When it comes to buying mortgage leads, there are many good companies
out there for you to research, and many avenues to travel down when
considering which lead type will work best for you.
While working as a loan officer, I dealt with my fair share of mortgage
lead companies. Along the way, I bought my leads in bulk, I bought them
fresh, and I bought them with a live transfer.
Researching lead companies is an important aspect when deciding to
invest in one, but lets be honest with each other, we really don’t know
what we are getting until we begin to purchase them.
When I would purchase my leads in bulk, I would take $100.00 of my hard
earned money, find what I believed to be the best cherry-picking site
out there, and by about fifty leads at $2.00 each.
Now I know that you get what you pay for, and my goal was to close two
at the most, and at the very least, one. Over the years this approach
would occasionally pay off, but I had the feeling of working harder,
and not smarter.
The next approach I took a shot at was the purchase of “real time
leads,” or “fresh leads.” I would take that same hard earned $100.00
and receive approximately three to five fresh leads consisting of
purchase leads and refinance.
These leads I did not cherry pick, I would set up a filter before hand.
The filter would be specific to state, type of loan, credit, ltv, loan
amount. Etc.
When a lead came in and matched my filter, it would be stream lined
directly to my e-mail account, and it would be roughly ten minutes old.
I had a lot of success with these leads, but continued to keep all of
my options open.
The other type of lead I decided to take a shot at was the live
transfer lead. I believed this to be a wonderful concept, and a very
efficient way of obtaining leads and increasing my applications.
I basically sat at my desk and waited for the lead company to transfer
customers to me by way of the telephone. Sometimes this worked and
sometimes it didn’t. The problem was, there was no guarantee that I was
going to answer the phone. I worked in an office with ten other loan
officers, if I stepped away from my desk, they would end up in my voice
mailbox, or if the phone went unanswered, the potential customer would
hang up.
It is pointless to go into further detail, I think you get the picture,
the live transfer at times could be a mess. Again, I felt as though I
was working harder and not smarter.
Before investing with mortgage lead companies, make sure you do your
home work thoroughly. Read the companies “terms of service,” find out
what their return policy is, call and speak with a representative, ask
about a free trial. Does it consist of a free lead or some type of
credit toward your first deposit? If they are confident in the quality
of their leads, than they should not have a problem accommodating you.
I have had, and know loan officers who have had success with all of the
above mentioned lead type scenarios. Some may work for you and some may
not. But remember, if you find yourself working too hard to make the
lead work for you, consider a different type of lead!
