In 2018 I traveled the country sharing with real estate agents and mortgage professionals my concerns of pending troubles approaching our industries. I tried to share and warn people about the growing trend of buying leads and building teams of people to call and message those leads one after another in hopes of securing and potential transaction. This process was only further complicated by trainers and coaches in both professions sharing the belief that buy purchasing and chasing leads, and by building large groups of people dependent on those leads for their income, that the very skills needed to be self-reliant was in jeopardy.
The matter only gets more complicated when those leads are largely purchased from companies who are not just in the lead selling business, but in the business of taking over the real estate and mortgage business. I also warned those people that once real estate agents, mortgage people, and the very companies they work for become addicted to buying leads and chasing deals, it wouldn’t be long before the prices of those leads would go higher and the very companies selling the leads would themselves become a competitor.
Well, it’s 2021 and look at the markets. More and more licensed people no longer have the ability to self-generate an opportunity as independent professionals and now work either for these companies in a call center, or for a company as part of a team that only funnel business up through a central person. It’s not hard to see right before our eyes it all happening. Those just a few years ago thought it never possible are now in direct competition with the same companies they are buying their leads from!
You only need to look and see these companies or subsidiaries of them are licensed real estate brokers in many if not all fifty states and DC. Partner companies are now originating mortgages as well. The lines are drawn and the battle is engaged but far too many still don’t see it. As I said in 2018, it would be less than five years before more than half of all licensed mortgage and real estate licenses were issued to those who DON’T work for themselves or work as part of someone else’s team or call center. I think that time may be coming even faster than that!
Just take a look around you and see the size and scope of the lead generation business. Look at the players who are buying up companies one by one and those who are the consumers of the leads as well as the ones paying for them. Then ask a simple question; “why would I be paying money to a company that has a mission to either put me out of business, or get me to work for them and earn less money for my work than if I did it myself?” What you see may surprise you; maybe even scare you!
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