how to harvest mortgage leads....

[paymaster7]

Hi folks,
I'm currently working as a mortgage broker in Baltimore. I'm licensed in Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, Rhode Island, Delaware, DC, Pennsylvania, and Florida.
I work purely on commission, which means each month I have to run around like a chicken with its head cut off, rounding up potential clients.
Naturally, I'd like to have my "operation" on auto-pilot... and to me this means a steady source of internet leads.
Does anyone have any experience harvesting mortgage leads? What's the best strategy for this, keeping in mind that I only can take clients from 8 states? Adwords? Do you think an affiliate program would be effective? Or is an affiliate program a recipe for fraud/disaster in this situation... I could see how people might take advantage of a $20 per qualified lead program or something like that.... I suppose I could make the restrictions stringent enough that only truly qualified people 'qualify' for the $20.... I really don't know.
So, if anyone has any insights, that would be great. Or, if you live in one of those areas and need to talk about or do a refi/buy/get a line of credit/anything, please let me know, I'll knock money off of closing costs. Or, I suppose I could start an informal affiliate program for referrals...until I could set up an official one.
So, any ideas/tips/hints/flashes of brilliance on harvesting mortgage leads would be fantastic!! Thanks much,
John Holland

[deepstar]

I don't think an affiliate program is the right route. Most of the reputable affiliate networks will not take your campaign if you are only in 8 states as they stand to make very little money. You can go to CJ and spend in excess of $1000/month in network charges and get a bunch of crappy leads but I would not suggest it.

My suggestion would be to try optin email, adwords and overture. These three options allow you to geotarget to the locations you are licensed. My guess is that there is also lead companies out there willing to sell leads to you within your location. I know that for life insurance leads you can bid or purchase leads from agencies that generate the leads. Do your research of these companies before buying, ask for a few references. Here is an example http://www.liveleadexpress.com/

[D MARKS]

I would suggest you look into buying leads...this may be a little off topic, but there are tons of sites out their already capturing leads...you simply have to do some trial by error and see which ones you can convert the best...I believe most charge between 20-35 per lead, so if you are converting 1 out of 15, I assume you would still be profitable...good luck