The efficiency of Power Dialer is actually a little overwhelming at first, especially if you are used to the relatively casual pace of manual phone prospecting. But we found that you get into “auto-dialer mode” very quickly, and it is really exciting how many calls you can knock out in a short period of time.

Additional REDX Features

REDX Drawbacks

There’s no doubt that this is an excellent lead generation platform, but we do have a few notes on room for improvement. 

Time Investment

In order for REDX to yield positive results, it requires a serious time investment. Some marketing strategies let you get away with “set-it-and-forget-it,” but not REDX. You are not making money if you are not working the phones.

Limited Integration Options

Though this product does offer some third-party compatibility, the list is short and that compatibility is limited. Transferring data from VORTEX into another management system (say, a CRM) can be a cumbersome process.

Incorrect or Missing Information

Finally, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the reliability issues of the phone number data provided. Many of the phone numbers are abandoned landline phone numbers. In our experience, around 50% of the numbers are actually current and working.

However, it‘s important to point out that while 50% seems low, it’s actually pretty on par with the industry standard.

Related Article
How to Convert Leads With Bad Phone Numbers (+ Email Scripts)

REDX Review Summary

REDX provides a ready-to-use platform for agents with easy-to-navigate tools and only the slightest learning curve. Ideal for both new agents and seasoned veterans, a high return on investment is achievable for someone who is committed to dedicating the time to prospect every day.

Try REDX

Over to You

Have you been looking for a new way to up your expired listing game, or are you going to use GeoLeads to make your farming more effective? Have more questions? Let us know in the comments below.

The post REDX Review: Why Smart Realtors Use REDX & Power Dialer appeared first on The Close.

]]> https://theclose.com/redx-review/feed/ 4 Improve Agent Support & Cut Your IT Hours in Half With Placester’s Agent Manager https://theclose.com/placester-agent-manager/ https://theclose.com/placester-agent-manager/#respond Sun, 27 Mar 2022 20:24:32 +0000 https://theclose.com/?p=34638 Learn how Placester's Agent Manager can cut your tech support hours in half & reduce expenses while consistently exceeding your agents’ expectations.

The post Improve Agent Support & Cut Your IT Hours in Half With Placester’s Agent Manager appeared first on The Close.

]]> Real estate brokers who provide websites to their agents need to provide IT support to operate them effectively. Without support, it’s like giving someone a fishing pole without hooks or bait to actually catch anything. In both cases, you wind up casting about with tools you’re not equipped to use, likely to never hook anything (client or fish). 

However, providing the necessary tech support to agents is costly, time-consuming, and difficult to do consistently, right? Not anymore. With Placester’s Agent Manager tool, you can exceed your agents’ expectations with less time, less expense, and in a consistent, replicable way.

Visit Placester

Why Do Most Broker-provided Real Estate Websites Suck?

Why Do Most Broker-Provided Real Estate Websites Suck

Actually, they don’t. Most broker-provided websites are full-featured and IDX-enabled, and check the critical boxes for 90% of agents. If this is the case, why don’t more agents use them?

Support. 

It’s often not the websites themselves that drive agents to pay for an independent solution (even though they have one provided by their broker for free)—it’s the launch, the customization, the strategy, and the ongoing support.

Put yourself in the shoes of a new agent at your brokerage who needs to launch a website.  

When they officially sign on, they’re expected to launch their website, usually using some relatively outdated instructions or a walk-through from a three-ring binder, while remaining brand compliant, and customizing it based on their exact needs—usually with no web design or marketing experience. 

If you’re a new agent with (literally) a hundred different priorities, plus the ever-present pressure of lead prospecting, tapping your sphere of influence, and actually getting some transactions on the board, the appeal of concierge-level support from an independent website solution is obvious. 

Broker-provided Website Support: Not as Easy as It Sounds

Broker-Provided Website Support

Most of the brokers I know recognize this problem. In fact, over the last year, I’ve consulted with multiple brokers on this specific issue, and they’ve all outlined the same problems with providing tech support for their agents: 

  • We don’t have the skill set: It’s often an office admin or the broker themselves who is tasked with this support. Many professionals in this space don’t come equipped with the specific tech-support knowledge needed to help agents with this. 
  • We don’t have the time: Onboarding + ongoing support is time-intensive and unpredictable, which means that anyone who’s tasked with providing tech support will have a difficult time creating a schedule and getting away from day-to-day ad-hoc requests.
  • We can’t scale this: Once you get a competent, available, consistent tech support person in place, they only have so many hours to give, so your agent onboarding and website support becomes limited, thus stunting your recruiting and retention.
Related Article
The 5 Employees You Need to Hire to Grow Your Brokerage in 2022

Placester’s Agent Manager: The Tech Support Solution You’ve Been Waiting For

Placester Agent Manager tool

Placester, named The Close’s Best Real Estate Website Builder of 2022, is already a dominant force in the single agent and real estate team website space, but with the exclusive Agent Manager tool, they are now offering best-in-class options for brokerages as well. 

Not familiar with Agent Manager? Here’s a basic rundown of what this feature provides brokers and anyone managing the back-end for multiple real estate agent websites: 

Brokerage-specific, Brand-compliant Website Templates

Brokerage-specific website templates

Using Agent Manager, brokers, admins, and tech support staff can create unique, brand-compliant website templates, allowing their agents to launch their brand-specific website in a matter of minutes, simply by filling in their personal information, uploading a headshot, and hitting go.  

Why this matters: If every single agent starts from scratch with every single website build, you’re likely to encounter the same questions, roadblocks, and needs for support with every agent onboarding. Agent Manager allows you to shortcut this process for your team members, taking 95% of the website building process off their plate. 

A Single, Unified, Agent Manager Dashboard

Unified Agent Manager Dashboard

On the Agent Manager dashboard, those providing support to their Realtors can see every single Placester website active under their umbrella. You can see important information like website status, activity levels, and more. From this dashboard, you can create new profiles, deactivate agents no longer with your firm, and make universal changes across your organization with a couple of clicks.

Why this matters: Tech support used to require an individual login and unique support experience, usually meaning anyone helping an agent would likely have to physically go to their office, then sit shoulder-to-shoulder with them to offer help and training. With the Agent Manager Dashboard, you can provide the lion’s share of this support from a single desktop, allowing workflows to be more efficient and speeding turnaround time on support requests.

📌   Pro Tip

The Placester Agent Manager Dashboard is a perfect solution for any brokerage that has shifted to a remote office since support can be provided from anywhere—an ideal solution for agents who don’t make many office visits.

A Universal ‘Source of Truth’

Placester Manage users

With Agent Manager, you’ve got a unified database of information that allows you to apply changes across your entire website infrastructure with just a couple of clicks. 

Why this matters: Let’s say you’ve got an agent in your brokerage who just got married, so she’ll be changing her last name and email address, as well as the office from which she works. Rather than having to make all these changes to the brokerage website, to the individual office website, and to the agent’s individual website, you can make these changes in one place. Placester’s Agent Manager Dashboard’s centralized database will automatically make updates across your entire ecosystem, all at once. 

Tech Support With vs Without Agent Manager

Placester’s Agent Manager is all about providing better service to your agents, in less time, and with more consistency. To illustrate this, let’s look at a typical day for a brokerage tech support person using Placester and Agent Manager versus someone who is working to support a run-of-the-mill, generic brokerage website for their agents.

TaskPlacester With Agent ManagerGeneric, Broker-provided Website
Onboarding 3 new agentsAdd their contact information to the Placester Agent Manager Unified Dashboard, activate their new website.

Total Time = 1 hour		Meet each agent individually, sit shoulder-to-shoulder with them, walking them through how to activate their website. 

Total Time = 2.5 hours
Deactivating a retiring agent’s website presenceRemove them from the active agent roster on the Dashboard, automatically deactivating their website, stopping their billing, removing them from the company website.

Total Time = 5 minutes		Log in to the company website, the agent’s website, and the billing department individually, deactivating the agent’s media.

Total Time = 30 minutes
Auditing 10 agent websites for brand complianceUsing super-admin access, log into each agent website from your Unified Dashboard, where you have access to every agent’s website, theme, and customizations.

Total Time = 15 minutes		Schedule a time to meet with each agent individually, review their website with them one at a time, in their office or yours, with no direct access or control to make changes if necessary.

Total Time = 3 hours
Servicing a request from an agent starting a real estate team to get a website that allows for team pages and lead distributionUsing the super-admin access, change the agent’s website template from single-agent to team. Then change their status in the database to “Team Leader.”

Total Time = 5 minutes		Go to the agent’s office, help them log in to their website manager, find a template that will support their needs, work through the changes page-by-page, making sure they remain brand compliant. Then go the brokerage page and manually change agent status to “Team Leader.”

Total Time = 1 hour
Transferring an agent from your west-side office to your east-side office on your company websiteUsing the Agent Manager database, simply change the home office of the agent, automatically removing them from one place, adding them to the other, and changing their office information on their personal website automatically.

Total Time = 5 minutes		Log in to each office website individually, making each change manually, then double-checking with the agent who made the request to ensure they made the change on their personal website.

Total Time = 30 minutes

Total Time Required With Agent Manager = 1.5 hours

Total Time Required Without Agent Manager = 7.5 hours

How To Get Placester’s Agent Manager

To activate and use Placester’s Agent Manager, you’ll need to be a Placester client with their Office Builder Plan ($240). This entitles you to:

  • A complete brokerage website (with options for multiple offices) 
  • Advanced websites with multiple templates for individual agents (each receive a Placester Advanced account, a $120 per month value)
  • All the bells and whistles Agent Manager offers
Related Article
Placester Review + Video: Is It Really the Best Real Estate Website Builder?

More Perks of Using Placester for Your Brokerage Website

Placester For Your Brokerage Website

In addition to the massive time savings, productivity boost, and enhanced tech support for your agents provided by the Agent Manager tools, Placester users receive other powerful benefits.  

  • Access to Placester Marketplace: Most agents only dream of an exclusive, creative support network like Placester’s website designers, graphic designers, search engine optimization (SEO) specialists, and more. Placester users can request help with individual, ad-hoc tasks through the Placester Marketplace—accomplishing everything from installing a Facebook Ad Pixel, designing a new logo, integrating your customer relationship manager (CRM) with your website’s lead capture pages, and more. 
  • Exclusive brokerage support: Brokerages can take the Placester Marketplace concept to the next level, including creative and technical support for your entire enterprise (up to 100 agents), including original site design, branded site templates, and individual agent websites of up to 50 pages. 
  • CRM access: Even though Placester’s bread and butter is websites, they also have some custom tools that Office Builder users gain access to, including a basic connected CRM to give your agents a way to better track, respond to, and nurture their leads.

    Placester’s CRM doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of some of the standalone products on our list of the best real estate CRMs, but it’s a great perk to have nonetheless.
Related Article
Placester Marketplace Makes Real Estate Websites Insanely Easy to Create

Is Placester’s Agent Manager Right for You & Your Brokerage?

If you’re in the market for an enterprise-level real estate website solution, Placester is a very strong choice. They offer exceptional designs and templates, technical expertise, and the tools necessary to create a sustainable ecosystem. These power-ups will present your brand consistently, allow for easy scaling when new agents join your team, and make your IT support levels the envy of every other broker in your market. 

Visit Placester today to find out more about how they can be a part of your brokerage’s success.

Visit Placester

The post Improve Agent Support & Cut Your IT Hours in Half With Placester’s Agent Manager appeared first on The Close.

]]> https://theclose.com/placester-agent-manager/feed/ 0 LionDesk CRM Review: Is It the New King of the Real Estate CRM Jungle? https://theclose.com/liondesk-reviews/ https://theclose.com/liondesk-reviews/#comments Wed, 23 Mar 2022 23:28:13 +0000 https://theclose.com/?p=1462 LionDesk is a powerful and affordable real estate CRM that offers a suite of high-end features—which is why we rated it as our number one pick among CRMs in 2022.

The post LionDesk CRM Review: Is It the New King of the Real Estate CRM Jungle? appeared first on The Close.

]]> LionDesk is a powerful real estate CRM that’s the equivalent of a great screwdriver: it does its one job really well. Plus, it’s extremely affordable and offers a suite of high-end features, should you need them. It’s pretty much the perfect tool to help agents close more deals with less stress.

Did we mention that the LionDesk CRM starts at only $21 per month, or that we rated it our number one pick for CRMs for 2022? Check out our in-depth review of the LionDesk CRM or jump to their website for a free 30-day trial. No credit card required—you just sign up and get started.

Visit LionDesk

Under the Hood: Chris Linsell’s Video Tour of LionDesk

You can read our complete analysis or see the product in action for yourself. Chris Linsell, Senior Writer and Real Estate Coach here at The Close, takes you on a personal tour and review of LionDesk in this video.

Organization, Outreach & Nurturing: What More Do You Need?

LionDesk’s goal is to give agents, teams, and brokerages one simple tool for organization, lead generation, and lead nurturing. On paper, this sounds pretty simple—obvious, even. However, many software companies offer a Swiss army knife—a bloated tool with a dozen blades and implements, none of which work very well.

We won’t name names, but many turnkey customer relationship management (CRM) systems include integrated blog publishing, IDX websites—everything but the proverbial kitchen sink. Some platforms manage to pull off being all things to all real estate agents, but they charge accordingly. Products like these cost anywhere from $250 to $1,500 per month. LionDesk’s CRM costs only $21 per month.

LionDesk Is Best For:

  • Any agent who needs to organize contacts and nurture leads
  • New agents building their business
  • Experienced agents who want to stand out with technology like artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots and Facebook ads
  • Small brokerages and teams that run light and lean
  • Honestly, everyone should at least give it a try—it’s our top pick for best CRM 2022

LionDesk Might Not Be Best For:

  • Agents who need stellar customer support and hand-holding; consider WiseAgent instead
  • Agents who want an all-in-one CRM subscription that includes website building, landing pages, power dialers, and social media ads; consider Elevate or Market Leader instead
  • Established brokerages that need to level up with all the bells and whistles; consider Propertybase instead

How Much Does LionDesk Cost?

Amazingly, LionDesk is affordable for any serious agent and has increased its offerings and features. For just $21 per month, you’ll get almost all of the features highlighted in this article. For additional features, LionDesk offers a Pro+ package for $42 per month, and their Elite package for $83 per month.

Starter $21/monthPro+ $42/monthElite $21/month
Bulk Texting + EmailsBulk Texting + EmailsBulk Texting + Emails
Transaction Management Transaction Management Transaction Management
Drip Campaign TemplatesDrip Campaign TemplatesDrip Campaign Templates
Facebook Lead GenFacebook Lead GenFacebook Lead Gen
Webinar Training Webinar Training Webinar Training
2,000 Email CreditsCustom Text Number + AI AssistCustom Text Number + AI Assist
500 Text Message CreditsBulk Campaigns Bulk Campaigns
100 Video Text CreditsText-2-Sell Short CodesText-2-Sell Short Codes
Sub-account for AdminsSub-account for Admins
Multiple Transaction ManagementMultiple Transaction Management
White Label Email DomainWhite Label Email Domain
7,500 Email Credits15,000 Email Credits
2,000 Text Message Credits4,000 Text Credits
500 Video Text Credits1,500 Video Text Credits
Valet Contact Import
3rd-Party Integration Support
1:1 Training, Priority Support
Buy LionDesk StarterBuy LionDesk Pro+Buy LionDesk Starter Elite

Conveniently, you can keep the low, flat monthly rate of $21 per month and opt for a few add-ons, which are individually priced. That way, you don’t pay for what you don’t use. LionDesk add-ons include Facebook ad design and implementation tools, cold-calling power dialers, and custom landing pages

Our 3 Favorite LionDesk CRM Features

1. Ease of Use

When you first launch LionDesk from your browser, you’ll land in the dashboard. If you’ve ever used a CRM before, this will feel right at home. LionDesk’s intuitive interface makes for a mild learning curve, so you can jump in and get started right away.

On the left, you have a simple, easy-to-read menu bar that gives you a quick shortcut to the main functions of LionDesk. 

To the right, you have the “Vitals” view, which offers a quick snapshot of how you’re doing in your outreach efforts. It keeps a running tally of outgoing and incoming calls, texts, and emails. The Vitals section is customizable so you can pick and choose what’s most important to you.

LionDesk customizable vitals section

The Vitals dashboard is a visual way to encourage agents to push past their comfort zones and take their businesses to the next level. Only called three leads this week? You’ll see that number every time you log in to your LionDesk CRM.

You also can view recent contact activity, tasks due, a visualization of expected total sales, and your activity for the year.

Your dashboard is highly customizable, which is ideal since no two real estate businesses are the same. The interface is clean and simple, not packed with distracting colors and graphs, which allows you to focus on the essential information and tasks. 

2. Tools for Getting & Staying Organized 

If you click over to the Contacts tab, you can quickly add or edit a current contact, bulk upload contacts from another platform with a CSV file, or directly import your contacts from platforms like Gmail.

When you click on a contact, you get a wealth of information: emails they’ve last opened, previous calls or texts, and as much biographical or deal data as you have on your leads. The information is tucked behind accordions, so while it’s all there, looking at a contact is not overwhelming.

LionDesk contact all activity dashboard

You can add custom fields for your contacts, such as how many children they have, their dog’s name, their favorite baseball team, or their credit score. All of this granular data comes in handy when it’s time for client outreach.

From this contact card, you can directly email or text your lead, and even call them directly. Hit that little phone icon and your cell phone rings, connecting you. You can also add activities and tasks, and include the contact in a campaign.

3. Outreach: Bulk Emails, Texts, Calls & Video

Outreach in the LionDesk CRM is straightforward. You can either click to call, text, or email individual contacts, or send bulk emails, texts, and video, based on your campaign strategy.

You can even set rules for leads from various sources. For example, you can set LionDesk to trigger a specific text message or video text message and send it to leads from Facebook ads.

LionDesk has 12 campaigns already built and ready for action, including drip campaigns for closed clients, home valuation, and general campaigns, both long and short for perspective sellers.

LionDesk CRM campaigns

Bulk Emails

LionDesk makes it easy to send bulk emails to your contacts. For example, you can blast out a new listing to buyers, a quick intro to new contacts, or even a holiday video to your entire list.

Bulk Texts

If you want the higher open and response rates you get from texting, LionDesk lets you set up mass text campaigns just as easily as email campaigns. Send out that new pocket listing to your hottest buyer leads through a quick text. Oh, and you can send video texts right from LionDesk as well.

Video Emails & Texts

One of the coolest features is the ability to record and send video directly from the platform and send it out to your leads via email or text messages.

LionDesk CRM Video Emails & Texts

Since texts get high open and response rates and videos are more personal, why not combine the two and text out a walk-through of that pocket listing before it even hits the market?

Visit LionDesk for a Free Trial

Additional LionDesk Features

LionDesk’s AI Lead Assist

We don’t have flying cars quite yet, but we do technically live in the future now. I guess it was only a matter of time before a CRM like LionDesk harnessed the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to help you qualify leads. Her name is Gabby.

AI lead nurturing isn’t exactly new, but it has taken a few years for both the technology to mature and for people to be OK with it. While people prefer to speak with an actual person on the phone, we have grown accustomed to dealing with AI chatbots like LionDesk’s Gabby—both online and in text messages.

The technology is pretty complicated, but the way it works for you is simple. The AI is smart enough to recognize key trigger words like “buying” or “relocating,” and will respond with more questions to help gain information from your lead. In the example above, Gabby even uses peppy emojis in a natural way. 

Gabby isn’t free, though. You’ll need a Pro+ account to get her to qualify leads for you. Even so, $42 a month is a small price to pay for AI and all the other features available in the Pro+ package.

Related Article
Is the Real Estate World Ready for an AI Assistant? LionDesk Thinks So

Document & Transaction Management 

If you’re the type of agent who tends to accumulate PDFs (and who isn’t?), you can store documents right in LionDesk and access them from everywhere. 

The LionDesk CRM offers basic transaction management features to track deals, organize documents, and communicate with clients and other parties. While this is not a fully featured accounting package, it gets the job done. If you’re already using Dotloop or another software, LionDesk has an integration that lets you plug them right into your workflow.

LionDesk CRM Document & Transaction Management

Integrations & Lead Importing = Extra Customization

Speaking of integrations, LionDesk is an open API, making it easy for other companies to plug in their software and stay compatible. For example, you can auto-import leads from Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia, and Zip Realty—or set up blended campaigns for tips from each source. You can also pull in leads directly from Facebook, as LionDesk is an approved Facebook CRM partner.

You can fully customize your LionDesk experience by integrating the software you use for accounting, transaction management, and marketing. Linked to companies from Zurple to Agent Shield, the list of LionDesk integrations is massive and constantly growing. Click here for the latest.d

Leveling Up: LionDesk Pro+, Elite & Additional Packages

Text-2-Sell

Text-2-Sell is one of the more unique features LionDesk offers in the Pro+ package. Using the provided personal LionDesk phone number, you can encourage leads to text you to ask for more information about a listing, a special buyer’s guide, a foreclosure list, or pretty much anything else.

Once a lead sends a text, LionDesk automatically responds and captures the lead’s phone number and contact information, adding it to your database.

This is perfect for sign riders, flyers, or postcards when you want to track the effectiveness of your ads and get phone numbers instead of emails.

Landing Pages

LionDesk recently added the ability to create landing pages that will capture and integrate lead information. You can use one of their many templates and customize it with the easy-to-use, drag-and-drop design tool for an additional cost. 

The pages are quick loading, search engine optimized (SEO), and mobile responsive. The landing page bundle is either $29 per month or $289 annually.

LionDesk quick loading, SEO optimized, and mobile responsive Landing Pages

The Power Dialer

LionDesk’s power dialer will let you upload and cruise through a list of FSBO or expired listings in one power session. While cold calling isn’t for everyone, you can also use this feature to follow up with your sphere of influence monthly to shake up some referrals.

That said, the power dialer is not included in LionDesk’s already very tempting base price, as not every agent will need or want it. Instead, they offer the Power Dialer for serious cold callers for $99 to $149 per month, depending on whether you want single or multiple lines.

Related Article
4 Real Estate Cold Calling Scripts + Tips to Conquer Your Fears

Facebook Ad Partnership

LionDesk Facebook Ad Partnership

One of the dirty secrets of online advertising is that Facebook’s Ads Manager is horrible. It’s needlessly complicated, difficult to navigate, and an all-around pain to use—even for professional pay-per-click (PPC) marketers.

LionDesk used to provide Facebook ad design in-house. However, they have now partnered with Boost, where you can create custom ads by uploading images and videos, curate your audience, and even pull MLS data to create instant listing ads.

LionDesk custom ads

Once the ads are built and distributed, everything is totally integrated with your LionDesk account. The automation works its magic, and you reap the rewards. 

Boost is a separate subscription: running agent promotion ads cost $99 per month, and listing promotions built from MLS listings are $59 per ad.

Related Article
How to Create Real Estate Facebook Ads That Actually Generate Leads

Broker Functions

Brokers can view advanced reports on leads, build drip campaigns assignable to individual agents, and have a global view of all deals in the office.

LionDesk offers round-robin or time-based rollout lead distribution for teams and brokerages—perfect for setting everyone up with leads but not breaking the bank.

Bottom Line: How Does LionDesk CRM Stack Up Against Other CRMs?

If you’ve been putting off trying LionDesk, you’re missing out on a fully featured and powerful real estate CRM that offers high-end features like AI lead nurturing, transaction management, video emails, and blended campaigns. 

So how does LionDesk stack up compared to other real estate CRMs? Well, in our opinion, it’s a very attractive option, especially for newer agents who don’t want to spend a ton of money.

Given the value it provides, we recently ranked LionDesk as our best overall CRM in our in-depth CRM buyer’s guide.

Over to You

We encourage you to see for yourself with LionDesk’s free 30-trial. It doesn’t even require a credit card. Play around with the functions and interface, and let us know how it goes in the comments. Have a CRM question or opinion to share? Comment below or join our Facebook Mastermind Group to chat with fellow agents.

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]]> https://theclose.com/liondesk-reviews/feed/ 22 Is Zillow Premier Agent Worth the Cost? https://theclose.com/zillow-premier-agent-worth-cost/ https://theclose.com/zillow-premier-agent-worth-cost/#comments Wed, 23 Mar 2022 20:36:44 +0000 https://theclose.com/?p=3107 Zillow Premier Agents we spoke to typically get an ROI of 210% and we'll share the key elements you'll need to help you succeed with the platform.

The post Is Zillow Premier Agent Worth the Cost? appeared first on The Close.

]]> Have you been wondering what your return on investment (ROI) would be from the Zillow Premier Agent program? Is it worth your time, money, and effort? The short answer: Yes, it is. Why? Zillow Premier Agents who use the platform effectively enjoy a typical ROI of 210%, according to agents with whom we’ve spoken.

But there’s a catch. Zillow Premier Agent isn’t perfect. Zillow Premier Agent (ZPA) is plagued with poor reviews from vocal agents and a reputation for customer service focused on selling rather than solving problems.

In addition, even the most successful agents need to have what we at The Close think of as the 3 Zillow Elements of Success: a competitive budget, a complete profile, and excellent follow-up skills (more on these later). If you’ve got all of these in place, you should check out ZPA’s rates in your ZIP code.

Visit Zillow Premier Agent

To help you determine if you have those three elements solidly in place, we’ll provide more detail on each one, but before we do, let’s talk about what Zillow Premier Agent is, how it works, and, of course, how much it costs.

Zillow Premier Agent: What It Is & How It Works

Each month, more than 227 million unique visitors spend time on Zillow’s website looking at homes and searching for real estate agents. Zillow Premier Agent allows agents, teams, and brokers to purchase display ads across the Zillow network. Your ads will be shown to prospects in the specific ZIP codes you choose to target. 

When Zillow’s website visitors have questions about a property or want to set up a showing, prospects are presented with Zillow Premier Agents as their first option. The platform displays Zillow Premier Agent ads in key positions next to properties for sale, and boosts Zillow Premier Agents to the top of their agent directory. 

Listing Agent vs Premier Agent: What’s the Difference?

Listing Agent vs Premier Agent

Before we go any further, it’s important to point out the difference between being displayed as a Zillow listing agent vs a Zillow Premier Agent.

If you have an active profile on Zillow, you’ll be displayed as the listing agent for claimed listings regardless of your Premier status. However, if you haven’t claimed that listing or are not active on Zillow, you won’t have that opportunity. 

Premier agents, however, appear next to every listing they’ve got a share of in their chosen ZIP codes (plus any listings they have outside their chosen ZIP code), thus expanding their exposure significantly.

How Much Does Zillow Premier Agent Cost?

We don’t know. This isn’t a statement we take lightly at The Close since our mission is to provide the best answers to real estate questions—to your questions. But we want to be upfront with you, our readers, about the facts. Despite an exhaustive effort to clearly and succinctly give you an answer to what Zillow Premier Agent will cost, we have no clear, authoritative information. Here’s why: 

First, Zillow’s pricing depends on multiple factors, such as the typical sold price of a home, the number of real estate professionals competing for leads in a particular ZIP code, and the percentage of the available leads you want to capture, chief among them. Because these factors change depending on the agent, making accurate estimates is difficult. 

But it’s not impossible. The reality is, Zillow offers real-time estimates to prospective Zillow Premier Agents all the time. Despite our repeated attempts through multiple channels with a clear message that we have no agenda other than to inform our readers, Zillow has flat-out refused to give any insight, estimate, or information about their pricing. 

The Close works with a number of brands in the real estate industry, and, to be frank, this sort of avoid-and-obfuscate response to our repeated, direct, honest questions was frustrating and seemed to confirm the experiences of many of Zillow’s detractors. 

The company’s motivation seems clear: get someone on the phone and into “sales mode” before telling them how much something costs. This isn’t the way we operate, and we don’t believe it’s the best way to do business. 

It is the position of The Close that Zillow Premier Agent is a valuable service that should be considered as a paid lead generation option by the right agents. However, we don’t agree with the company’s approach to pricing transparency.

What Do Others Pay for Zillow Premier Agent? 

Because Zillow has refused to offer even estimates for different markets across the country, The Close asked agents with whom we’re connected about their pricing experiences. At the time of publication, we found these pricing estimates to be true from our informal poll:

  • Major Metro Markets: The typical price per month for agents turning a profit with Zillow Premier Agent starts at about $1,000 per month.
  • Outside of Major Metros: The typical price per month for agents turning a profit with Zillow Premier Agent is between $300 and $500 per month.

The Close Take: Is Zillow Premier Agent Worth the Cost?

Yes. Zillow Premier Agent is an investment real estate agents, teams, and brokers should consider—provided they have a large enough budget to be competitive in the markets they’re pursuing. In addition, you’ll need a robust Zillow profile complete with reviews as well as the follow-up skills to nurture long-term leads, as we mentioned earlier. 

The fact is, there is simply no other lead source on the internet that can offer the level of traffic, exposure, and opportunity as the Zillow Premier Agent program. 

Is Zillow or Zillow Premier Agent a perfect platform or even the right choice for every agent? No. Are they worth investigating and at least considering? Absolutely. 

A Closer Look: Some of the Non-lead Benefits of Zillow Premier Agent

Obtaining leads is the most significant benefit of using Zillow Premier Agent, but there is more to the program than just leads. Some of our favorite benefits of Zillow Premier Agent include:

  • Zillow Premier Agent reviews: Premier and non-Premier members can collect reviews on Zillow for free. However, Zillow positions Premier Agents on the site in a way that highlights their reviews and makes them more accessible, upping a Premier Agent’s social cred among users.

    Zillow Premier Agent Reviews consistently rank near the top of the list of reasons why consumers choose a particular real estate agent.
Related Article
9 Tips to Earn More Reviews & Help Build Referrals & Repeat Clients
  • Exposure on other Zillow platforms: In addition to Zillow’s flagship site, Zillow Premier Agents also have premium placement on Zillow’s network sites, including Trulia, StreetEasy, and RealEstate.com. Though the traffic on these sites is considerably lower than Zillow’s, they offer further exposure and more bang for your Zillow buck.
  • An IDX website with a custom domain name: Even though most agents considering Zillow Premier Agent already have a web presence, getting additional real estate (ahem) on the internet is never a bad thing.
Related Article
The 6 Best Real Estate Website Builders of 2022
  • Featured placement on Zillow’s Agent Finder: Many consumers use Zillow to look at homes and find an agent. Zillow’s Agent Finder is so important that it has its own spot in Zillow’s top navigation, alongside the site’s Buy and Sell features. Premier Agents enjoy premium top-line profile placement in searches for the communities where they advertise.
  • Access the Zillow Premier Agent CRM: There are lots of real estate customer relationship managers (CRMs) out there, including Propertybase, LionDesk, and Follow Up Boss. The Zillow CRM isn’t going to blow you away with its form or functionality. Still, it’s designed to seamlessly integrate with the Zillow Premier Agent App and flawlessly transfer all your Zillow leads into its system, every time. So it’s worth checking out, if only for Zillow leads.
Related Article
The Best Real Estate CRM for 2022: In-depth Reviews & Pricing

Zillow Premier Agent Alternative: Zillow Flex

Zillow Flex Program

If you’re not feeling warm and fuzzy about paying Zillow a significant upfront fee for leads, the Zillow Flex program, available in some markets, allows real estate agents to get leads upfront at no cost. However, a referral fee comes due when a transaction closes, resulting in lower risk to the agent but a significantly higher cost per lead.

Is the higher cost per lead worth preserving your existing operating budget? Check out our article about Zillow Flex and decide for yourself.

3 Essential Elements Premier Agents Need to Successfully Convert Zillow Leads

The Zillow Premier Agent program clearly delivers significant benefits to its users, not everyone will be successful with ZPA. Remember earlier, when we noted that there are three key elements critical to your success as a Zillow Premier Agent? Let’s dive into those right now.

Zillow Alternatives

Zillow isn’t the only game in town when it comes to lead generation. If you’d like to try something different, consider one of the following:

  • BoldLeads: Offering exclusive leads, BoldLeads drives traffic by placing ads on social media and in Google search results. A part of the Propertybase ecosystem, BoldLeads integrates well with their customer relationship manager (CRM).
  • REDX: Real estate prospecting is a more hands-on, but often more affordable lead generation technique. REDX gives you the tools to reach out to potential sellers proactively rather than trying to entice them to reach out to you.
  • SmartZip: Predictive analytics is a new and exciting field in real estate lead generation, and SmartZip is leading the way. Using data analytics and a sophisticated algorithm, SmartZip predicts which homes in your community are likely to list for sale. 

    SmartZip often pinpoints homes before the owners have decided that this is the year they plan to sell. Use this tool to supercharge your real estate farming strategy or your postcard marketing campaigns.

Looking for more options? Check out 5 Smart Ways to Buy Real Estate Leads.

Frequently Asked Questions

Didn’t find what you were looking for in our guide? Not to worry, we’ve answered some of real estate agents’ most frequently asked questions about Zillow Premier Agent here:

Bringing It All Together

The landscape in real estate marketing is constantly evolving. There are always new players, new approaches, and new ideas, but Zillow has remained a visible and important part of this conversation.

Until Zillow’s dominance as the go-to consumer real estate source wanes, a presence in the Zillow Premier program is a valuable asset for any serious real estate agent. As long as you have an adequate budget to reach a critical mass, an impeccable profile, and the follow-up skills to convert your leads into clients, investment in Zillow Premier Agent is a no-brainer.

Ready to make the leap? Visit Zillow Premier Agent’s website to see what ZIP codes are available in your area and how this lead generation platform can fit into your marketing strategy for 2022.

Visit Zillow Premier Agent

The post Is Zillow Premier Agent Worth the Cost? appeared first on The Close.

]]> https://theclose.com/zillow-premier-agent-worth-cost/feed/ 53 Market Leader Review + Video Walk-through https://theclose.com/market-leader-review/ https://theclose.com/market-leader-review/#respond Wed, 16 Mar 2022 21:32:20 +0000 https://theclose.com/?p=31590 Find out why Market Leader our #1 pick for real estate lead generation in 2022—we'll explain how Market Leader delivers on its unique value proposition, providing agents with a guaranteed monthly volume of leads or your money back.

The post Market Leader Review + Video Walk-through appeared first on The Close.

]]> Companies offering real estate leads have an accountability problem. They promise qualified leads and big opportunity but may not provide adequate tools or a platform to effectively deliver on that promise. Market Leader is different (or at least they claim to be). In this Market Leader review, we’ll do a deep dive and video walk-through to show you why they’re our #1 pick for real estate lead generation in 2022.

Market Leader delivers on its unique value proposition, providing agents with a guaranteed monthly volume of leads or your money back. With the rollout of their updated customer relationship manager (CRM) and new, beautifully designed websites, plus a marketing platform so advanced that it could be its own standalone product, Market Leader is making strides toward the goal of being THE operating solution for real estate agents. Learn why.

Why Should You Trust This Market Leader Review?

This deep-dive review of Market Leader isn’t like other reviews you’ll find online. For starters, we at The Close are seasoned real estate professionals with real experience finding, vetting, and using technology tools to successfully operate our business. We’ve got practical experience and know what works. 

Also, we have used Market Leader extensively. We’ve put this review together using our firsthand experience with the actual tool, not second and thirdhand accounts of other reviewers. 

You can trust The Close to provide an unbiased, firsthand account of Market Leader, its resources and usefulness, and to offer objective analysis as well as subjective impressions.

Market Leader: Pros, Cons & The Close Recommendation

We’re going to go deep into each of the features of Market Leader, plus do an extensive video walk-through of the entire platform, but if you’re just looking for our top-line observations + our recommendation, this section is for you.

Market Leader ProsMarket Leader Cons
  • An industry-leading lead generation product with guaranteed leads each month
  • Very limited analytics and tracking for single agents
  • A strong website with direct integration into your CRM, offering advanced lead behavior tracking
  • No built-in phone dialer or SMS texting
  • A marketing suite with direct mail marketing tools that can be automated and integrated into your other automated digital marketing efforts
  • No social media integrations in the marketing suite

The Close Recommendation

Market Leader is arguably the most complete solution available for agents, teams, and brokers seeking a tool that will acquire, engage, nurture, and convert real estate leads. The platform isn’t without fault. For example, it’s likely not the best solution if your business is built on prospecting and other outbound marketing efforts, or for agents who heavily rely on data and analytics.

However, if you’re paying for inbound leads, you should seriously consider the Market Leader platform as a comprehensive platform for powering up your real estate business.

Visit Market Leader

What Services Does Market Leader Offer?

Market Leader offers solutions for nearly every step of the real estate lead journey, with a primary focus on lead acquisition, nurturing, and conversion. These tools include:

  • Paid lead generation: As mentioned above, Market Leader is The Close’s top pick for lead generation companies in 2022. Their unique lead guarantee makes them a clear pick for any agent who is watching their return on investment (ROI) for paid lead gen closely (hint: that should be all of us).
  • Real estate websites: The public-facing, IDX-enabled real estate websites offered by Market Leader have gotten markedly better in the last year. They are attractive, customizable, and offer some really solid lead capture options. Since their websites are critical to the Market Leader nurture strategy, their upgrades are very important. 
  • Real estate CRM: Real estate leads are just missed opportunities without a system and a strategy to convert them into clients. The Market Leader customer relationship manager (CRM) provides just that with a number of intriguing features, including a complete MLS integration, a move that offers some very unique marketing power-ups (more on these later). 
  • Real estate marketing tools: Most CRMs will give you tools and templates for email marketing and not much else. The Market Leader CRM offers options to do email, paid social, and even print marketing, straight from their marketing suite within the CRM. 
  • Dedicated mobile app: The Market Leader mobile app is a bona fide professional tool. This standalone app is not just a mobile browser-accessed, watered-down version of the desktop experience. It’s a standalone app with its own integrations and features that will prove very valuable to agents on the go and who work from their phone a lot (meaning, all of us).

How Much Does Market Leader Cost?

Market Leader pricing is straightforward and easy to understand. For $139 per month, users get all-inclusive access to a website, CRM, and marketing center. A la carte pricing for individual tools is not available. A six- or 12-month contract is required.

For real estate leads, the cost is $25 or more per lead, depending on your market.

Market Leader Video Walk-through

Go Deeper: A Closer Look at Market Leader’s Tools & Features

Now that we know the basics of what Market Leader has to offer and how much it costs, let’s dive into each of their tools to get more detail about how they work and how they plug into the overall Market Leader strategy.

We’ll also provide you with our recommendation on how to get the most out of each piece of the Market Leader puzzle.

Real Estate Lead Generation

Market Leader Real Estate Lead Generation

The Market Leader lead gen approach is simple: run ads on platforms where your prospects are already spending their time (e.g., Facebook, Google) and direct them to sites like HouseValues.com (for sellers) or your Market Leader IDX website (for buyers).

Sound familiar? You’ve heard this strategy before, but Market Leader does things a little differently.

Before selling you a contract with leads, they calculate, based on search volume, the number of leads they can consistently deliver on a monthly basis. Market Leader clients only pay for the lead volume they can support, as opposed to providers who use the same approach but have no estimate (or accountability) for the number of leads they actually deliver.

💡 How to Get the Most From This Tool: The Market Leader paid lead model is, in our opinion, the best and most effective tool available for getting a positive return on your ad spend. Get the most from this tool by carefully measuring your conversion rates, forecasting your closings relative to your lead volume, and scaling up the number of leads you buy as your success grows.

Real Estate Website

Real estate websites offered by Market Leader

Real estate websites offered by Market Leader used to be a bit of an afterthought (at least in our opinion at The Close), but they’ve recently become a very important part of the success agents can find on the platform.

Their website designs have gotten a facelift, and they’ve got a really solid IDX-enabled search functionality that will give visitors to your site an experience akin to the one they’ll find on Zillow. They also offer excellent lead capture options that will convert more of your paid (and organic) leads than the average, brokerage-provided website.

💡 How to Get the Most From This Tool: The Market Leader websites are attractive, but their true value comes from their lead capture options. If you want to get the most out of this, make sure you turn on (and fine-tune) the “activity wall pop-up.”

This is a pop-up that will fire on the website after a prospect has viewed a certain number of pages, done a certain amount of searching, and so forth. The trigger for this pop-up is customizable, so you can make it as aggressive or relaxed as you like. Most websites only offer casual, optional pop-ups.

Market Leader’s lead capture approach will get more leads into your CRM, giving you more chances to convert site visitors to clients.

Real Estate CRM

Market Leader newly revamped CRM

The newly revamped CRM is the sun around which all the other parts of the Market Leader solar system revolve. Your website leads (paid or organic) will populate in Market Leader’s CRM, and it connects directly with your website to record any user activity (including properties viewed, searches saved, and so forth). You can access the Market Leader Marketing Center through their CRM.

💡 How to Get the Most From This Tool: Getting the most from the Market Leader CRM is easy—simply lean into its connection to your Market Leader website. The best part about this CRM is, hands-down, the organic integration between your leads’ website activity and their lead profiles. Using this feature will allow you to see what your leads are really searching for, and give you insight into how you can better provide value for them.

Without this connection (or the use of a Market Leader website), this CRM is still valuable, but relatively ordinary compared to its peers.

Real Estate Marketing

Market Leader’s Marketing Center focuses on three pillars: email marketing, print marketing, and automated campaigns that combine these two options.

Their email marketing includes a ton of templates for typical lead nurturing for buyers and sellers, plus tons of customizable templates for special holiday greetings, birthdays, home anniversaries, and more.

Partnered with Shutterfly, their print marketing options allow direct mail postcard and flyer marketing that can make your real estate farming and circle prospecting efforts a lot easier.

💡 How to Get the Most From This Tool: You’ll get the most from these marketing tools by optimizing the third pillar—automated campaigns. With Market Leader automation, you can choose from dozens of preconstructed email drip campaigns for prospects at virtually any stage of your sales funnel.

Plus, you can use their automated direct mail marketing, which is great for new listings, price reductions, open houses, and more. And as a bonus, Market Leader writes an original newsletter each month that you can repurpose as your own and blast to your email audience.

Additional Market Leader Resources

Additional Market Leader Resources

Market Leader offers a surprisingly robust set of tools for agents, teams, and brokers who want to level up their use of the platform, but also grow their business in general. These include collections of scripts, templates, long-form strategy guides, and more with titles like these:

  • “Email Marketing & Automation”
  • “Guide to Maximizing Your ROI on Old Leads”
  • “Paid Online Lead Follow-Up Scripts”

Where Market Leader Could Improve

If you’ve made it this far in this review, you know by now that we’re feeling pretty good about Market Leader and what they have to offer, but the platform isn’t perfect. There are a few things we wish were better:

  • Analytics: Market Leader doesn’t offer analytics on par with the rest of their platform. This seems like an odd omission, given how important it is to measure your marketing efforts. There are some tracking options available in the team and brokerage products, but not much for solo agents. 
  • Built-in dialer: Without a dialer built in to the CRM, agents are forced to log calls they have with their contacts manually. If you’re like most agents, you’re on the phone A LOT, so it’s inevitable that some of your calls won’t get logged. Not even the mobile app offers this functionality, which again, is a swing and a miss. 
  • Automated SMS texting: Though SMS texting is a limited option for Realtors through the Market Leader mobile app, scheduling text messages as a part of automated campaigns is not. This feels like an oversight. With scheduled SMS, agents could add an entirely new dimension to their drip and nurture campaigns.

Is Market Leader Right for You?

In our view, Market Leader is officially the front-runner when it comes to an all-in-one real estate operating system. To be clear, they aren’t there just yet (nobody is), but they are leading the pack. Between their lead gen, website, CRM, and marketing options, Market Leader is offering agents nearly everything they need to operate and grow their business. But is it right for you?

Market Leader is right for you if:

  • You’ve got a growing business that already has or is ready to integrate paid lead generation into your strategy
  • You are dedicated to using a CRM every day to improve the consistency of your contact management and nurturing
  • You’ve got the budget to commit to at least 12 months of using their system

Market Leader isn’t right for you if:

  • You’re just getting started in the real estate business and don’t have the budget or bandwidth to start paying for leads
  • You won’t use the Market Leader website as your primary marketing hub
  • You’re a part-time agent and don’t have time to use all of Market Leader’s offerings

Visit Market Leader

The post Market Leader Review + Video Walk-through appeared first on The Close.

]]> https://theclose.com/market-leader-review/feed/ 0 Aceable Agent Review + Video Walk-through https://theclose.com/aceable-agent-review/ https://theclose.com/aceable-agent-review/#respond Wed, 16 Mar 2022 18:57:01 +0000 https://theclose.com/?p=32327 Check out our video walk-through & review of Aceable Agent, an online real estate prelicensing education provider with a fresh, mobile-first approach to real estate learning.

The post Aceable Agent Review + Video Walk-through appeared first on The Close.

]]> Aceable Agent provides online real estate prelicensing education and a fresh, mobile-first approach to real estate learning. Their mobile app makes completing your class hours as easy as listening to a podcast, and is an exclusive offering that none of their competitors provides. If the idea of spending your nights and weekends in a stuffy, windowless classroom crushes your soul, Aceable Agent’s mobile experience might be the ideal solution for you.

But, is their material any good? Is the platform easy to use? Is this a school you should consider? In this Aceable Agent review, we’ll answer all these questions, plus give you a glimpse into a day-in-the-life of an Aceable Agent student with a detailed written review and a video walk-through.

Why You Can Trust This Aceable Agent Review

Chris Linsell

Hi, I’m Chris Linsell. Not only am I the Senior Real Estate Writer and Technology Analyst for The Close, but I also have a long history in the professional education space. I’ve taught both in the classroom and online as a Senior Instructor for companies like Kaplan Test Prep, and Sylvan.

I know what it takes to put together a successful online course, and I know what soon-to-be real estate agents need to be successful, thanks to my many years as a Realtor, a team leader, and a coach in the real estate industry.

At The Close, we maintain fierce editorial independence. Aceable Agent has no say in the content of this review or the opinions I offer, so you can count on this review to be fair, objective, and independent.

Aceable Agent: Pros, Cons & The Close Recommendation

I’m going to walk you through the Aceable Agent experience and share my reactions along the way, but if you’re just looking for a quick summary review plus a recommendation on whether you should consider Aceable, this section is for you.

Aceable Agent ProsAceable Agent Cons
  • The best mobile-friendly real estate school on the market
  • Only available in 14 states
  • Excellent audio narration makes “podcasting” your classes a great option
  • Not a good option for traditional, book-based learners
  • Clean, modern interface that’s easy to use
  • No on-platform note-taking system

The Close Recommendation: Aceable Agent’s value proposition to potential students is simple: the best mobile-first real estate education platform on the market. It’s perfect for those who are constantly on the go and those who want to fulfill their class hour requirements with their headphones while they’re commuting or working out. We love Aceable Agent for a non-traditional student experience that will get you across the finish line sooner and more conveniently.

They aren’t perfect—their sleek, minimalist experience isn’t for everyone, especially if you’re new to online education. But, for most students where Aceable Agent offers classes, this is a prelicense education company you should consider.

Visit Aceable Agent

Most Frequently Asked Questions about Aceable Agent

Before we get into the Aceable Agent student experience, let’s answer some of the most frequently asked questions we get about all real estate education companies.

In which states does Aceable Agent offer real estate classes?

USA map

Aceable Agent offers the required prelicense classes in the following 14 states:

States Where Aceable Agent OperatesRequired # Prelicensing Class Hours by State
Arizona90 Hours
California135 Hours
Colorado168 Hours
Florida63 Hours
Georgia75 Hours
Michigan40 Hours
New York75 Hours
North Carolina75 Hours
Pennsylvania75 Hours
South Carolina90 Hours
Tennessee90 Hours
Texas180 Hours
Virginia60 Hours
Washington90 Hours
Related Article
5 Best Online Real Estate Schools: Our Top Picks for 2022

How long do Aceable Agent courses take to complete?

Since every state’s requirements are a little different, and every student’s pace will depend on the amount of free time they have available, this number will vary.

A good rule of thumb is that a full-time student will dedicate six hours a day (five days a week), while a part-time student will dedicate six hours a week.

With that in mind, review the required number of class hours for each state listed above. Find your state in the list and determine your pace (full -time, part-time, or somewhere in between), to help you estimate how long your real estate courses will take to complete.

What packages does Aceable Agent offer & how much do they cost?

Aceable Agent offers three course packages, though each package and its inclusions may vary due to the unique prelicense education requirements of each state. Generally, you’ll find three course packages in all 14 states:

  • Basic (The Essentials)
  • Deluxe (Ace the Exam)
  • Premium (The Ultimate Interactive)

Pricing for Aceable Agent class packages is state-specific due to the varying number of course hours required by each state. Please choose your state from the drop-down below for detailed pricing information and to learn about the Aceable Agent packages available in your state.

Basic PackageDeluxe PackagePremium Package
Regular price: $531Regular price: $525Regular price: $625
ADRE-approved Everything in the Basic PackageEverything in the Deluxe Package
Lite exam prep75 videos, 70 audio lessons, digital flashcards1 hour of private tutoring
Unlimited instructor support via emailDeluxe exam prep (1,695 additional practice questions + custom quiz generator)Live webinars 5 times a week + access to webinar archive
Real estate exam prep e-bookLive Q&A every week
Basic PackageDeluxe PackagePremium Package
Regular price: $149Regular price: $225Regular price: $370
CA DOS-approved Everything in the Basic PackageEverything in the Deluxe Package
Self-paced online PDF format75 videos, 70 audio lessons, digital flashcards1 hour of private tutoring
Unlimited instructor support via emailDeluxe exam prep (1,695 additional practice questions + custom quiz generator)Live webinars 5 times a week + access to webinar archive
30-day money-back guaranteeReal estate exam prep e-bookLive Q&A every week
Basic PackageDeluxe PackagePremium Package
Regular price: $374Regular price: $519Regular price: $479
CO DRE-approved Everything in the Basic PackageEverything in the Deluxe Package
Self-paced online PDF format75 videos, 70 audio lessons, digital flashcards1 hour of private tutoring
Unlimited instructor support via emailDeluxe exam prep (1,695 additional practice questions + custom quiz generator)Live webinars 5 times a week + access to webinar archive
30-day money-back guaranteeReal estate exam prep e-bookLive Q&A every week
Basic PackageDeluxe PackagePremium Package
Regular price: $100Regular price: $196Regular price: $237
FREC-approved Everything in the Basic PackageEverything in the Deluxe Package
Fully narrated audio guide for each course75 videos, 70 audio lessons, digital flashcards1 hour of private tutoring
Lite exam prep w/ 200+ practice questionsDeluxe exam prep (1,695 additional practice questions + custom quiz generator)Live webinars 5 times a week + access to webinar archive
30-day money-back guaranteeReal estate exam prep e-bookLive Q&A every week
Basic PackageDeluxe PackagePremium Package
Regular price: $269Regular price: $393Regular price: $536
GREC-approved Everything in the Basic PackageEverything in the Deluxe Package
Fully narrated audio guide for each course75 videos, 70 audio lessons, digital flashcards1 hour of private tutoring
Lite exam prep w/ 200+ practice questionsDeluxe exam prep (1,695 additional practice questions + custom quiz generator)Live webinars 5 times a week + access to webinar archive
Free online exam proctoringReal estate exam prep e-bookLive Q&A every week
Basic PackageDeluxe PackagePremium Package
Regular price: $194Regular price: $300Regular price: $450
LARA-approved Everything in the Basic PackageEverything in the Deluxe Package
Fully narrated audio guide for each course75 videos, 70 audio lessons, digital flashcards1 hour of private tutoring
Lite exam prep w/ 80+ practice questionsDeluxe exam prep (1,695 additional practice questions + custom quiz generator)Live webinars 5 times a week + access to webinar archive
Free online exam proctoringReal estate exam prep e-bookLive Q&A every week
Basic PackageDeluxe PackagePremium Package
Regular price: $269Regular price: $420Regular price: $564
NYREC-approved Everything in the Basic PackageEverything in the Deluxe Package
Fully narrated audio guide for each course75 videos, 70 audio lessons, digital flashcards1 hour of private tutoring
Lite exam prep w/ 200+ practice questionsDeluxe exam prep (1,695 additional practice questions + custom quiz generator)Live webinars 5 times a week + access to webinar archive
Unlimited instructor support via emailReal estate exam prep e-bookLive Q&A every week
Mini course on finding the right sponsoring broker to start your career
Basic PackageDeluxe PackagePremium Package
Regular price: $594Regular price: $767Regular price: $964
NCREC-approved Everything in the Basic PackageEverything in the Deluxe Package
Fully narrated audio guide for each course75 videos, 70 audio lessons, digital flashcards1 hour of private tutoring
Lite exam prep w/ 300+ practice questionsDeluxe exam prep (1,695 additional practice questions + custom quiz generator)Live webinars 5 times a week + access to webinar archive
Multimedia learning, featuring video, interactive games, infographics, and moreReal estate exam prep e-bookLive Q&A every week
Basic PackageDeluxe PackagePremium Package
Regular price: $240Regular price: $474Regular price: $660
DOS-approved Everything in the Basic PackageEverything in the Deluxe Package
Fully narrated audio guide for each course75 videos, 70 audio lessons, digital flashcards1 hour of private tutoring
Lite exam prep w/ 200+ practice questionsDeluxe exam prep (1,695 additional practice questions + custom quiz generator)Live webinars 5 times a week + access to webinar archive
Free online exam proctoringReal estate exam prep e-bookLive Q&A every week
Basic PackageDeluxe PackagePremium Package
Regular price: $569Regular price: $700Regular price: $893
SCLLR-approved Everything in the Basic PackageEverything in the Deluxe Package
Fully narrated audio guide for each course75 videos, 70 audio lessons, digital flashcards1 hour of private tutoring
Lite exam prep w/ 450+ practice questionsDeluxe exam prep (1,695 additional practice questions + custom quiz generator)Live webinars 5 times a week + access to webinar archive
Free online exam proctoringReal estate exam prep e-bookLive Q&A every week
Basic PackageDeluxe PackagePremium Package
Regular price: $244Regular price: $367Regular price: $536
TREC-approved Everything in the Basic PackageEverything in the Deluxe Package
Multimedia learning, featuring video, interactive games, infographics, and more75 videos, 70 audio lessons, digital flashcards1 hour of private tutoring
Lite exam prep w/ 800+ practice questionsDeluxe exam prep (1,500 additional practice questions + custom quiz generator)Live webinars 5 times a week + access to webinar archive
Unlimited instructor support via emailReal estate exam prep e-bookLive Q&A every week
Basic PackageDeluxe PackagePremium Package
Regular price: $525Regular price: $693Regular price: $871
TREC-approved Everything in the Basic PackageEverything in the Deluxe Package
Fully narrated audio guide for each course75 videos, 70 audio lessons, digital flashcards1 hour of private tutoring
Lite exam prep w/ 1,000+ practice questionsDeluxe exam prep (1,660 additional practice questions + custom quiz generator)Live webinars 5 times a week + access to webinar archive
Unlimited instructor support via emailReal estate exam prep e-bookLive Q&A every week
Mini course on finding the right sponsoring broker to start your career
Basic PackageDeluxe PackagePremium Package
Regular price: $168Regular price: $300Regular price: $450
DPOR-approved Everything in the Basic PackageEverything in the Deluxe Package
Fully narrated audio guide for each course75 videos, 70 audio lessons, digital flashcards1 hour of private tutoring
Lite exam prep w/ 200+ practice questionsDeluxe exam prep (1 500 additional practice questions + custom quiz generator)Live webinars 5 times a week + access to webinar archive
Unlimited instructor support via emailReal estate exam prep e-bookLive Q&A every week
Basic PackageDeluxe PackagePremium Package
Regular price: $269Regular price: $367Regular price: $536
DOL-approved Everything in the Basic PackageEverything in the Deluxe Package
Fully narrated audio guide for each course75 videos, 70 audio lessons, digital flashcards1 hour of private tutoring
Lite exam prep w/ 1,000+ practice questionsDeluxe exam prep (3,000 additional practice questions + custom quiz generator)Live webinars 5 times a week + access to webinar archive
Unlimited instructor support via emailReal estate exam prep e-bookLive Q&A every week
Free online exam proctoring

Aceable Agent is offering Close readers 25% off the regular price of any package. Click below for your discount to be applied automatically.

Visit Aceable Agent

The Aceable Agent Student Experience + Video Walk-through

Aceable Agent: Logging In & Getting Started

Aceable Agent Sign In

Logging in to Aceable Agent is easy. Start by visiting their homepage and entering your email address and password. If you’re using the dedicated Aceable Agent mobile app, this process is even simpler. Simply download the Aceable Agent app (it’s available for free on Google Play and Apple’s App Store), then tap the app’s icon on your phone’s home screen and you’ll automatically be taken to your class dashboard if you’ve signed up for classes on your computer. You can also sign up for classes directly within the app.

Aceable Agent: Course Dashboard

Aceable Agent Class Dashboard

The Aceable Agent course dashboard is pretty spartan. You’ve got an outline of classes on the left hand side, marking your progress through the required material. A “what’s next” prompt sits front and center, indicating your immediate next steps toward completing your prelicensing course, and a collection of typical navigation links across the top.

Other real estate education companies, like Real Estate Express or Kaplan Real Estate Education, offer dashboards with a little more information (such as upcoming training webinars, course statistics, and mastery opportunities), but we weren’t dissatisfied with the Aceable Agent experience.

For most students, their real estate prelicense education has one goal: to fulfill their state’s required class hours. Aceable Agent’s dashboard gives you the most important information you’ll need to accomplish that task.

Aceable Agent: Learning Experience

The Aceable Agent learning experience is more akin to an app you’d download to teach yourself a foreign language than it is to a real estate class. Slide-based, users advance themselves through the material, choosing to read, listen to the narration (or both), answer questions along the way, watch videos, and more.

It’s clear that whoever is developing the Aceable Agent course material is an expert in online content. The student’s learning experience doesn’t involve reading lengthy PDFs (likely just scanned or converted copies of textbook pages). Instead, it’s presented in bite-sized, digestible chunks with varied delivery methods that really do make the experience more enjoyable.

Also, even after spending 30 minutes taking an Aceable Agent class, I still couldn’t accurately predict what would be on the next slide (text with narration, video, quiz break, or more). This kept the experience fresh and engaging. I didn’t find myself slipping into a bored, disengaged pattern of click-read-repeat.

Aceable Agent: Save & Exit Process

As you are finishing your work on Aceable Agent for the day, the save-and-exit process is as simple as closing your browser window or the Aceable Agent app. Your progress through the course is automatically saved with every slide you complete, so there is no need to manually save anything, making this end of the process literally as easy as it could be.

Additional Aceable Agent Features You Should Know About

  • Spot-check quizzes: Peppered throughout the Aceable Agent content are one- and two-question quizzes that you’ll take to test your understanding of the content you’ve just covered. A passing grade on these quizzes isn’t required for you to move forward, but for anyone taking their real estate education seriously, these are great indicators as to whether you’ve mastered the material or need a little more review. 
  • Practice tests: Depending on the Aceable Agent plan you choose, there are hundreds (if not thousands) of real estate practice exam questions available, both individually and as part of practice tests to help prepare you for your final exam. 
  • Accompanying study guide: Aceable Agent offers a comprehensive, chapter-by-chapter PDF study guide for students to use as they’re taking their class, including highlights of the most important takeaways and a place for students to take notes. 
  • Real estate terms glossary: This real estate dictionary ensures that you’re never missing out on course value because you don’t understand a real estate word or phrase. 
  • Course math guide: This compact resource takes all the math from the Aceable Agent course and distills it down to a few pages, giving you terms, formulas, and examples. 
  • Quizlet tool: This handy third-party app (free for Aceable Agent users) is packed full of more free quiz questions, allowing users to design quizzes focused on specific topics, play flashcard-based games, and set a study plan for themselves to ensure they’re ready for exam day.

Where Aceable Agent Comes Up Short

Aceable Agent isn’t perfect. Their platform lacks features to help you take notes, bookmark and highlight certain sections of the material for review later, and generally create your own learning experience. If you’ve got a learning style that thrives on interaction with people and content, you have to go the extra mile on Aceable Agent to make that happen.

Also, your prelicense training is just a part of the real estate education you’ll need to launch and maintain a long and successful career. Aceable Agent doesn’t offer great options for continuing education or broker license training, so while a competitor like Real Estate Express can literally offer you everything under a single banner, you’re likely only going to take one course with Aceable Agent.

Aceable Agent Review: Our Final Thoughts

Aceable Agent is a dynamic real estate education platform that offers a flexible, mobile-friendly real estate education experience with features like full audio narration and a dedicated mobile app—features that most of their competitors in the industry simply don’t provide.

Their price point is competitive, and even though they are missing some interactive experiences, we’d definitely recommend Aceable Agent to anyone pursuing their license in one of the states listed above. Most students tell us that they prioritize high-quality content plus the ability to control when, where, and how long they take their real estate classes. Aceable Agent checks all of these boxes.

Try Aceable Agent

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