How do real estate agents get leads?

Ascent Vision · Published October 31, 2026

Real estate agents usually get leads from past clients and people they know, from referral partners such as lenders, and from buyers and sellers searching online. Google Local Services Ads include a real estate category. In Florida, the statute lets the Real Estate Commission discipline a licensee for fraudulent, false, deceptive or misleading advertising. This is a plain summary, not legal advice.

Where buyers and sellers start

Most home buyers and sellers hire an agent, so a lead is often choosing between agents rather than deciding whether to use one. NAR's news release on its 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers (November 4, 2025) reports that 88% of all home buyers used an agent or broker and that 91% of sellers used an agent. It also reports that 91% of buyers would use their agent again or recommend them to others. NAR's highlights page says the Profile surveys buyers and sellers who completed a transaction between July 2024 and June 2025.

Reading that as advice, not as NAR's conclusion: when most people use an agent, being the agent a person already knows or was told about usually matters more than being the one who spent the most to be seen.

Past clients and referral partners

Past clients who would recommend you are often among the least costly leads you can get, but usually only if they hear from you. As general advice, send a short, honest note a few times a year, by text only with the person's consent, and record each referral under the name of whoever sent it.

Referral partners in this trade often include lenders, title companies, home inspectors and attorneys, because each meets buyers and sellers before or during a purchase. The related answer on getting referrals from other businesses covers how to ask and how to say thank you. Before any arrangement that involves money or gifts in exchange for referrals, ask your broker or a Florida attorney.

Paid routes

Google's page on getting started with Local Services Ads lists "Real estate services" among its United States categories, and it points to an eligibility check for your area. The related answer on what Google Local Services Ads are covers how the ads work, the screening and the per-lead billing.

Lead sites are the other paid route. The related answer on buying leads from lead sites says to judge each one by what you win from it, not by the contacts it sends. For an agent that means closed deals.

The advertising rule in Florida

Section 475.25 of the 2026 Florida Statutes lists grounds on which the Florida Real Estate Commission may discipline a licensee. Paragraph (1)(c) covers advertising property or services in a manner that is "fraudulent, false, deceptive, or misleading" in form or content, and it lets the commission adopt rules defining prohibited advertising methods.

The first conversation with a new client is touched by section 475.278, which sets out brokerage relationship disclosures for licensees in residential sales as the statute defines them, with several exemptions. For a licensee with no brokerage relationship, it says the disclosure "must be made before the showing of property". A single agent's written disclosure has its own timing, before or at the time of a listing or representation agreement or before showing the property, whichever comes first.

This is a plain summary, not legal advice. An agent with a question about a specific advertisement or disclosure can ask the broker or a Florida attorney.

Sources

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