of Internet mortgage lead generation

The Internet has really amped up the real estate lead generation business. Instead of waiting for prospects to call or come by a branch, mortgage leads come in through Web sites that offer rates or financial advice. These are, in turn, retailed by mortgage lead generation providers.

I recommend: Get Internet real estate leads from mortgage lead vendors including Juicy Leads, Live Lead Network, NR Leads,  LendingTree, and LoanWeb.

Speed up business with live Internet real estate leads

Your mortgage lead generation program can really get into high gear if you pay for live leads. Essentially, the mortgage lead provider also calls up the prospect, gets them ready for the conversation on borrowing, then patches the prospect directly to your waiting salesperson.

I recommend: Some providers of live mortgage leads include LowerMyBills, LiveMortgageLeads, and TheLeadSource.

Harvest the market of refi mortgage leads

Some of the better real estate leads are current homeowners in the market to refinance in order to cash out equity or lower their term, payments or both. They are a better risk (they already own a home, for instance) and are typically ready to move on an offer soon without the encumbrance of finding and negotiating a home purchase.

I recommend: Buy refinance mortgage leads from database companies, including iLeads, ProspectZone and FindMyLeads.

Go local for mortgage lead generation

If your mortgage lead generation program is giving you lots of mortgage leads in distant zip codes, part of the problem might be brand familiarity. Starting out, it might be better to focus on real estate lead generation in the geographic area of your mortgage lending business.

I recommend: Cityloans, for instance, parses potential Internet real estate leads by city and state, as does TodayLeads.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Mortgages leads expire almost instantaneously. Be sure to pay only for fresh leads.
• •  If your first choice for real estate lead generation does not produce serious results, move on until you see success rates climb.
• •  Be sure your sales team is ready before paying for mortgage leads. Even good real estate leads can be wasted time with beginner sales people.

If you work in the mortgage industry, you probably often need to update your cache of real estate leads to obtain more sales. Mortgage leads are often hard to come by, and quality leads are even harder to find. Sometimes, even after you do buy real estate leads, they do not do their job, which is to lead you to new potential clients. Whether you are looking for free mortgage leads or are willing to pay for quality leads, you need to know what to look for when working with mortgage lead generation.

Doing some research on mortgage lead generation companies will help you pick the right one to purchase from. You will find that the most useful mortgage leads typically include:

1. Many details on each lead;

2. A high amount of research before compiling leads;

3. And exclusive mortgage sales leads.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Make sure your real estate sales leads provide plenty of information

The most detailed leads will be the easiest for you to follow. A mortgage lead with the person's full name, address, phone number and email makes it easy to get in contact with the lead as quickly and as easily as possible. Some companies offer this type of information and more.

I recommend: Learn what kind of information your leads should contain, and how to shop for the best leads, at MortgageLeadsGuide.com. Find out the details the best mortgage leads should contain at Vertical Leads.

Make sur the company you decide on has researched their sales leads for mortgage professionals

Some lead generation companies are known for coming up with mortgage leads for people who either are not eligible to buy a home or who are too young to be likely to obtain a home loan. Clearly, such a lead is useless to your company. Try to stick with companies that provide they have the resources to develop updated leads to people who might actually buy property.

I recommend: NR Leads discusses why accurate information is important when it comes to mortgage broker leads. Mortgage-Leads.com claims to provide accurate information through a bank when it comes to homeowner details.

Try to obtain exclusive real estate agent leads

Not every company offers exclusive mortgage leads, but be sure to pick one of the few that does. There is nothing worse than hammering a lead with emails or phone calls from not only your company but several other companies as well. This will usually cause them to ignore all marketing efforts from every company, basically wasting your money.

I recommend: LiveMortgageLeads.com sells exclusive leads. Read why exclusive leads are the best kind to buy at Streetdirectory.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  If you cannot afford to purchase real estate buyer leads just yet but want to see how they work, try out a company that provides free leads. Many quality companies offer the first few leads for free, so take advantage of such offers.

If you are in the mortgage business, there will probably come a time when you will need to acquire leads to increase your business productivity. A mortgage lead generation service can help, but there are so many lead generation companies on the Internet that you might get confused when you see unfamiliar terms. Getting to know the main terms of the mortgage lead industry will not only save you time and money, but will make you appear more knowledgeable about your field. Obtaining the right leads can help your sales; the more you know about what is available to you, the more your business will prosper.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Mortgage lead generation

Mortgage lead generation is the process of collecting a list of people who might be interested in obtaining a mortgage. This kind of list is helpful to those selling mortgages, and many choose to buy lists from lead generation companies so they can concentrate on closing deals.

I recommend: Find out what mortgage lead generation is at Markcarey.com.

Exclusive lead

An exclusive lead is one that has not been sold to any other mortgage company. This is one of the most desired kind of mortgage leads, but is also the most expensive.

I recommend: EML Group offers their definition of exclusive mortgage leads.

Semi-exclusive lead

A semi-exclusive lead is sold to a limited number of mortgage agents. They are less sought-after than exclusive leads, but also less expensive.

I recommend: Aone Leads explains how semi-exclusive mortgage leads differ from other types, including how many times they are sold.

Incentivized lead

An incentivized lead is generated by someone filling out a form for which they receive an incentive or reward. If you buy this type of mortgage lead, you might find that the potential customer is not interested in obtaining a mortgage but just wanted to win something.

I recommend: MediaPost Communications defines incentivized leads and lists their purpose.

Live transfer leads

A live transfer mortgage lead is a brand new lead in which highly interested customers have provided their information. It is verified multiple times, and the call is transferred to your top salesmen.

I recommend: The Lead Source talks about live transfer mortgage leads.

Conversion rate

A conversion rate is the percentage of potential customers that a company can convince to buy its product. When a lead generation company has a high conversion rate, it typically means that they sell quality mortgage leads.

I recommend: Prospect Zone provides a definition of conversion rate on its mortgage leads glossary.