Aged Mortgage Leads

Many mortgage lenders and brokers have most likely built into their business model some form of mortgage lead generation, or they may just buy mortgage leads from the large mortgage lead aggregators.  

But are the leads only good when they are first created? Is there a definite advantage to being the first to the lead if you are buying from an aggregator? By the next day, will you be competing with multiple competitors just to get the consumer on the phone?

This all adds up to the question of aged mortgage leads. Are they still valuable?

Yes! In fact one lead generation strategy is to give your aged mortgage leads as much or more attention as new leads. Let's take an example of the first time home buyer lead:

Jared is 24 years old and just finishing up college, he's been living in his parents basement to save money. He will soon be leaving his part-time after school job for a full time position and things look good! He decides to go online and start looking at home in his area, and might as well start to shop around for mortgages. He inevitably ends up filling out 2 or 3 web forms or uses mortgage calculators in order to get an idea what rates are like, how much of a home he can afford, and how much a monthly payment might be? Jared is showing intent, now Jared is a mortgage lead.  

He starts getting calls from mortgage lenders and banks that would love to do his mortgage... but the problem is that he isn't actually in the market yet. It's going to be 3-6 months before he is actually settled at his new job and ready to really shop for a house.

Does that mean Jared was a bad lead? No! This is a great lead, it shows he has intent to buy a home. It's only a bad lead if you don't have a good system to nurture Jared over the next year to help him prepare to buy his first home.  

Many originators call new leads and only give the time of day to those that are ready to apply and close right away, which is maybe 5% of the leads they bought and worked.  

That means there is another 95% that still want to buy or refinance, they just aren't ready in that exact moment. This is the value of aged mortgage leads. Over a year period, those buyers still want to purchase a home; their intent hasn't changed.  

Another value of aged mortgage leads is credit migration. Credit migration is someone with credit falling below borrowing standards, who is working to improve that score. There are thousands of mortgage leads generated every day with less than perfect credit. That is why they are filling out web forms online rather than walking into a branch and handing a loan officer all their income documentation and saying "Let's go".

This lead needs time to age. They need time to fix their credit, and if you're willing to help them and communicate with them through that process, you will then be right there when the time comes for them to close. If you are the professional that can help them solve problems and get into a home, then you will have a raving fan for life.