You might not see the $ ROI on these leads right away but with a little nurture, you'll be able to turn them into actual transactions in 12 -18 months. 

@Lukas Zupan while we don't currently use Direct Mail, we have used it in the past and still have leads we are nurturing from the marketing medium and deals we've gotten from them. 

Private money is probably the cheapest option, however, hard to come by, so if you already have made those connections make sure you nurture them. 

While the largest group of respondents in this survey found that online leads had accounted for less than 5% of their closed business dealings, online leads nevertheless accounted for up to 20% to 49% of the closed business dealings for the second-largest group of respondents and 50% to 99% of closed business dealings for the next-largest group.Gathering all of the participant feedback, the overall conclusion is that while a good portion of real estate professionals did not find that online leads played as important a role in their closed business dealings, those that did, expressed how greatly they were dependant on online leads for closed business at all.Ultimately, however, those scampering for the top conversion results… those willing to adapt and adopt new and old “offline” lead conversion (nurturing) methodologies, seemed to benefit the most from the leads generated through online sources.

For example, we just did a cold call blast and went through about 3000 prospects and came up with 18 leads that we are nurturing. 

That house has some crazy stories associated with it so if anybody needs a laugh I'd be happy to share one of them from this experience.My fiance and I are very excited to begin investing more in the future and continue nurturing our current investments.

Across the board, the most successful owners have nurtured relationships with local real estate brokers, property managers, home inspectors, and other professionals who can collectively assist them in making high-quality acquisitions.I'm not a fan of the "turn-key" trap of working with a single "one-stop-shop" company: You want a team of independent, best-in-class operators who are beholden only to you as their client.If you'd like, I'd be happy to put you in touch with some of the folks I know who are doing this today.

Now, I am a little bias as I have been with Keller Williams here in AZ for over 20 years, and 4 years in CA, but IMO, there is NO ONE that trains, nurtures, guides, and positions agents for success better than KW. 

Phrases like "it's all about relationships" allude to the importance of constantly nurturing and growing your circle. 

My impression of this as a new investor is that, relationships are formed and nurtured by relatively consistent business transactions.