Where to find clients for a realtor/real estate agency in 2026

At the end of 2025, one thing has become clear: realtors have clients.
Stable deals, on the other hand, continue to be in short supply.

In the same city, with similar facilities and comparable advertising budgets:

• some agencies have results,
• others have a sense that the market has become more difficult and customers are «worse».

The 2025 analysis shows that the difference almost never comes down to a single factor.
It's made up of two systemic problems:

• changes in the quality of incoming leads,
• and how those leads are handled after the application.

In this article, let's break it down:

• Where realtors were really finding clients in 2025,
• why the quality of applications has become a separate market pain point,
• and how we can improve results in 2026.

What 2025 showed

The year 2025 was a watershed in terms of expectations.

What were once considered temporary difficulties have become the new norm:

• the cost of a lead increased and stabilised at a higher level;
• the share of untargeted and «raw» applications increased;
• customers are taking longer to make decisions;
• trust in advertising and adverts has declined;
• more and more bids are interest and market research, not a willingness to buy;
• the speed and quality of first contact became critical.

So the question of «where to get customers» is no longer the key question by the end of 2025.
Another one came to the forefront:

How to deal with the flow of applications, where quality is unstable, and bring customers to the deal.

Customer Engagement Architecture for 2025

One of the major mistakes the market has continued to make in 2025 is trying to solve a systemic problem through channels.

Approach:

«We'll find the source of leads, and then we'll figure it out from there.»

stopped working.

Analysis of successful cases for 2025 shows that the working scheme looks like this:

Source -> quality -> funnel -> processing -> upstream -> transaction

And if even one link falls out:

• advertising doesn't pay off,
• applications seem bad,
• managers burn out,
• budgets grow without results.

It's important to fix it:
The problem of lead quality and the problem of processing are almost always interrelated.

Where realtors find clients in 2025

1. Classic advertising channels

Portals, contextual adverts, targeting - all of these have continued to work well into 2025.

But with an important change:
these channels began to bring in more incomplete and heterogeneous applications, than before.

The main reasons:

• broad audiences,
• simplified application forms,
• clicks «out of interest.»,
• lack of primary filtration.

At the end of 2025, it became obvious:
To expect only «hot» customers from advertising is a strategic mistake.

The channel no longer guarantees quality.
Quality is shaped by further down the funnel.

2. Social media and content

In 2025, social media is finally no longer a source of quick deals.

They became:

• the point of first contact,
• a trust-building tool,
• an environment for pent-up demand.

It's a rule of thumb, low initial lead quality, but high potential value if done right.

Content without filtering and scripting exacerbated the quality problem.
Content with funneling, segmentation and warming, on the contrary, allowed it to be smoothed out.

3. Telegram, bots and automation

By the end of 2025, Telegram has shown itself not so much as a source of leads, but as a tool for managing their quality.

Via:

• Questions,
• scenarios,
• chatbots,
• lead magnets,

the realtors did:

• weed out random applications,
• segment interest,
• prepare the client for dialogue.

This is where the market began to address the issue of quality, not just increasing volume.

What will work in 2026: tools and approaches

The 2025 analytics showed that in 2026, it's not those who use more tools who win, but those who understands the role of each in the system.

Below are the tools that will yield applications in 2026 and how to work with them properly.

1. Contextual advertising and search networks

Specific advertising systems:

• Google Ads
• Yandex Direct
• local search networks and affiliate sites (GDN, RSE)

The role of the tool in 2026:
Intercepting conscious and semi-conscious demand, consultation and comparison requests.

What quality of applications it gives:

• above average,
• but more often at the research stage,
• with the expectation of help, not a direct sale.

What will work in 2026 based on the results of 2025:

• advertising not objects but solution scenarios (counselling, dismantling, help in choosing);
• emphasis on requests with undefined intent:
  «how to choose», «what's best», «whether to buy», «prices», «risks»;
• mandatory landing not on the object, but on the page with explanation and filtering;
• fixing the next step already in the first contact.

Typical mistake:
drive search traffic directly to the manager or catalogue of objects (page on the site with a list of objects) without context.

2. Targeted advertising in social networks

Specific advertising networks:

• Meta Ads (Facebook, Instagram)*
• TikTok Ads
• VK Advertising
• Local social platforms (depending on the region)

* if available in a particular country

The role of the tool in 2026:
Creating initial interest and entering the funnel, not generating deals.

What quality of applications it gives:

• cold or semi-warm,
• Often without a formed enquiry,
• with pent-up demand.

What will work in 2026:

• The advert is not «buy a flat» but the customer's pains and doubts;
• short videos of mistakes, fears, scenarios;
• ad → funnel → warm-up → contact;
• Segmenting traffic into segments rather than a single application form.

Typical mistake:
Evaluate targeting by deals, not by entering the funnel.

3. Social media and organic content

Specific platforms:

• Instagram
• TikTok
• YouTube
• Telegram
• VK and local social networks

Role of the tool:
Building trust, reducing resistance and preparing for dialogue.

What quality of applications it gives:

• low on the inlet,
• high on warm-up.

What will work in 2026:

• Expert content, not a showcase of objects;
• real-life situations of clients;
• Explaining the logic of the market and processes;
• Direct conversions from content into the funnel, not personal messages.

Typical mistake:
expect social media for quick applications without a system.

4. Telegram Ads as a separate advertising tool

Specific advertising system:

• Telegram Ads (official advertising platform)

Role of the tool:
scaling interest within the Telegram ecosystem.

What quality of applications it gives:

• miscellaneous,
• script-driven.

What will work in 2026:

• adverts for lead magnets and guides;
• transition not to a manager, but to a bot or funnel;
• pre-filtering before contacting a realtor;
• segmentation by interests and queries.

Typical mistake:
run adverts directly into a chat with a manager without client preparation.

5. Content articles and analytical materials

Specific sites:

• own website or blog
• Zen
• Medium
• dedicated portals and media
• Telegram channels

Role of the tool:
Attracting an informed audience and building trust.

What quality of applications it gives:

• above average,
• with a long transaction cycle.

What will work in 2026:

• analytical articles on the results of the year;
• dismantling the mistakes and myths of the market;
• honest materials with no promises;
• A logical progression to a guide or counselling session.

Typical mistake:
Writing articles without a clear next step.

Key takeaway

At the end of 2025, it was clear:

in 2026, it's not those who use more ad networks that win,
but those who understand, what role each plays in the funnel.

The same tool can:

• or make a deal,
• or amplify the chaos.

The difference is in the strategy and the system.

The problem of lead quality: an honest conclusion to the 2025 results

It's important to be blunt:
In 2025, the quality of inbound leads has really changed, and it's a significant market problem.

But there are two fundamental points.

The first one

Most sources in 2025 gave:

• Interest,
• counselling request,
• a desire to figure things out,

not a willingness to buy outright.

This is not a system failure, but a reflection of customer behaviour.

The second

Many realtors continued to handle these leads as «hot» leads:

• to sell right away,
• to send out the picks right away,
• to push right through.

At this point, the quality of the lead deteriorated definitively.

At the end of 2025, it was clear:
a lead often becomes «bad» due to improper handling of it after the request.

Why there are leads and fewer deals at the end of 2025

This problem has intensified for two reasons at once:

• deterioration of the starting quality of applications,
• lack of systemic processing.

The most common mistakes that were repeated time after time:

• slow to make contact;
• trying to sell in correspondence;
• No phone calls or video meetings;
• Lack of primary qualifications;
• «letting go to think» without fixing the pitch;
• working only with the hot ones;
• lack of an accounting system.

Each of these mistakes individually reduces conversion rates.
In sum, they turn even a normal lead into a lost lead.

Why the sales department has become more important than advertising by the end of 2025

The year 2025 has clearly shown: advertising no longer compensates for a weak system.

If:

• leads are not filtered,
• priorities are not being prioritised,
• no scripts for different types of clients,

the increase in traffic only adds to the chaos.

The sales department at the end of 2025 is:

• quality filter,
• decision-making centre,
• the key element of the entire funnel.

Where the money is really being lost

The 2025 analysis shows that more often than not, it is not the source of the money that is lost.

And at points:

• of first contact,
• qualifications,
• segmentation,
• fixing the next steps,
• Analysts.

This is where it gets lost:

• customer confidence,
• the potential quality of the lead,
• future deal.

About the mistakes that have been repeated all through 2025

For 2025, I have dealt with hundreds of realtor and agency funnels.
And regardless of country or source, there were repeated the same errors when working with applications.

To avoid turning this article into a tutorial, I've compiled them into a separate short guide:

«Top 7 mistakes of a realtor when working with applications«.

It's not a theory.
These are practical errors that:

• degrade the quality of the lead,
• devalue advertising,
• make it feel like «the wrong customers.».

If you have applications but no stable deals - that's where you should start.

Conclusions with which the market enters early 2026

At the end of 2025, it became obvious:

• the problem isn't just where to get clients,
• It's about the kind of customers you get and what happens to them next.

At the start of 2026, those who win:

• accepts the reality of the marketplace,
• works with the quality of applications,
• and builds a system rather than chasing «perfect leads».

There are clients.
The only question is, what you do with them after the application.