Prequalifying Your Real Estate Leads

Speed up lead conversions by chasing quality and promising leads with proper prequalification. Each new household may be a potential sale, but you must prioritise and invest yourself with the right ones who are worth your time.   

So what is it?  

Prequalifying is the first step in your sales funnel. It’s the process where you gather information about your leads to see how motivated they are, and if they’re really able and willing to buy. You do it for 2 reasons: saving time, and to know what sort of selling approach to use. So increase your business’ effectiveness by having a standard questionnaire everytime you meet new leads. This way, you can immediately identify and separate promising ones from the rest. 

How to go about it. 

It starts with asking the right questions. While you can’t immediately get their full financial background, making sure that they’ll be able to get financing if they need it and if they are serious about buying can be done with a short conversation.  

Checklist for lead qualification - here are some example questions to ask your leads.

1. Location 

Question: Are you looking for a specific location?

You want to get leads in your market area so you can show off your experience and knowledge, and prepare an appropriate list of properties for them. Try to find out: 

• The exact property they are interested in 
• The neighborhoods they prefer
• If they are open to view similar properties in nearby neighborhoods, towns, or cities. 

Also try to gauge their level of knowledge by asking “how well do you know the housing market?” to see if they have done their research. The more educated they are, the more prepared they are to move forward with the whole process.  

2. Reason 

Question: What is your reason for buying a house? 

Ask them questions to reveal how badly they want to buy. This will show if your leads have a legitimate reason for buying and reaching out to you. If they are motivated, they can turn into good clients. Whether they are first-time home buyers, downsizing, retiring, investing, or such, this question will also help you match the right property to them.  

3. Budget

Question: What is the price point you’re looking for?

Find out how much they’re able to afford and willing to spend so you can tell if they are able to move on with the purchase. If they don’t know how much they can afford, help them by asking: 

• Did you save for a downpayment? If so, how much?
• Do you have a good credit score?
• Do you have debt? If so, how much?

4. Mortgage 

Question: Have you been pre-approved by a lender?

This will tell you if they are clearly serious about buying, as they know where they stand with their budget and finances. If they have not been pre-approved, help your leads get in touch with a lender.

5. Experience

Question: When was your last sales experience?
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Get a feel of your lead’s real estate background and experience. How many properties have they sold? How did they select the agent that you worked with? What did they like best and least about what that agent did? Then adjust your sales approach from their answers.

6. Agent

Question: How have you been searching for homes?

Know if they have been working with other agents. If they are already working with someone who has another option on the table, they can cancel anytime. So get a candid response with the above question, rather than directly asking, “are you working with an agent?”, to which they might lie in order to hear what you have to offer.

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7. Preference

Question: Do you have specific requirements for your new home?

Qualified leads will give you detailed information (such as number of bedrooms, flooring and other amenities) about what they want for their ideal home. This makes matching them up with the right property easier, along with helping you identify things like: 

• If you have the right experience for them
• If they are realistic based on their location, budget, and reasons
• Where to look for properties that match their preference
• How long it will take to close the transactions

No need to get every last detail, but try to ask questions in different forms to get the most complete picture. 

• What is your ideal neighbourhood?
• How many beds and baths do you want?
• What features are important to you?
• Do you have any unique requirements?

8. Timeline

Question: How soon do you want to move in? 

Figure out where in the sales funnel this lead is currently at so you can strategize accordingly. Ask the following questions to find their timeline: 

• How long have you been searching?
• How quickly are you ready to buy and move in?
• Are you waiting to sell your current house first?
• Can you move forward if I find your ideal home tomorrow?

They are not ideal leads if they want to buy in the next 2-3 years or if they are unsure. Prioritise those with an urgent reason to move or have been looking for a long time. 

9. Appointment 

Question: When can we meet to discuss this further?

Your lead is pretty qualified if you have gotten this far. Ask for a specific time and place to meet and finalise the arrangement, but don’t rush it. Leave this part until you have a solid picture of your lead’s situation. High quality leads will suggest meeting up as soon as possible, and not weeks or months in the future. So try to create a sense of urgency by telling them how the real estate market is doing, what the competition is like, and the deals available during this very time.  

Final words 

Be a more successful agent by prequalifying to eliminating unqualified leads fast, and work only those that will convert into clients. Once you start asking the right questions, you can maximise your sales efforts, time and money that you spend on real estate marketing and lead generation.