Zillow Premier Agent has a measly 2.2/5.0 stars on G2 with 51 reviews. But the people I’ve spoken to about Zillow leads have great things to say…
As a matter of fact, Christian Koenig started off spending $4,000/month on Zillow leads in October 2022, and when I interviewed him in July of 2023, he was spending $20,000/month. We’ll cover:
- How Much Zillow Leads Cost
- Are Zillow Leads Worth the Cost
- Why Zillow Works in Some Areas More than Others
Zillow has two different programs: Zillow Premier Agent and Zillow Flex Program. Zillow Flex is a pay-at-closing program with no upfront cost, so this article strictly refers to Zillow Premier Agent.
Table of Contents:
How Much Do Zillow Leads Cost?
Zillow lead costs vary because Zillow sells a percentage of a ZIP code to agents. You can spend as little as $299 per month and as much as $20,000 or more per month, depending on the market.
Jason Boice, a Realtor in CT spends $997 per month and gets a little less than 1 closing per month from Zillow.
Christian Koenig is a friend that I met at the Real Estate Rockstars Conference. He’s one of the few realtors I know who understands the fundamentals of paid advertising. Here’s how he went from being a member of a team in Idaho to spending $20,000 per month of his own money on Zillow leads.
Are Zillow Leads Worth the Cost?
Zillow leads will never be worth the cost unless you believe that buying leads is an investment in your business.
Generating your own leads can take a ton of time.
In my opinion, Zillow leads can be worth the cost as long as you pick and choose your ZIP codes carefully and give every lead the attention it deserves.
Why?
Zillow is not a cheap advertising platform. If you miss one follow-up, that lead might find another Realtor. That client might have been the 1/5 leads you got that would have converted… Now instead of converting 1/5 leads, you’re going to convert 1/10.
If each lead costs you $300, your cost per deal just went from $1,500 to $3,000, and that cuts your return on investment in half!
Return on Investment (ROI) of Zillow Premier Agent
The ROI of Zillow leads can vary greatly depending on the market. For example:
Jason Boice is a Realtor in Connecticut. He has been purchasing leads from Zillow at $997/month since May of 2022. This adds up to roughly $19,000 in ad spend but he’s closed 15 transactions adding up to $131,250 in GCI.
($131,250 / $19,000) = 591% ROI
Christian in Idaho has scaled his ad spend quickly, so it’s far too soon to give an accurate ROI for his $20,000/month in ad spend. He closed $2.3m in volume in October and I imagine that will be a low month for him as leads that were generated 4+ months ago start converting.
Why Does Zillow Work Better in Certain Areas?
Zillow Premier Agent works better or worse in certain areas due to:
- Price of housing
- Competing Realtors
- Quality of Buyers
If you’re like Christian and advertise in an area where a lot costs $100k+ and houses cost more than $450k, you’re likely going to attract higher-quality clients. He converts more than 20% of his leads and the average sales price is $500k… You can do the math
But Jason, the Connecticut Realtor, has an average sales price closer to $300k. There are also fewer competing Realtors in his area so he gets more exposure for his $997/month in ad spend.
He also decided to cut out a zip code because he always got garbage leads (wanna-be investors) in the ZIP, which helped him concentrate his spending on higher-quality ZIP codes.
How Does Zillow Get Leads?
Zillow shows all the houses currently for sale by agents and owners who choose to list their houses for sale by owner on Zillow’s platform.
People browsing on Zillow are usually asked to create an account. When they create an account, Zillow verifies the phone numbers and email addresses of their users.
So, when someone finds a house they like or are interested in, they can ‘request a showing’. A representative from Zillow automatically calls the lead and a Zillow Premier Agent at the same time.
According to Jason Boice, sometimes the lead doesn’t answer the call and Zillow says “Sorry, {leadname} wasn’t able to take a call. We’ll try again later.”
When Zillow isn’t able to make direct contacts, they share the contact info with the agent so they can nurture leads.
Zillow Premier Agent Reviews
Zillow Premier Agent has a TON of bad reviews. In the past, Zillow would send their leads to several agents at once. This overwhelmed the leads and the Zillow Premier Agents were frustrated at the direct competition.
Due to that the complaints, Zillow changed its lead connection system to direct contact with one specific Zillow Premier Agent at a time. Because of this, Zillow leads have become much higher converting.
The Zillow Premier Agent CRM could use a lot of work. I believe it’s built more so Zillow can track how their agents are doing versus built to actually help the agents manage relations with their clients… (You know… what a Customer Relationship Management tool is supposed to do)
Overall, Jason and Christian have spent tens of thousands of dollars with Zillow and they recommend it!
Is Zillow Right For You?
If you’ve got some money to invest in your business and you want buyer leads, I think Zillow is a great opportunity to get an ROI. Mind you, these leads will be cold which most real estate agents aren’t used to.
You must follow up with Zillow leads to make them worth the upfront cost.
If you don’t have a CRM, you will need one to keep track of leads’ contact details. You can also use the Zillow Premier Agent CRM.
