Some loan officers have made a lot of money by buying mortgage leads, but others have lost a lot of money by doing so. Some of the best lead sources are kept secret. If you found a good lead source, wouldn't you want to keep it to yourself?
It's nice to spend money on mortgage leads that turn out to be good customers, but most people don't want to take the risk of buying leads. Even better is to come up with your own leads that convert well and don't cost much to make.
Here is one way to get free mortgage leads. In short, you want to find online forums and message boards where people talk about mortgages and/or real estate. Then, you would sign up as a user on these forums and show that you are an expert on mortgages.
Here's what to do: If you open a web browser and type "mortgage forum" into Google, you should find a lot of mortgage-related online discussion boards. Before you join any of the forums, you should look at the forum topics and see what people are talking about. Do most of them own their own homes? Do most of them work in real estate like you do? Now, don't ignore mortgage forums where a lot of real estate agents or loan officers hang out because they can sometimes be your best source of mortgage leads. You might see requests and posts from other loan officers looking for co-op opportunities.
Once you have found a few forums, you would then sign up for an account on one of them. If you have a website, put a link to it in your signature profile, which most forums will let you do. Here's what you shouldn't do: Don't just join a forum and start putting your ad everywhere. You might find it helpful to tell other people on the discussion board who you are and what services you offer. Make sure that you follow each forum's rules. Start using the forum by replying to other people's posts and giving helpful thoughts and suggestions. Once you do that, you have a place in the forum, and people will start to know you.
Even though this method is free because you don't have to pay for advertising, it may take a while before you start getting qualified leads. But it's probably one of the best and least expensive ways to get mortgage leads.
