How to Get Real Estate Listings: 10 Best Tips (2024)

It might not be the easiest thing in the world, but we’re going to help you out with our tips on how to get real estate listings.

Being a Real Estate Agent

A successful real estate agent knows how to attract the attention of potential sellers and flip them into clients. There’s no one way to do the job. Different people have different strategies. But it requires a lot of planning and a good eye to spot real estate leads. That’s the thing when you’re a seller’s agent; you need to really put in the effort.

Something very important to keep in mind- expect rejection. It’s a natural part of real estate lead generation; you won’t get every lead you’re after. But you need to go into this with a mindset of diligence. That means you don’t give up just because one lead turned out to be a flop. Or even if multiples leads led nowhere. But of course, you don’t want to waste your time. That’s why you’re here wondering how to get more listings in real estate.

So the first step is to actually find a lead. As a new real estate agent, you’ve probably familiarized yourself with a couple of methods to do so but may have faced a difficult time applying them. As someone who’s been in the business for a while now, you may be looking to refresh your marketing strategies to get more real estate listings. Either way, these are tips for real estate agents at any stage in their career. We’ll go over some traditional ways of how to get real estate listings and also some non-conventional routes.

How to Get Real Estate Listings: 10 Best Tips

Tip #1: Start Talking to People

Networking is the best way to get more exposure for your business and find real estate opportunities. The more people you talk to, and the more you interact with your community, the more potential listings you’ll find. How so?

This is a face-to-face real estate marketing strategy that can seriously help you get real estate clients. The more you interact with the people in your local real estate market, the more you can naturally spark conversation about your business. That’s the theme. You never want to be too pushy. Being an active member of your community will spread the news of your real estate business, and people interested in selling their homes will come to you. Go to local events, talk to other professionals in the industry, volunteer, and join your chamber of commerce. Solidify your position in the housing market and make sure people know you’re there. You never know which interaction will help you get a listing for real estate.

Related: 10 Best Marketing Tips for Real Estate Agents

Tip #2: Door Knocking (The Right Way)

Don’t just go up to random homeowners on your block and ask if you can market their homes for sale. If you’re going to interrupt someone in the middle of the day, make sure you have something valuable to offer them. Go up to them with an offer that you yourself would be interested in.

Door knocking is a classic strategy for how to get real estate listings. Don’t immediately offer to sell someone’s house. The success rate with that isn’t very high. But if you visit a number of homes and show them you’re a professional who knows what they’re doing, you might draw them in. Visit the home a couple of times before exclusively stating your interest in wanting to sell their property. This is how to get listings- in the first visit you should give the potential client a chance to familiarize themselves with your business. Let them know what you do and give them your card. You can maybe even offer them a summary of a real estate market analysis you’ve prepared for their neighborhood so they know the market value their property has.

Tip #3: Open Houses Aren’t Just for Buyer Leads

Of course, your main concern of any open house is to find the right buyer for the property. But who says you shouldn’t benefit from this opportunity for finding future clients? If you prepare for it, the open house you have set up can be a source of generating seller leads. People thinking about selling their homes will sometimes attend an open house to get a feel for their real estate market. At the open house, set up a table with a couple of different documents that potential sellers can benefit from. These will also show how knowledgeable you are about the real estate market, increasing a potential lead’s confidence in your abilities to sell their home. So prepare things like a market summary, with key statistics, or a list of real estate comps.

Tip #4: Get Real Estate Listings on Facebook

Facebook isn’t just a popular social media platform for friends to keep up with each other on. It’s a great source for people in any industry to grow their business. And it’s also a way for how to get real estate listings fast. The exposure an ad on Facebook will get you and the number of potential clients you’ll reach makes it a great tool. It’s a low-cost alternative to meeting individual leads face-to-face and is a great way for increasing your database.

Related: How to Engage More Clients on Social Media for Your Small Business

Tip #5: Use Mashboard to Find Off-Market Sellers

Online resources are plenty, but ones that can help you find reliable property owner data are rare. Mashboard is how to get real estate listings in any housing market. It’s the ultimate platform for real estate agents looking for serious sellers (and buyers). Mashboard will give you up-to-date information on property owners in any US market. All you’ll have to do is set a few filters like the location and property type and you’ll be given property owner names, numbers, emails, and addresses. You can then add any leads you’re interested in on your dashboard and we’ll get you all the demographic data you need on that lead. This is a great way to find and get in touch with off-market sellers- an opportunity you won’t find anywhere else.

Read more about what Mashboard can do for real estate agents.

Tip #6: Get Listings from Banks

Ever considered selling foreclosed properties? When banks fail to sell a foreclosed property at auction, they hold on to them. These homes are referred to as REO listings. This opens you up to a whole other segment in the real estate market. Try to develop a relationship with your local bank, and get access to foreclosed properties in the area. Apply directly to become a listing agent.

Related: 6 Tips for Selling a Rental Property with Tenants

Tip #7: Form a Relationship with Other Small Businesses

If someone is selling their home, an agent’s services aren’t the only thing they’ll be looking for. Real estate attorneys, inspectors, mortgage providers, electricians, etc. are all part of the process. Streamline communication with local businesses and reach some sort of agreement for mutual gain. If you have any clients who need to take some care of some repairs in their homes, you can recommend one of the repairmen you’ve been in contact with. Reaching this agreement with other businesses is also a great way to get more referrals. Did they hear word of their customers looking to sell property? You just got access to new real estate listings.

Tip #8: Cold Calling Still Works

Picking up the phone could be one of the best ways for how to get real estate listings. It might not be something you’re fond of, but cold calls really do work. You just need to go into it with a positive mindset. Now, this doesn’t mean all of your interactions will be pleasant, but that’s just part of the agent grind. Be prepared before you make your calls. There are certain questions any potential client will ask, and if you can’t answer right away, that’s a problem. In this case, having a script to go off of will help you. Be ready to answer questions about your record of home sales, commission, experience, and more.

Tip #9: Contact Real Estate Developers

Real estate developers definitely have property they want to sell. So don’t ignore this opportunity. Because they typically buy land and build on it, they’ll eventually want to sell the property once it’s ready. This is how to get real estate listings and form beneficial relationships in the industry. Developers are usually already working with an agent, but contacting them to ask won’t hurt.

Tip #10: Work on Yourself

You want to reflect the image of a serious player in the industry. The way you handle your business and yourself plays a big role in how potential real estate clients view you. Invest a little in quality business cards and local ads. Even being consistent with informative email blasts can help you. Do whatever you can to leave an impression on the people in your real estate market. If they like what they see, the real estate listings will end up coming to you.

Lead generation is key for any real estate agent. To open your business to a larger database of real estate listings, gain access to off-market sellers and updated property owner data, don’t forget to check out Mashboard. To learn about your options for signing up for our services, click here.

Heba Baker

Heba is Content Writer at Mashvisor with a BA in Business Administration. Most of all, she enjoys writing about the constantly changing markets in the US real estate industry. If not writing, Heba is exploring and learning.