Where Real Estate Leads Come From: Seven Sources Compared

The Bauer Group team. Published October 2, 2026. Updated October 2, 2026.

Short answer. Real estate leads come from seven main places: people you know, open houses, sign calls, online portals, paid ads, expired and for-sale-by-owner outreach, and leads a brokerage provides. They trade money for time in different ways. New agents with little cash often start with the ones that cost time, and add paid or provided sources once they can answer every call fast.

The seven sources

People you know. Cost: very little money, steady time. Suits: every agent. Watch for: you have to ask, and keep in touch.
Open houses. Cost: little money, a weekend afternoon. Suits: new agents who need faces to meet. Watch for: you need a listing to hold open, or a colleague who will share one.
Sign calls. Cost: signs and your phone. Suits: agents with listings. Watch for: callers often want a different house, so be ready to help them anyway.
Online portals. Cost: usually money. Suits: agents who can answer within minutes. Watch for: portal leads go cold fast if you do not call back.
Paid ads. Cost: money and testing. Suits: agents with a budget and a clear area. Watch for: results depend on your follow-up, not just the ad.
Expired and for-sale-by-owner outreach. Cost: time and nerve. Suits: agents who are comfortable on the phone. Watch for: these owners often hear from many agents, so be useful, not pushy. Check the National Do Not Call Registry and any state rules before you phone.
Leads a brokerage provides. Cost: varies by brokerage. Suits: agents who want to spend their time on conversations. Watch for: ask where they come from and what you owe. See what to ask a brokerage that provides leads.

From the field

An experienced Bauer Group agent who had been closing a handful of deals a year closed 3 deals in their first 5 months after joining. Names are withheld.

This is one agent's result, not a promise or a typical outcome. Your results will depend on your effort, market and performance.

What every source has in common

A lead only helps if you answer it. A 2011 Harvard Business Review study of online sales leads found that firms that responded within an hour were far more likely to reach the lead than firms that waited longer. It covered sales leads across many firms, not just real estate, so treat it as a guide. Read speed to lead and answer rate before you spend a dollar on any source.

A simple weekly plan

Pick two sources, not seven. Here is a plan a new agent can run on a small budget.

Monday: write to or call five people you know. Ask who they know that is moving.
Tuesday to Thursday: follow up on every open lead the same day. Use the follow-up schedule.
Saturday or Sunday: hold or help at an open house. See open house leads.
Friday: update your CRM and plan next week.

How to choose

Ask two questions. How much money can I spend each month? How many hours can I give each week? If money is tight, lean on people and open houses. If time is tight, a provided or paid source can help, but only if you can answer fast.

Seven sources side by side

The first list in this guide tells you what each source is. This table compares them on the points that decide whether a source fits your month. It is qualitative on purpose. Your area, price range and follow-up habits change every result, so we do not put numbers on it. This table is an original comparison framework from The Bauer Group.

Source	Time to first result	Cash needed	Who controls the relationship	Typical failure mode	Best-fit agent
People you know	Slow at first, then steady	Very little	You	You stop asking and stop staying in touch	Any agent, especially one with a wide circle
Open houses	Fast for first conversations, slower for clients	Little	You, if you collect and follow up with the contacts	No listing to hold open, or no follow-up after the weekend	Newer agent who needs faces to meet
Sign calls	Fast once a listing is signed	Signs and a phone	You, but the listing contract is with your broker	Caller wanted a different house and you did not help anyway	Agent who already has listings
Online portals	Fast, within days	Usually the largest recurring cost	Often the portal or the brokerage, per its terms	Slow callbacks and no second attempt	Agent who can answer within minutes all day
Paid ads	Needs setup and testing before results	Ad spend plus tools	You, if you own the account and the data	No tracking, so you cannot tell what worked	Agent with a budget and one clear area
Expired and for-sale-by-owner outreach	Fast contact, slow trust	Little, plus list or data costs	You	Pushy calls to owners who already hear from many agents	Agent who is comfortable on the phone
Brokerage-provided	Depends on the program and how it assigns	Varies by brokerage	Read the agreement; often shared with the brokerage	Unclear rules on assignment, cost and what happens if you leave	Agent who wants more time in conversations and has read the terms

Who owns the lead if you leave a brokerage

Most agents never ask this until they are leaving. Ask it before you join. Two things are separate: the client relationship, and the database that holds the contact details.

On the client side, Texas rules are specific. TREC's rule on broker responsibility says listings and other brokerage agreements must be solicited and accepted in a broker's name. TREC also says a buyer representation agreement is a private contract between the buyer and the broker, not the sales agent, so buyers you represent stay with your previous broker unless they are released. Read more in our guide to switching brokerages in Texas.

On the database side, no rule we found sets who owns your contact list. That comes from your independent contractor agreement and the terms of any lead platform or CRM the brokerage supplies. The answer is often different for three kinds of contact. Read your agreement for each one.

Your own sphere. People you knew before you joined, or met on your own. Many agents keep a personal copy of these contacts, but the CRM terms may say otherwise.

Leads the brokerage supplied. The brokerage or the lead platform often controls these, and the agreement may say they stay when you go.

Leads you paid for yourself. If you bought the ad or the portal account in your own name, ask whether you or the brokerage holds the account and the data.

Questions to put in writing before you sign: Who owns the CRM account? Can I export my contacts at any time? What happens to leads in progress and to any referral fee if I leave? Are contacts I add myself treated differently from supplied leads? This is not legal advice. If a clause is unclear, ask a private attorney.

A 30-day test for a new lead source

The cheapest way to waste money is to put a full budget into a source before you know if you can work it. This is our suggested method, and it is an original framework, not an industry standard. It limits the money at risk and makes the decision at day 30 about your own numbers.

Step 1. Pick one source. Testing two at once hides which one did the work.

Step 2. Set a spending cap before you start, using money you can afford to lose. Do not raise it mid-test.

Step 3. Decide your response rule. For example, every new lead gets a call attempt the same day. Use the follow-up schedule and the follow-up tracker. Read speed to lead first.

Step 4. Log every lead in the same sheet. Update it each week.

Step 5. At day 30, decide: keep, change one thing and test again, or stop.

Week	Money spent	Leads received	Reached by phone or text	Conversations held	Appointments set	Notes on what to change
1
2
3
4
Total

How to read the results

Do not judge a source by closings at day 30. Many deals take longer than a month. Judge it on what you control and on cost per step.

Reach rate. Of the leads received, how many did you actually talk to? A low number points to your response speed, not necessarily the source. See answer rate.
Conversation to appointment. Of the people you talked to, how many agreed to meet or view a home?
Cost per appointment. Money spent divided by appointments set. Compare this across sources, not against a number from someone else.
Time spent. Count your hours too. A source that costs little cash but eats your week may still lose.
Quality notes. Were these people ready to move, or just looking? Write one line each week.

Check before you rely on this

This guide reflects the sources named below, read in early October 2026. Fees, rules, forms and market numbers change, and some details here may already be out of date.

Confirm anything that affects your money, your license or a contract with the source itself, such as TREC, the National Association of Realtors, your local association or your sponsoring broker. If something looks different from what you find, trust the source and let us know. This guide is general information for licensed agents and people becoming agents. It is not legal, tax or financial advice.

How The Bauer Group fits

The Bauer Group is a Frisco, Texas brokerage. Opportunities come from several lead generation platforms and resources, and how much an agent receives depends on performance. You pay nothing up front. A written split and a 2% resource fee on each transaction apply when a deal closes. Nothing is guaranteed.

Common questions

What is the best source of real estate leads for a new agent?

People you know and open houses cost the least money. Add a paid or provided source once you can answer every call within minutes.

Are portal leads worth it?

They can be, if you respond fast and follow up. Ask what you pay and what you owe when a lead closes or does not.

How many lead sources should I use at once?

Two is a workable start for many agents. Doing seven poorly is usually worse than doing two well.

Sources

Education only. Not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm licensing rules with the Texas Real Estate Commission. Results vary and depend on effort, market and lead performance.