After completing the 4 days real estate training course (see: How 2 REN) and officially joining the real estate industry, it’s time to sell and rent houses! Yet, where and how do I get listings for sale or rent? Where and how do I get leads of vendors, purchasers, landlords, and tenants? Fret not! Here are some tips on how to acquire listings and leads in your real estate career.

Friends & Family

Someone once said, “You know what secret agents do? They hide in secret from the public. You’re not a secret agent, you’re a real estate agent. Do not be afraid to hide your identity and tell people you’re a real estate agent.” Tell your friends and family that you’re now a real estate negotiator/agent and are working in the real estate industry.

You really never know what good it can lead to. Your uncle whom you never talk to in your entire life, may suddenly take a notice in you and ask you to help him sell or rent out his unit(s). Your aunty who knows this so and so (aunty) from the morning wet market, who wants to buy a property for her child/children. Your cousins or friends may be looking to purchase their (first) property or to invest in a property.

Facebook as a social media tool has helped me in my real estate career. One day a friend personal messaged me on Facebook, saying that she wanted to rent out her condominium unit and needed my services as a real estate agent to find a tenant. Another day, another friend personal messaged me saying that she was looking to buy her first property and needed my expertise as a real estate agent. These are some examples of how family and friends can refer listings and leads to you.

Colleagues

Your colleagues may have listings which they do not specialize in, so they pass the listing to you. For example, one of my colleagues specializes and focuses in Damansara Utama. He so happens to have a listing in Mutiara Damansara. He passes the Mutiara Damansara listing for me to work on.

At other times, we co-broke or co-agency or partner together to work on a shared listing. We acquire a listing, share details and help each other to advertise, market, and sell the shared listing. Going back to my first post on Opening an Open House, Shan Kumar and I partner together for this SS23 Taman Sea double-storey corner house.

Flyers

After telling ALL your friends and family that you’re in real estate, you’ve exhausted all plausible known contacts in your database. Its time to expand your network of clients to your neighbours and people living in your taman (neighbourhood). Print and distribute flyers in your taman or condominium. You can either drop the flyers in the mail boxes yourselves or pay people (through a distribution company) to deliver the flyers for you.

If you drop the flyers yourself, you’ll be able to learn more about the taman and have the opportunity to meet some home owners who happen to be watering their garden or washing their car. You’ll also get to scout houses for sale or rent in the taman.

My very first few listings were through flyers. I printed a few hundred flyers and dropped them in the mail boxes in my taman. On that same day, I received calls and messages from my neighbours who wanted to sell and rent out their properties. To people who say that its impossible to acquire listings through flyers; I beg to differ. I’ve witnessed first hand the positive impact of flyers.

Property Portals

 Property portals are a good way to acquire listings actively and passively. Property portals are iProperty, PropertyGuru, Propwall, Propsocial, Property Circles, The Edge Property, Durian Property, Mudah.my, and more.

To actively acquire listings in these portals is to look for owner listings. There are some owners who opt to advertise on their own in these portals. They probably haven’t gotten the services of a real estate agent or they do not want to deal through a real estate agent and prefer to deal directly with the buyer(s). Anyhow, give them a call to enquire further and attempt to actively secure the listing.

The other method is by being passive, but it only works if you’ve an account with any of the portals and have multiple listings. Owners may (randomly) contact you to request your services to advertise his property. At other times, owners who see that you specialize in a certain area and have multiple listings online, will contact you to give you an additional listing.

I had a listing in Riana Green Condominium, Tropicana and I advertised it on PropertyGuru. One day, an owner contacted me because he saw my rental listing on the website. Even though the listing I had was for rent, the owner still contacted me because he wanted to sell his unit in the condo. This is one example of passively acquiring listings.

Master List

Lastly, another way to actively acquire listings is through the master list. What is a master list? A master list is the contact details of owners in a particular condominium, taman, commercial building, or area. Cold call or SMS blast to the owners in the master list. There will be owners who want to sell or rent their properties in and outside of the master list.

Cold calling is the active approach to acquire listing(s). Cold calling allows you to actively engage the owner and get the required informations there and then, and build a rapport with the owner. Whereas, SMS blasting is the passive approach in acquiring listing(s). Owners who really want to sell and rent their properties will reply your text message.

• Cold calling
  • Pros: Instant information collection and engaging conversations with sellers and landlords
  • Cons: Potentially negative comments and rude remarks from owners who consider it as spam and intrusion of their privacy
• SMS blasting
  • Pros: Polite and non-intrusive way of soliciting for listing. Owners who receive the messages are not obliged to reply
  • Cons: Delayed responses from owners. Mobile numbers may no longer have been in service so text message was not sent.

Anyhow, a listing is successfully acquired, whether through cold calling or sms blasting.

Which method?

These are some sample methods of acquiring listings and leads which I’ve experienced thus far in my real estate career. Listings and leads can also be sourced from newspapers, forums, social media, etc. There are more ways and methods to acquire listings which is too broad a topic to cover here.

Furthermore, there is no 1 right and perfect method in acquiring listings and leads. Each method has its own pros and cons. It comes with trial and error, and finding the method which you find comfortable using and suitable in your business.

If you’ve any method which you have found successful, feel free to share in the comments section below.

You’re not a secret agent, you’re a real estate agent.