Free mortgage leads is a term that you have probably heard before. Many leads generation sites are using the term to try to capture brokers' keyword searches. But what are free mortgage leads, and we are questioning if they are really offering you something for nothing.

The Gimmick

A good scenario would be if your real estate agent told you, "We're selling the house for two hundred grand, but you can have the porch for free." For most people, this kind of statement would elicit a dry laugh or a snide response. We should also question when a leads generator tells us, "If you purchase 5,000 mortgage leads, we will give you an additional 1,000 leads for free."

Leads are valuable because they represent potential business. Anytime someone is giving away something this valuable, you need to stop and question the motive. It is possible they are giving leads away because they are of inferior quality compared to purchased leads for instance. These leads may represent a lower conversion rate. Or it could be that the company set up their pricing structure so that you'll pay for your "free" leads later on.

You Do the Footwork

Sometimes, what free mortgage leads really means is that you'll have to do the footwork yourself. Although there's nothing wrong with this approach, for those who have the time to try it, leads obtained in this manner should not be characterized as free. After all, time is money, and if you are spending time acquiring leads you are also taking time away from other tasks that could be making you money more directly.

Getting these free mortgage leads typically requires a lot of hard work. You will need to attend open houses in the hopes of establishing relationships with the real estate agent or potential buyers, search for real estate agents who would be willing to team up with you, and hunt down "For Sale By Owner" homes and try to convince them to refer potential buyers to you. Some brokers and loan officers even relocate their offices so that they are next to a real estate agent's office, in the hopes that they can take advantage of the potential clients the agent's office attracts.

However, all of these efforts take time, and can keep you from other moneymaking pursuits. And even after you do all that, there is no guarantee that you'll get the leads you are after. You may not be the only broker an agent works with, after all. It is because of reasons like these that many brokers, rather than chasing elusive free mortgage leads, choose to buy their leads instead.

You Get What You Pay For

When considering anything that is marketed as free mortgage leads, remember the time-tested adage, "You get what you pay for." This certainly is true in the case of free mortgage leads. The free leads you get might be the same exact ones the company gave everyone else, or the leads have something else wrong with them that will make their conversion rate very low. They might also be nothing but a gimmick to get you to buy something else. Your free mortgage leads could also require you to do a lot of footwork in order to earn them and for a busy broker or loan officer, this is usually too time consuming to be practical.

In short, no matter how promising free mortgage leads might sound, they will cost you something in the end. Whether it is time spent on bad leads, money spent on overpriced services, or your own time spent in chasing the leads down. Remember that nothing worthwhile is free, not even mortgage leads.