XPATIC/Property and estate agents
Lead generation for estate agents and developers
Property is the largest purchase most people ever make, and foreign buyers make it in an unfamiliar system, in a second language, usually from another country entirely.
The buyer who is not in the country yet
Most property advertising targets people who are already where the property is. For foreign buyers that misses the most valuable stage of the journey, which happens months earlier and several countries away.
Someone in Manchester deciding whether to buy on the Costa Blanca is already a buyer. They are reading, comparing areas, working out what their money gets them and forming a shortlist of agents. Almost nobody is advertising to them at that moment.
Reaching a buyer before the viewing trip rather than during it is the single biggest advantage available in this sector, and it is entirely a targeting decision.
Reachable at home and after arrival
Commission per sale justifies real acquisition spend
Months of consideration, most of it unadvertised to
The audiences worth separating
Property enquiries look alike and behave nothing alike. Treating them as one pool is what makes this sector expensive.
Researching from home
The most valuable and least contested. Months from purchase, forming their shortlist, and reachable in their own country.
In market, short window
High intent, tight timescale, and worth paying a premium to reach while they are on the ground.
Already living locally
Upsizing, downsizing or buying a second property. Knows the market, moves faster.
Selling up
Often overlooked, frequently more valuable than a buyer, and reachable through completely different signals.
Rental yield
Buying for return rather than lifestyle. Different message, different proof, different property.
Long-let tenants
Lower value individually, but feeds the sales pipeline and the management business.
Where vendor leads are hiding
Every agency advertises for buyers. Far fewer advertise for vendors, and in most expat markets the vendor side is where margin and shortage actually sit.
Foreign owners sell for predictable reasons: age, health, family back home, a currency movement, or simply that the plan changed. Those triggers are not visible directly, but the people they apply to are reachable, particularly owners who are not resident and therefore have no local agent relationship at all.
An agency with stock is an agency that can sell. In a market where everyone is bidding for the same buyer enquiries, advertising for instructions is usually the cheaper half of the business.
How we run property campaigns
- Source market and destination bothReaching buyers in their home country as well as in yours, because the decision starts long before the flight.
- Budget and area qualified earlyWhat they can spend and where they are looking, asked before the phone number. Property time-wasting is expensive.
- Buyer and vendor splitSeparate campaigns, separate creative, separate economics. Merging them hides which one is working.
- Checked on arrivalNumbers and emails checked as the lead comes in, repeat enquiries flagged and never charged twice, delivered in seconds.
- Measured on completionsYou mark which enquiries completed, and the campaign optimises toward buyers who actually buy rather than browsers who fill forms.
Questions agencies ask
Can you reach buyers before they visit?
Yes, and it is usually the strongest position available. Targeting someone in the UK who is researching a move to Spain reaches them while they are forming a shortlist, months before they land and long before your local competitors see them.
How do you stop me getting browsers?
Budget and area are among the first qualifying questions, asked before contact details. People who are a year away or well below your price point drop out before they cost you a viewing.
Do you do vendor leads as well as buyers?
Yes, and in most markets it is the more interesting half. Everyone competes for buyer enquiries. Far fewer advertise for instructions, and stock is usually the constraint on a growing agency.
Are leads exclusive?
Yes. Shared property leads mean a buyer taking calls from five agencies in an afternoon, which damages your brand more than the lead is worth.
What does a property lead cost?
More than most verticals, because commission per completion is high. It gets worked out against your average commission and conversion rate rather than quoted blind.
See what this looks like for your agency
A few questions about your stock, your price points and your markets, then a call to work through the audience and what an enquiry is likely to cost.
hello@xpatic.com