Featured Agent Reviews

[Austin Johnson]

Does anyone have experience, conversion rates, etc. after using  BP Featured agent leads?
 I've searched and searched and I haven't seen any reviews, results etc. I like to read reviews before purchasing, call me crazy.
 I know it's a fairly new program. I can find numerous Zillow Leads reviews but nothing on this. anyone have anything?

[Zander Kempf]

It looks like it's a new service they are just starting to offer. I have a couple colleagues that have looked into it, but didn't move forward due to the high cost. 

[Austin Johnson]

I'm in the same boat. it was too expensive for my small market and not worth the risk.

[Corby Goade]

I've been doing it since December and tracking the results. 

[Austin Johnson]

it's 6 months. how have the results been?

[Caleb Brown]

I have been doing it since they launched it. We were one of the first cities they launched it in. Initially it was $500 per month and now they do $40 per lead so $1,000. I usually get 15-30 leads per month. Sometimes I get multiple a day or go a week before getting one. You have to work the leads as any other lead. This lead is also not always going to you. The lead clicks who they want the message to go to. Could be just you or 2 other agents. So speed is key on reaching out. Send out a message and call within a day. If they don't respond after a few tries(ideally you want to reach out 10-12 times) put them on a drip campaign. Most of the time they respond within 1-2 messages. I have had great success with it. I always figure out their criteria and dial it in. From there find them the right deal, don't just put them on an MLS auto email. I would say the % I convert is 10%. So If I get 30 leads a month it equals to 3+ closings. If I close 3 deals from their initial deal that's 9K from it(using 100K as the average price point). The key to them or any lead is follow-up. There are some leads that are 6 months out or are ready NOW. Most will take 1-2 months before they are ready and go under contract. I have a contact list I use to keep in touch and add notes. The other good part is they often do multiple deals over a year or multiple years so it leads to more than just 1 closing. One of my favorite stories is a family member who bought 1 BRRR and they ended up referring 4 family members. It has turned out to be 25+ deals which is nuts. It is a great pillar if you are working the investor niche and want to build your business on that. If you are a part timer or someone who doesn't love investing don't do it.

[Robert Finn]

@Caleb Brown Thank you for sharing your experience and best practice! You've provided a lot of great insight! I'm going to give it a try in my market.

[Manny Vasquez]

@Austin Johnson  I just signed up with BP Featured Agent leads so I will definitely be tracking the quality of the leads.  I totally understand that once I get the lead I need to follow up immediately and I also have to do the best job  to convince that lead to work with me.  That same lead could be contacting other agents, so speed of follow up and making the best first impression is imperative.  I work in Orange and Los Angeles counties and each city will have a different price, which is dependent on several factors like Average/Median Sales Price, Population, City Size, etc.   Depending on those same factors, Bigger Pockets will only sell "a fixed number of spots" to BP Featured Agents.  For example, if you were to pick the city of Los Angeles (which is huge in size and population) Bigger Pockets may only allow a total of 10 BP Agents.  If you were to pick a smaller city, say Bakersfield (which is significantly smaller in population and average price) then that city may only allow up to 6 agents. 

The other good thing is that (in my opinion) you will be receiving "quality leads" .  You will typically get people from Bigger Pockets who more than likely read the posts, the forums, the books, listen to the podcasts, etc and therefore they are a little more "educated or experienced" in the home buying process.  These leads would be very different than say "Zillow Leads" <--which I would never recommend--> because Zillow will give you all the "Looky Lou's" that click on their click-bait banners.  So with the Bigger Pockets leads one would hope that the leads are a little more on the "serious side" of buying. Like I said, I just got started with a city in Orange County and I will be monitoring it to see how it goes.  If it goes well, I will definitely sign up for more cities.

[Brian Blosser]

@Manny Vasquez I'm curious how it goes for you, I talked with them about the LA market but declined due to the price point. I was quoted $220/lead with an estimated 4% conversion rate. Hoping it was lower for you down in Orange County.

[Manny Vasquez]

@Brian Blosser Hey buddy, I also inquired about Los Angeles and it was pretty expensive.  However, you could also pick a city like "PIco Rivera" or "Whittier" or "Torrance" or "Santa Clarita" and it may have a different price point. I already paid for the program but I haven't got started yet as I took my family on vacation and I would not have been available for any leads.  However, I plan to start soon and I will definitely be monitoring it.  I'll let you know how it goes buddy!

[Benjamin Mavity]

@Manny Vasquez I'm considering signing up in San Diego, if you did sign up I'd love to know how it's been for you.

[Janel Kolbo]

I'm glad this conversation is happening! I am in talks with them at the moment for St. Petersburg, FL. The Tampa market is full, with a waitlist. I've asked if they track demand per city, or any other metrics. I'll be curious to see if they have any data for this program yet. Does anyone have any updates they'd like to share?

[Karen Margrave]

@Brian Blosser @Caleb Brown @Corby Goade @Austin Johnson @Zander Kempf @Janel Kolbo @Benjamin Mavity @Manny Vasquez @Robert Finn

Overall are you satisfied with the quality of the leads on Featured Agent, in comparison to others? Is any prequalification of buyers done? 

My issue that I have is that I've been a moderator and member since 2009. I have posted thousands of posts, offering free, detailed advice for members on all things real estate development, construction and real estate. I did this to help others and as a side benefit grow my network and become the go to person for BP members in my area as a Realtor and General Contractor. I've started Meetups in Orange County, CA and in Bend, OR.  In other words, I've added value to the BP brand over the years. However; now whenever I do a post and put in "if you have any questions" or "if you need more information, I'm happy to help" my posts are taken down, and I'm asked to buy Featured Agent, depriving posters of helpful, expert advice. 

So my biggest question is, what value do the paid leads actually have over posting in the forums and consistently giving advice?  Over the years I have done deals with BP members that have joint ventured, funded deals, and purchased homes through me. However; since the Featured Agent push, there's now someone else in my area that's a paid featured agent, so apparently participating in the forums and answering questions will no longer be of value in picking up BP clients, they'll go to the Featured Agent that's only relationship with BP is paying his bill for leads. NOTE:  Let's keep all comments geared toward things we think would improve the current system. 

[Caleb Brown]

Quote from @Karen Margrave:

@Brian Blosser @Caleb Brown @Corby Goade @Austin Johnson @Zander Kempf @Janel Kolbo @Benjamin Mavity @Manny Vasquez @Robert Finn

Overall are you satisfied with the quality of the leads on Featured Agent, in comparison to others? Is any prequalification of buyers done? 

My issue that I have is that I've been a moderator and member since 2009. I have posted thousands of posts, offering free, detailed advice for members on all things real estate development, construction and real estate. I did this to help others and as a side benefit grow my network and become the go to person for BP members in my area as a Realtor and General Contractor. I've started Meetups in Orange County, CA and in Bend, OR.  In other words, I've added value to the BP brand over the years. However; now whenever I do a post and put in "if you have any questions" or "if you need more information, I'm happy to help" my posts are taken down, and I'm asked to buy Featured Agent, depriving posters of helpful, expert advice. 

So my biggest question is, what value do the paid leads actually have over posting in the forums and consistently giving advice?  Over the years I have done deals with BP members that have joint ventured, funded deals, and purchased homes through me. However; since the Featured Agent push, there's now someone else in my area that's a paid featured agent, so apparently participating in the forums and answering questions will no longer be of value in picking up BP clients, they'll go to the Featured Agent that's only relationship with BP is paying his bill for leads. 

 I do both. I actively post on the forums and find clients through that. I also get leads through the paid part. Currently it has slowed down a little so I get 20-30 leads per month. You have to be careful about what you post, I haven't gotten my posts taken down in a few years(when I was a rookie). Maybe being a featured agent is a part but I'd say keep posting helping people and don't do self promos. 

[Kai Kopsch]

I was one of the first agents in my area to try out the Featured Agent program. My conversion rate was around 4%, and I was out after the heavy price increase.

I love BP and helping new Investors get started, but the 4% CR is so low because the biggest obstacle for first-time Investors is analysis paralysis and comparing a deal to once-in-a-lifetime examples posted in the forums. To be clear, a seasoned investor is not using a, please match me function on the featured agent BP program. The learning out of over 500 leads was 20% like to sell me something next 20% "I was reading about the 2% rule" if you have the deal of a lifetime, please call me and 60% are actual leads. 

[Corby Goade]

Quote from @Kai Kopsch:

I was one of the first agents in my area to try out the Featured Agent program. My conversion rate was around 4%, and I was out after the heavy price increase.

I love BP and helping new Investors get started, but the 4% CR is so low because the biggest obstacle for first-time Investors is analysis paralysis and comparing a deal to once-in-a-lifetime examples posted in the forums. To be clear, a seasoned investor is not using a, please match me function on the featured agent BP program. The learning out of over 500 leads was 20% like to sell me something next 20% "I was reading about the 2% rule" if you have the deal of a lifetime, please call me and 60% are actual leads. 

 Yep- I get lots of "leads" that are obviously a novice wholesaler telling me what a big time buyer they are, who has obviously cut and pasted the message 100 times. Too much time in the forums and no real life experience.

[Matthew Jones]

I signed up to be a Features Agent program with the intention of connecting with and helping other investors in my area. I made it clear that I wasn't looking to work with inexperienced investors. I paid $1600 for 20 leads. 18 of those leads were new to investing with no deals under their belt, which there is nothing wrong with, just not who I wanted to work with. I was not happy with how many new investors were contacting me because each lead counts against your quota. I reached out to the person that set me up with the service and I was told there is no way to filter them out. Trying to make the best of the situation, I told all the new investors that contacted me that I would work with them and offer them more than the typical agent. I offered them access to my entire network. I am a full-time real estate investor and I offered to connect them with my contractor (very few investors would even think about offering this), to my lenders, and insurance agents, to help them run the numbers on a property. And as I predicted, not a single one of them followed through. Personally, I felt the Featured Agent program was a waste of money and canceled it. The other frustrating aspect of the program was that they offered a premium membership, which also went away after canceling the program. I had not met my 16 lead quota yet when I canceled but they canceled the premium membership. I thought that was a bit of a raw deal. If you are a full-time agent and willing to work with whomever, then by all means sign up for the program. Just be aware that the quality of leads might not be there. If you are looking to connect with ready-to-go investors, I would save your money and head to your local REIA. BiggerPockets could easily allow you to filter the leads. Before a member can find a featured agent they have to answer a series of questions, one of which asks how many deals they have completed. Sure, people can lie but the majority won't. Because the answers to the questions live in a database somewhere, BiggerPockets could allow the Featured Agent to set up a filter based on the answers to the questions. There is an incentive not to, though. Your lead quota gets burned up and you have to buy more. I'm sure there will be arguments to my comments but these are my opinions of the program. If you had a great experience with it, that's great. You and I are most likely not pursuing the same goals.

[Karen Margrave]

Quote from @Caleb Brown:

Quote from @Karen Margrave:

@Brian Blosser @Caleb Brown @Corby Goade @Austin Johnson @Zander Kempf @Janel Kolbo @Benjamin Mavity @Manny Vasquez @Robert Finn

Overall are you satisfied with the quality of the leads on Featured Agent, in comparison to others? Is any prequalification of buyers done? 

My issue that I have is that I've been a moderator and member since 2009. I have posted thousands of posts, offering free, detailed advice for members on all things real estate development, construction and real estate. I did this to help others and as a side benefit grow my network and become the go to person for BP members in my area as a Realtor and General Contractor. I've started Meetups in Orange County, CA and in Bend, OR.  In other words, I've added value to the BP brand over the years. However; now whenever I do a post and put in "if you have any questions" or "if you need more information, I'm happy to help" my posts are taken down, and I'm asked to buy Featured Agent, depriving posters of helpful, expert advice. 

So my biggest question is, what value do the paid leads actually have over posting in the forums and consistently giving advice?  Over the years I have done deals with BP members that have joint ventured, funded deals, and purchased homes through me. However; since the Featured Agent push, there's now someone else in my area that's a paid featured agent, so apparently participating in the forums and answering questions will no longer be of value in picking up BP clients, they'll go to the Featured Agent that's only relationship with BP is paying his bill for leads. 

 I do both. I actively post on the forums and find clients through that. I also get leads through the paid part. Currently it has slowed down a little so I get 20-30 leads per month. You have to be careful about what you post, I haven't gotten my posts taken down in a few years(when I was a rookie). Maybe being a featured agent is a part but I'd say keep posting helping people and don't do self promos. 

I'm a moderator on BP, and have been for many years. I'm one of the people that take down, remove, or edit posts. It's pretty subjective, based on the moderator. Some are more rigid than others. Personally if there's a post that has a line in it that may be a promo, I will edit out that one line, leave the post and let the poster know I did that, so that the information given is still up.  Back to the Featured Agent info. 

My question was to try to get some feedback from members, on the paid Featured Agent ads. I've paid for leads before. I know that some of the providers do pre qualifications so the leads are hot leads, and others have simple forms that request a name, phone, and email and you have to weed through them. Where on the scale does BP fall?  

[Karen Margrave]

@Matthew Jones Thank you for your detailed answer. Though I didn't have all the information, I was afraid that the process was as you described. I don't want to pay for lists that I have to weed through to find the few people that might be qualified buyers. On some of the lead generation platforms they ask if potential buyer has been pre qualified with a lender, and if not, they are assigned a lender as well as an agent. With real estate investors, many use private or hard money, so it's a little different process, but they still would know if they have financing lined up. I don't mind paying for high quality leads that have a good chance of conversion. Also with investors, there should be a qualifier as to the type of property they're looking for on the questionnaire. In my area everyone wants a multi family, and we just don't have any available for sale, so those leads would be a waste. 

[Caleb Brown]

Quote from @Karen Margrave:

Quote from @Caleb Brown:

Quote from @Karen Margrave:

@Brian Blosser @Caleb Brown @Corby Goade @Austin Johnson @Zander Kempf @Janel Kolbo @Benjamin Mavity @Manny Vasquez @Robert Finn

Overall are you satisfied with the quality of the leads on Featured Agent, in comparison to others? Is any prequalification of buyers done? 

My issue that I have is that I've been a moderator and member since 2009. I have posted thousands of posts, offering free, detailed advice for members on all things real estate development, construction and real estate. I did this to help others and as a side benefit grow my network and become the go to person for BP members in my area as a Realtor and General Contractor. I've started Meetups in Orange County, CA and in Bend, OR.  In other words, I've added value to the BP brand over the years. However; now whenever I do a post and put in "if you have any questions" or "if you need more information, I'm happy to help" my posts are taken down, and I'm asked to buy Featured Agent, depriving posters of helpful, expert advice. 

So my biggest question is, what value do the paid leads actually have over posting in the forums and consistently giving advice?  Over the years I have done deals with BP members that have joint ventured, funded deals, and purchased homes through me. However; since the Featured Agent push, there's now someone else in my area that's a paid featured agent, so apparently participating in the forums and answering questions will no longer be of value in picking up BP clients, they'll go to the Featured Agent that's only relationship with BP is paying his bill for leads. 

 I do both. I actively post on the forums and find clients through that. I also get leads through the paid part. Currently it has slowed down a little so I get 20-30 leads per month. You have to be careful about what you post, I haven't gotten my posts taken down in a few years(when I was a rookie). Maybe being a featured agent is a part but I'd say keep posting helping people and don't do self promos. 

I'm a moderator on BP, and have been for many years. I'm one of the people that take down, remove, or edit posts. It's pretty subjective, based on the moderator. Some are more rigid than others. Personally if there's a post that has a line in it that may be a promo, I will edit out that one line, leave the post and let the poster know I did that, so that the information given is still up.  Back to the Featured Agent info. 

My question was to try to get some feedback from members, on the paid Featured Agent ads. I've paid for leads before. I know that some of the providers do pre qualifications so the leads are hot leads, and others have simple forms that request a name, phone, and email and you have to weed through them. Where on the scale does BP fall?  

Ahhhh. For BP you have to weed through. BP doesn't do anything up front. Buyers/sellers just fill out basic info that is sent to us. It works but it does mean you'll have tire kickers, people who don't answer or just people who are a longer ways out.

[Griffin Pratt]

Quote from @Janel Kolbo:

I'm glad this conversation is happening! I am in talks with them at the moment for St. Petersburg, FL. The Tampa market is full, with a waitlist. I've asked if they track demand per city, or any other metrics. I'll be curious to see if they have any data for this program yet. Does anyone have any updates they'd like to share?

 Hey Janel,

I am also considering signing up with this program in St. Pete. How have things been going for you so far?

Griffin

[Jon Lester]

I signed up in New Orleans in April and am having the same problem as everyone else. I was told that the leads would be pre-qualified but they are not at all.  I get so many of them that have not researched the market at all, have not researched real estate investing in general, who never respond to my outreach attempts, or already have representation but want a second opinion.  I read this thread before making the jump, so I was skeptical about the results but hopeful that things had changed; however, my experience so far has not been great.  I will likely cancel my subscription if none of the leads can be converted.  And even if they can be converted, I'm not sure it's worth sifting through them as opposed to working through standard leads.

[Candice Coates]

Hi @Jon Lester! Thank you for being part of the Featured Agent program. I have sent you my calendar via email to book some time with me to share your experience with the program, go over a profile consultation, and see how we can strategize to better your experience. Our leads are not pre-qualified or vetted, they go through a questionnaire that establishes where they are in the process. 

[Darrell Veasley]

These leads in my market have been total trash and not worth the money spent. I wish I would have jumped in the thread first the salesman lied about the quality of the product and the featured agent team did not back the quality and give credit for the bad leads. I’ve gotten 95% bad leads and would not recommend anyone spend their money on these. These are the worst leads I have ever bought and for the price a complete rip-off. Much better services out there. Bigger pockets let me down BIG TIME with this. I can’t believe how much they charge for this lump of coal.💩💩💩

[Karen Margrave]

Quote from @Candice Coates:

Hi @Jon Lester! Thank you for being part of the Featured Agent program. I have sent you my calendar via email to book some time with me to share your experience with the program, go over a profile consultation, and see how we can strategize to better your experience. Our leads are not pre-qualified or vetted, they go through a questionnaire that establishes where they are in the process. That questionnaire will be updated sometime soon as our engineers have heard the voice of the agent and are making adjustments.

If you haven't done so yet, you might want to check the other lead generation sites and compare what they sell to what BP is offering. The minimum would be asking buyers if they've been pre qualified for a loan. You could really narrow it down by having them upload the letter. Then BP could charge a premium for leads. Another option would be to put some kind of disclosure on the form stating that BP sells the leads to agents, therefore; if they are not ready yet to make a commitment to buying, please don't fill out the form.  

[Janel Kolbo]

Quote from @Griffin Pratt:

Quote from @Janel Kolbo:

I'm glad this conversation is happening! I am in talks with them at the moment for St. Petersburg, FL. The Tampa market is full, with a waitlist. I've asked if they track demand per city, or any other metrics. I'll be curious to see if they have any data for this program yet. Does anyone have any updates they'd like to share?

 Hey Janel,

I am also considering signing up with this program in St. Pete. How have things been going for you so far?

Griffin

 Sorry I somehow missed this. What did you end up doing? I had a HORRIBLE experience with bad leads that were not vetted at all... Very expensive and a complete waste of money and time. Curious about your thoughts!