Lead generation/referral business?

Question

Not really sure if this was the forum for this post or not, but figured it was a good start.

Well I have an idea for a business venture. I have access to certain people in the military which will get moved/PCS'd to other posts. What I am wanting to create is a concierge service so to speak. Basically recommend certain realtors and property managers, probably write articles explaining the different financing options and what that means to them. I am planning to start small, but could potentially grow in time. The markets I would target are the fort Campbell Clarksville tn ; fort carson Colorado springs co ; Eglin AFB ; Fort Lewis JBLM Tacoma wa and Fayetteville nc Fort Bragg areas. Well basically all I would offer to them is a realtor who actually cares about their job and WILL contact them when they need it. You might know them, they are usually the ones you find on here that reach out to you when you mention anything in their area. In return, I'm referring or generating a very positive lead for a realtor. What I am wondering about is whether or not I should get my real estate license so I could earn referral money? I could offer to sell the lead, but I wouldn't get near the money I would for a referral.

Also had thought about recommending lenders, but one idea at a time.

Jeff Zinsmeister · Answer

I would get licensed. for all of the reason already stated, but also to open up other opportunities. You are an entrepreneur. You will find other ways to use the license.

Russell Brazil · Answer

This actually already exists, and agents with the MRP designation like myself get these referrals already.

Martha Nowlan · Answer

That's a fantastic idea and yeah you should get your license. It'll be worth it and give yo more credibility to both customers and the agents you refer out to.

A lot of veteran associations will refer to lenders and to realtors (ex. veterans united will refer to realtors for people getting loans with them), and those companies charge 40% referral fee and refer out to crappy people in my experience. So if you do this really well, it would definitely take off. And I'm in for Vermont! We have a pretty big air guard community here.

Ike Hobbs · Answer

I'm near JBLM and we have a ton of military in the area moving in and out. The nice thing about where I'm at is that most of the military are going to be stationed here for a few years so they tend to settle down.

Like has been said, getting an agent and picking up a referral fee is probably the easiest/legal way to do this with little to no strings attached. However there are a lot of services like this out here. I know there are preferred military agents, lenders etc. I think there's room for more opportunity in this and there's already competition so just be aware of that and start looking at what is already out there.

David Park · Answer

That's an interesting concept. I currently just pcsed to Fort Carson about a month ago and part of the in processing they do already have 2-3 real estate institutions doing raffles to collect personal information during your initial briefs to the post. If you have any questions about the Colorado Springs area let me know and ill answer anything I can.

Justin Cory · Answer

@Eric Lackey I think it really comes down to where you want to go with this thing, big picture wise. My suggestion would be to get your real estate license and pull a 25% referral fee (or whatever is agreeable to an agent/broker) off of these leads to start generating some revenue. Once you prove the concept, refine your systems, gain traction with website traffic, etc. then you could pivot and build it into a lead gen source where you sell the leads off to agents and/or sell services to them such as the ability to post listings, place banner ads, etc.

I like the concept. Keep me posted on your progress!

Ron Dayley · Answer

I'm in for Clarksville TN/Fort Campbell.

Lead generation/referral business?

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