Real estate leads pay at closing with no upfront cost. This is one of the most coveted paid lead generation sources in the real estate business. We all know that there are two ways to generate leads in the real estate industry and they are:
- To Work For Leads
- To Pay For Leads
As a real estate agent you have probably been contacted countless times by a real estate lead generation company about purchasing leads or lists of clients in your area for a monthly fee. But sometimes as a new agent, you don’t know whether or not you are able to afford that with a limited budget, so you look for a different option. Real estate leads paid at closing or referral fee real estate leads.
Real estate leads pay at closing are paid real estate leads that are given to agents in their local market where the agent is only required to pay the company in the form of a referral fee AFTER they have closed the transaction through a referral agreement. For new real estate agents, this is the best way to pay for a lead source because there are less financial risks involved then paying a monthly fee for someone to run your ads for you or provide you with a list of leads.
In this article we will give you a better understanding of what it means to get real estate leads paid at closing, why pay at closing real estate leads are a good way to get new clients, and 7 different ways to generate pay per closing real estate leads.
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What are Real Estate Leads Pay At Closing?
Real estate leads pay at closings are real estate leads where you only pay a referral fee for AFTER the transaction closes. This means that you don’t pay anything until you have received a commission FIRST.
This is great alternative to pay per month real estate lead generation companies such as Zillow Premier Agent in which you may receive a number of leads every month in your zip code but only for a fixed monthly fee.
There are plenty of companies out there that offer real estate leads with no upfront cost that you can take advantage of, but there are also ways that agents can generate referral leads on their own as well. The thing to remember about real estate leads where you pay at closing is that your lead conversion rate will not affect your budget, because you only pay after a successful transaction.
Why Pay Per Closing Leads Are a Good Lead Source?
Pay per closing leads are a great lead course because it gives a new agent a way to start getting prospective buyers and seller clients without having to spend a lot of time generating leads on their own. Although lead generation is a CRUCIAL part of every top real estate agents success, for many newly licenses real estate agents, pay per closing leads are a good way to get their business up and running.
The cost of leads are not cheap, and although buying leads is an option for some, most new licensees are looking to spend as little money as possible and make up for it through their work ethic…and that’s where you have an advantage in working pay per closing leads.
There are two types of leads in real estate. Exclusive leads and shared leads.
Most paid lead generation options where you pay a fee for their services up front offer exclusive leads, this means that you are spending more money to buy leads who’s contact information are only shared with you.
Shared leads are where a lead is generated but shared to many local real estate agents near where the lead is located. This means that all local agents who are a part of the referral program receive the lead’s contact information. As a new agent who is willing to put in the work and get to leads first, you are able to capture these leads as your own clients before the more busy real estate agents can even see the notification.
The Top 7 Ways to Generate Pay Per Closing Leads.
Here are the top 7 ways to generate pay per closing leads in today’s market. Some of these options are tied to a specific real estate lead generation company or real estate brokerage, while others are available to all agents anywhere.
- Agent to Agent Referrals
- REO Program – eXp Revenos
- Relocation/Affinity Program – eXp Revenos
- Express Offers – eXp Revenos
- Join a Production Team
- Customer Loyalty Program
- Third Party Referral Companies
1) Agent to Agent Referrals
The first option for realtors to generate pay per closing leads is simply agent to agent referrals.
Agent to agent referral is when a real estate agent refers a client to another real estate agent in return for a referral fee paid as a percentage of the agent’s closing commission. Agent to agent referrals are extremely common in the real estate industry and there are plenty of reasons why an agent would refer a client out to someone else.
For instance, many listing agents will refer an unrepresented buyer client who wishes to purchase the listing to another agent and in return ask for a referral fee or percentage of the agent’s closing commission. This way, the listing agent can make sure that there is no conflict of interest by representing both parties.
Another common reason for agent to agent referrals are out of state referrals. Real estate agents can only represent clients in the state that they are licensed in. So this means that if they have a client who is either moving to or away from a different city in another state, they would have to refer them to an agent who is licensed in that state.
Sometimes agents will even refer clients who are moving to or away from a new city within their own state simply because their local MLS system does not cover the parameters of the other city. And instead of paying for MLS access for one client, they will simply refer them to an agent who does have MLS access in that city and get a referral fee.
The typical referral fee for referral real estate leads between agents is 25%. This means that you will give the referring agent 25% of the GCI or gross commission income that you earned on the closing.
There are plenty of ways to receive referral real estate leads as a pay per close real estate leads source. One way is by connecting with top-performing agents in surrounding states and cities outside of your MLS parameters. The best agents will have the most amount of referrals to give, simply because they are doing the most real estate transactions and for each real estate transaction, there is a potential to refer a client to someone else depending on where that client is moving to or from.
When looking for individual agents to connect with as referral partners for referral real estate leads, make sure that you are able to offer their clients something unique or special when you are building relationships so that they are willing to send their clients to you instead of another agent. An agent is usually going to refer their clients to someone that they can trust and that they know will do a good job in representing their client so that it makes them look really good.
If you are a real estate agent who is looking to expand your referral network of agents and want to have a way to receive pay per closing real estate leads on demand every day, be sure to check out eXp Realty by clicking the button below! eXp Realty has an internal company referral program where you can receive referral real estate leads from close to 90,000 agents in all 50 states and even 20 additional countries!
2) REO Program – eXp Revenos
A great way to generate real estate referral leads is through the eXp Realty Revenos program exclusively accessible for eXp Realty Agents.
The eXp Revenos program is eXp Realty’s internal referral platform that provides pay per closing real estate leads for agents with specific certifications and specializations. These certifications are provided by eXp Realty as well in the form of a course curriculum.
One of these programs is the REO referral leads program.
REO leads are listing leads provided to agents by lenders. REO stands for real estate owned. These properties are owned by lender after the owner defaults on their mortgage payments and the bank repossess the property.
Usually there are a few or one REO specialist listing agent in one area that has built relationships with banks and are their go to agent for any REO sales. Through eXp Realty’s Revenos program, agents who are “REO Certified”, can now receive REO listing leads and pay a referral percentage at closing.
REO leads are great leads because they are property listings that are given to the agent, and the agent’s only job is to sell the property. Through eXp, you are able to become “REO Certified” and receive REO listing leads as a part of the program.
3) Relocation/Affinity Program – eXp Revenos
Another brand of eXp Revenos is the relocation program. This is where you will be able to receive corporate relocation leads where a client might be moving to or away from your city because of a job relocation within the company.
Corporate relocation leads are a great source of real estate referral leads. Corporations will order the relocation of some of their top employees and managers to meet the demands of the company, and usually these corporations will provide the employee being relocated with real estate services through a partner.
eXp’s relocation service is exactly that, it is a corporate relocation program that partners with companies who are constantly moving employees back and forth, and provides the relocating employee with an agent in the specific area that they are moving to and from.
As an eXp Relocation Certified agent, you are eligible to receive relocation leads in your city for a referral fee paid only at closing! The good news is, just like the REO certification, any eXp agent can get Relocation certified as well!
Affinity is very similar to relocation in that it is a company OR a membership club where members can receive concessions towards closing by choosing to be part of the company or club’s program where they get to work with preferred real estate professionals and moving services.
eXp Agents are eligible to receive leads from organizations that offer Affinity to their members and become preferred agents in their city.
4) Express Offers – eXp Revenos
The third option to receive pay per closing real estate leads from eXp Revenos is the express offers program. Express offers is an ibuyer platform that is partners with eXp Realty where agents can connect sellers to institutional investors in their area and get an offer from them on the property.
Express offers is a great way for real estate agents to capitalize on high equity real estate leads where the property may not be listable on the MLS, but will be the best option for an investor or institutional buyer to purchase.
Instead of sending the lead off to Offerpad or Opendoor, eXp agents can now submit the seller’s property to the ibuyers on Express offers and get them multiple offers from multiple investors and in the process, make a commission on the sale.
Agents who wish to capitalize on this program are required to take a short certification course and the good news about being certified is that you are now eligible to receive express offers generated seller leads if you so choose.
These leads are pay per closing real estate leads, and you don’t have to pay anything until you have closed the transaction, in which case you will pay a 35% referral fee for your closing.
To learn more about Express offers and how you can take advantage of these referral real estate leads programs at eXp Revenos, book a call by clicking the button below to learn how you can partner with us and become an agent at eXp Realty!
5) Join a Production Team
A commonly overlooked way of receiving pay per closing real estate leads is by joining a local production team. A local production team is a real estate team where an agent who joins is eligible to receive leads generated by the team’s marketing strategy and efforts in exchange for an additional split.
Although most agents will hear the word “Split” and instantly think that they are giving up commissions, what a split on most production teams are is nothing more than a referral fee that is only paid at closing.
Most production teams only take an additional split from the agent’s commission if and only if the lead was given to the agent by the team leader. This means that if the agent closes a deal where the client was generated by themselves, they do not have to pay the team leader any additional splits.
Production teams are probably the most common form of pay per closing real estate leads in that the agent will receive leads from someone else’s marketing efforts and pay them a percentage of their commission at closing.
As a brand new agent you have the choice to be a solo agent or a member of a team, becoming a member of a team can mean that you will have a consistent source of referral real estate leads generated by the team leader and given to you to work.
6) Customer Loyalty Program
The 6th type of pay per closing real estate leads is a customer loyalty program. A customer loyalty program is when you and a partner company provide services for free to a homeowner in exchange for you to be their listing agent whenever they are ready to sell their house through a future listing agreement.
Then once you have listed and successfully sold the home for the seller, you will pay said company a percentage of your commission as a referral fee.
One of these said companies is SellWhenever, a company specifically designed to create a customer loyalty program between homeowners and agents. SellWhenever is a company that provides homeowners with a free credit towards home repairs up to $2,500 in exchange for them signing a “50 year listing agreement” which states that they will list their home with a SellWhenever partner agent whenever they are ready to sell in the next 50 years.
Agents who are a part of this program can reach homeowners on a new level by offering them money for home repairs and improvements in exchange for a future listing. Then when the agent sells that listing, all they need to do is pay SellWhenever 35% of their commission as a referral fee.
SelllWhenever and similar companies are a fantastic way to generate pay per closing real estate leads and quality leads at that, while being able to offer your potential clients something of value in the process. It can even be offered to your family members who are already going to list with you anyway! It really is a win, win, win for you, your client, and SellWhenever!
SellWhenever is only partnered with select independent brokerages, if you want to take advantage of this program please book a call below with us to learn more about how you can be a part of our team at eXp Realty and get access to this loyalty program!
7) Third Party Referral Companies
Lastly, real estate agents who want to receive pay per closing real estate leads can sign up through third party referral real estate lead generator companies. There are plenty of these companies available all across the US and any agent can sign up to receive referral real estate leads of potential buyers and sellers in their local area.
One thing to remember is that most of the time, the leads provided by these companies are not exclusive leads, which means the first agent that “Claim the new lead” through their text message service will receive the referral’s first name and contact information and work with them.
We suggest you sign up for a few to check them out, but not rely on them for your overall lead generation strategy.
Here is a list of the current most popular pay per closing real estate leads programs:
- Homelight
- IdealAgent
- OpCity
- Lemon brew
- Referral Exchange
- Market Leader
- Sold.com
- Estately
- FastExpert
- Ojo
- Agent Pronto
- Upnest
- Clever Partner Agent
Final Thoughts
Now that you know all about the different ways to generate referral real estate leads, it’s time to put some of these strategies into action.
Remember that developing your own lead generation strategies to generate your own leads will always be crucial if you want to be top agents with a steady flow of leads, whether if that is social media, developing an online presence, digital marketing for online leads, cold calling, etc. and you don’t want to rely on pay per closing real estate leads, but they are a great source of leads to get your real estate career started!
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