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The average real estate agent in the United States closes 12 deals per year. Imagine being able to double that number. It’s not impossible if you optimize your qualification process.
You can’t and shouldn’t work with just anyone. Agents need leads who are serious. Those willing to buy or sell soon. Leads who are easy to work with.
How many times have you had people who used up your time and never converted? It’s one of the most common problems agents face.
However, it doesn’t have to be that way. Using a clear qualification process and asking the right questions can save you a lot of time and headaches.
Keep reading to learn the most important real estate lead qualification questions and stick around for a checklist at the end.
Use these eight factors and questions to filter out the static and find leads who are most likely to convert.
Where is the client located? Are they a short drive away or is a commute needed to see each other? The location of the client should be a dealbreaker.
You don’t want to invest more time and energy into a single lead far away when you could be increasing production by closing nearby deals.
68% of leads also choose the first agent they interview. Agents can close more deals by meeting up with local leads as they’ll get more meetings in a shorter time frame.
It’s not just about the client’s location though. Where they would like to live is equally important.
A local client may be interested in moving out of town or an area you’re not familiar with.
While this can open the opportunity to expand, often it’s a headache and agents could be spending their time more effectively.
To filter out low quality prospects, ask:
Sticking to closing deals in places you’re familiar with enables you to present properties, advice, and showcase expertise. Oppositely, you may not be able to convert as many leads or offer as good of an experience in places you’re unfamiliar with.
The devil is in the details. Asking why a lead is buying or selling is home is simple but extremely important.
The more legitimate the reason, the more likely they are to close and be serious about completing the process.
Avoid on-the-fence type prospects. Good motivations include first-time home buyers, moving up, downsizing, retiring, job changes, and real estate investments. Motivated buyers close.
Auditing this helps you gauge how to help them in the best way possible and only focus on clients that put money in your pocket.
You can skip most of this process by using LeadJolt. Our done-for-you real estate lead generation campaigns will drop you off at the finish line so your only task is closing.
Budget is another way to qualify real estate leads.
Asking homebuyers, in particular, will allow you to determine how much they can afford and are willing to spend. This is important to you as a realtor because you can show them houses in their price range.
Additionally, ask prospects:
These are critical factors because they affect how much real estate leads are capable of comfortably affording and whether they’ll be approved by a lender.
In fact, the average home buyer has 7% saved up for a down payment. The more, the better.
Just because someone can afford a $500,000 home doesn’t they’ll spend that much either for example. Some people are interested in having a smaller home despite being able to purchase more. Asking the above questions gives you all of this data.
If you want to simply focus on selling, our lead generation services at LeadJolt collect all of this information and give it to you so you’re prepared to close before every meeting. Get our free case study to see how we can help you scale your income.
Has the lead been pre-approved by a lender? Are they buying their next home in cash?
While cash buyers are fantastic, a majority of home buyers will use some form of a mortgage to finance the purchase. If a real estate lead is already pre-approved, this makes things smooth as silk.
Firstly, it tells you they are motivated. They’ve taken the steps to begin achieving their goal. They’re serious and should have a pre-approval letter for you to review. They’re ready to buy now.
Those who haven’t been approved by a lender run the risk of not being able to work with you later. Keep them on your radar but don’t overinvest in these prospects.
However, if they call you and genuinely ask questions and seek your advice, get them in touch with your favorite lender.
It’s not uncommon for leads to work with several agents. This may be because they aren’t happy with the first agent or other reasons. It’s wise to ask prospects if they are using another realtor because of this.
It can be a red flag as they could end up using someone else versus if they work with you and can only choose you.
After all, 42% of agents say that unpredictability of income is the biggest downside of their profession. Trying to close prospects that could ghost at the snap of a finger doesn’t help.
You should also ask if they’ve signed an Exclusive Buyer Broker Agreement instead of flat out asking if they’re with another realtor. This is more respectful and still answers the main question.
Furthermore, ask why they decided to call you and explain that it’d be better to consult with their current agent. If they are unsatisfied with another agent, further investigate how your services can help them and use the other questions in this article to qualify them.
How many bedrooms do they want? How big of a backyard? How many bathrooms?
Homebuyers dream of every little detail and will happily share these details. In fact, 52% of homebuyers say the main purpose of an agent is to find a desired property.
Asking these types of questions allows you to determine if you know properties that suit their interests or if you would be able to find new ones that match.
Victoria Carter, northern New Jersey’s top real estate agent, said, “You will never truly succeed unless you offer real value to your clients. You need to understand the local school system, different neighborhoods, housing markets and trends, commuting options, and the finances behind buying or selling a home.”
If clients have done their research, they are much more qualified. Ask questions like:
Sales cycles. They’re one of the hardest beasts to overcome in real estate. Many agents have long sales cycles leaving them without income for weeks or months.
LeadJolt can generate you consistent leads with our data-driven and proven Facebook Ads system.
Nonetheless, asking for a lead’s timeline for buying or selling allows you to have a sense of when deals need to be closed from the time you first meet.
The more precise a lead is, the more qualified they are. Ask the following questions:
Serious leads are willing to make sacrifices. We’re talking about cutting out luxury goods, limiting vacations, and taking on second jobs.
The more willing to sacrifice to get their dream home, the more qualified they are.
You’re at the finish line. You’ve found a lead who is qualified and could very likely close. You know enough about their situation to convert them into a paying client.
The very last qualification is to set up a meeting to finalize the arrangement. Wait until you clearly understand if the lead is suitable for your services to pull the trigger.
High-quality leads will suggest meeting up. They will ask questions and be serious about moving forward. Those uninterested in meeting up or progressing should be moved to the back burner.
Agents can significantly increase production and income by qualifying leads based on their willingness to finalize deals.
Remind them that they have found their dream home, will love the property, and are getting a great price.
Just because you're stuck around until the end, here’s the checklist we’ve promised for qualifying real estate leads:
This summarizes all of the main points we covered in today’s article. Study them. Document them. Come up with your own ideas. Use these qualifications every time you generate leads and you’ll double production.
Driving leads is one of the hardest parts of being an agent.
Have you ever thrown away precious time on prospects that never ended up converting? Thought so.
Agents can scale their income and avoid problems by having a clear qualification checklist. Leads don’t have to check every single box. But, the more, the better.
Use the eight factors and questions we taught you today to start qualifying leads before closing them.
Better yet, want to stop spending 10–20 hours every week on outreach and finding opportunities?
Try out LeadJolt’s real estate lead generation services. We will get you 50 leads and 10 meetings guaranteed every single month. Claim your area today.
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