You might already have a good grip on the best or cheapest leads for your business. But very few agents (or likely, zero) would say, “I have plenty of good sources for leads, I don’t need anymore.” Even if you are happy paying Zillow, or get lots of leads through your sphere of influence or social media, there are almost certainly untapped, untrodden paths to bring more potential clients into your orbit.
Whether you are an old-fashioned, pavement-pounding salesperson or a web-savvy digital guru, there are untapped spaces and niches out there you could very likely benefit from. Here are four off-the-beaten-path places to find leads.
Bulletin boards
In your local library, county office or community center, you will always find one of these bulletin boards, plastered with posters and clip-off phone numbers. Maybe you have already pinned your card onto some. But the real value comes not in what you leave, but what you take away.
These boards are often used by very local, very engaged people and groups, and you can find a plethora of different ways to get your business in front of people. Local gardening enthusiasts might love to offer you the chance to speak to members on how flowers and plants are used in home staging. Petitions for or against a new housing rule or development can help you hone in on neighborhoods where people will be selling or buying soon. While combing over these and ideating around them takes effort, you may find some powerful new connections where very few other agents are looking.
Reddit
For the more digital-minded agent, a new social media connection can be invaluable. Though Reddit isn’t new—the company launched in 2005, only a couple years after Facebook—its value in real estate comes from its local and niche nature. Made up of thousands of somewhat separate boards, or “subreddits,” each of these communities are built around separate interests, themes or regions.
There are many popular real estate focused communities, including real estate investors (1.7 million members), first-time homebuyers (192,000 members) and real estate tech (25,000 members). Many metros—large and small—also have their own communities. While rules often forbid direct advertising of your business, people in these spaces are extremely engaged on the topic, city or interest of the subreddit, and can both provide insight on these topics, as well as potentially become new clients.
Colleges/universities
Not real estate colleges that offer training and certifications for industry professionals—we’re talking about old-fashioned institutes of higher education. At the most basic level, there is lots of preliminary data showing that members of Gen Z are more interested in homeownership than millennials, and more likely to jump into the housing market early in their lives, so it pays to get your name in front of this demographic.
But even more broadly, colleges are a source of constant movement and development—from investors snatching up condos to coaches and administrators filtering in and out of the area. Many colleges also offer real estate degrees or concentrations, and some have whole divisions focused on real estate. Getting involved with these programs can offer openings for you to speak to students, faculty, investors and more.
Live streaming
Currently an extremely nascent and niche place for real estate, live streaming sites have historically been the territory of video gamers. While many people are familiar with Facebook and Instagram Live features, other big players like YouTube, Amazon-owned Twitch.tv and even TikTok’s live service have all carved out a more personal niche, featuring investor-focused streams and plenty of podcast channels.
With an audience that skews young and educated, streaming can be a powerful way to grow your brand and reach a new audience—though it will certainly require a lot of work, and reaching a regionally-specific audience will be a challenge. But with everything from farming to AI-powered fake presidential debates gaining traction on these platforms, there will almost certainly be an audience for real estate influences soon, if not today.
Quality leads are either hard to come by, or expensive. While it might be hard to justify investing more time or money in searching for new clients in these less traditional ways, bolder, persevering agents may find powerful and effective new avenues to reach clients in these spaces. Just like everything else in real estate, it takes an entrepreneurial and independent spirit to succeed, and over-relying on the same old lead-gen may end up as a drag on your business. Whether you are an old-fashioned, boots-on-the-ground agent or someone who seeks to ride the crest of every tech wave, these new places offer you the potential of providing a huge influx of solid, organic leads.
