Zillow Premier Agent vs. Your Own Leads: What You Pay and What You Own
Portal leads are rented. Leads from your own farm, mail and home value page are yours. A clear comparison for agents deciding where the budget goes.
How portal leads are priced
Portals earn leads by ranking for listing, ZIP code and home value searches, then sell the inquiries. Depending on the market, that is a monthly spend per ZIP code or a referral fee at closing. Zillow's Flex program has charged referral fees reported at 35 to 40 percent of your commission.
The same lead is often shared or routed by speed, so you compete for it, and when you stop paying, the flow stops.
What owning your leads looks like
- A farm of a few hundred to a few thousand homes you mail and visit consistently.
- Your own home value page that captures sellers who scan your mailers or find you in search.
- A database of past clients and sphere you stay in touch with.
- Content and reviews that rank your name, not a portal's.
Do the math on one closing
On a $400,000 sale at 2.5 percent, your side is $10,000. A 35 percent referral fee is $3,500 on that one deal. A year of a flat-price system and a steady mail program in one farm can cost about the same, and every lead it produces stays yours.
Keep the portal if it works, but build the asset
Plenty of agents keep a portal budget while they build their own pipeline, then cut back as owned leads take over. The point is to stop renting your entire business.
How SBS helps
SBS for Real Estate gives your team weekly public-records leads in your ZIP codes, mail-ready letters, your own home value page, and follow-up, from $149 a month for a solo agent ($399 for a whole team). No per-lead fees and no referral fees.
Get leads without buying them
SBS for Real Estate pulls Florida county records each week, finds sellers in your ZIP codes, prints the letters and captures owners who ask for a value. Solo agents $149/month, teams $399/month.
See the leads in your ZIP code