Tips For Closing Home Equity Leads

Despite a cooling market, home values have held steady in much of the country. Turning excess home equity into spending money is still an attractive option for homeowners - whether it's for lifestyle expenditures, to put a child through school, or to consolidate debt. And that means good business for brokers.

Helping Your Prospects Put The Home Equity Puzzle Together

The problem is, home equity leads are faced with a tough choice. Should they get a home equity loan? A HELOC? Or just refinance and cash out their equity? Your average prospect would be hard pressed to answer that question. That's where you come in.

As a broker, you're in a unique position to give people insight into their financial options. When you educate your prospects, they look at you and your services differently. You go from someone who's trying to sell something and make a commission to a trusted financial advisor they can feel comfortable turning to. That can be the extra push it takes to turn a lead into a client.

Use The Internet To Educate Leads

Easier said than done, right? What are you supposed to do, cold call people and start explaining the difference between a loan and a line of credit? Not at all.

When it comes to building relationships and educating people, the internet beats the telephone hands down. For less than it costs to run an ad in the Yellow Pages, you can roll out an online campaign that will show your prospects you're the broker they should close with. Here are two strategies to try:

Your website should be more than a business card. After the initial investment in getting your site built, adding pages and making updates isn't very hard. Many companies offer software solutions that make changing your website as easy as typing a letter.

Add as many pages as you can to your site. Explain your prospects' options. Give them the pros, the cons, and any other details you want to add. After you make that first contact, invite them to visit you online to learn more. And make sure you have a clearly marked "Contact Me" button on every page!
Email is your best friend. Email should be part of every broker's marketing mix. It's the cheapest and easiest way to touch leads. Your emails should clearly explain why they should work with you. And you should be touching prospects with email more than once. Frequency is important - but don't go overboard.

One way to combine education and frequency is to put out an email newsletter. You could send it quarterly or - if you have enough content - monthly. Under Federal email laws, your incoming internet leads can be added as subscribers. But make sure you include an "unsubscribe" link in every message, so people can tell you they want to "opt out."

There's plenty other ways to turn the internet into a selling partner. Check out the ProspectZone Mortgage Lead Resources for more resources. First-time home equity lead buyers, get tips for starting out successfully.

Want to find out how ProspectZone can jumpstart your online campaigns? Talk to one of our Lead Specialists.

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