How to retain real estate clients has become one of the biggest challenges for agents and lenders today. In real estate today, few past clients stay meaningfully engaged after closing. Surveys show that while many homeowners say they would use their agent again, only about 12–18% actually do. Similarly, mortgage data indicates that nearly 70% of borrowers forget their loan officer within a year of closing. In practical terms, this means the vast majority of former clients quietly drift away unless they are actively nurtured. This loss is costly because repeat and referral business represents the highest-value opportunity for agents and lenders clients who already know, trust, and have transacted with you. Yet post-close communication is often inconsistent or nonexistent, creating space for competitors and national portals to step in. As one industry expert warns, “If we don’t stay in front of our database, we will eventually lose everyone to the likes of Zillow, Opendoor, and Redfin.”
- Low Retention: Only ~12% of past clients reuse their agent (and similarly high churn in mortgage).
- High Stakes: Most agents earn ~80% of business from referrals, while lenders lose 82% of clients at refinance. ( Source – NAR)
- The Risk: Failure to follow up means Zillow/portals capture your clients’ attention, and 70% of borrowers forget their loan officer within 13 months.
Why Portals Dominate Engagement: National real estate portals have woken up to this opportunity. As early as the late 2000s, Zillow began sending homeowners free automated home-value estimates and market updates to keep them engaged before their next move. Today Zillow, Redfin and others flood email inboxes with regular home value updates, “coming soon” and equity reports, effectively locking in homeowner attention. The result: many homeowners become loyal users of those big portals, not their local agent. In short, when buyers or sellers start thinking about a move, they often think “Zillow,” because Zillow never stops talking to them. Agents who don’t match that automated outreach risk losing even the most satisfied past clients.
Automation to the Rescue: Technology has made it possible to stay in touch with past clients at scale, and agents can now rely on automated tools to do so. A few platforms like Homebot and traditional CRMs can send homeowners periodic updates on home value, equity, and market conditions – information clients genuinely care about. When used well, automated emails and alerts help agents maintain visibility without constant manual outreach.
However, these tools still come with a major limitation: they assume agents already have a complete, organized list of past clients. In reality, many agents don’t. Client data is often fragmented across transactions, inboxes, spreadsheets, and legacy systems, making setup time-consuming and follow-up inconsistent. As a result, automation exists but adoption and execution break down. This gap between available technology and real-world usage is exactly where a more frictionless approach to past-client engagement becomes essential.
How to Retain Real Estate Clients with Automated Home-Value Engagement
To tackle these challenges head-on, Prospektr offers Claim My Home, a fully automated homeowner engagement feature built into its real estate CRM platform. Claim My Home lets agents and loan officers bring that Zillow experience in-house, by automating your past client data gathering. Here’s how it works in practice:
- Past Client Discovery: Agents can sign up for Prospektr and the platform will automatically discover your past clients from MLS data.
- Client List Import: Loan officers can also upload a list of past clients (name, contact info, home address) into Prospektr.
- Automated Data Gathering: Prospektr verifies each address and pulls current market data – appraisal-grade AVM home values, recent sales, and mortgage info for each property.
- Custom Branded Portal: The homeowner is invited (via email) to “claim” their home on the agent’s branded Prospektr site. Once claimed, the client gains access to a personalized portal with interactive analytics (current home value, net equity, mortgage calculators, etc.).
- Automated Marketing: Prospektr automatically engages each subscribed homeowner with a monthly newsletter-style email. These updates include the latest home valuation, equity changes, market trends, and personalized financing tips – all featuring the agent and/or loan officer branding.
- Lead Notifications:When a client requests a home value report or inquires about a refinance, Prospektr delivers the lead to you. You can focus on following up with the leads that start flowing in from your own past customers.
In effect, Claim My Home turns each past client into a new opportunity: homeowners get continuous value and insights, and real estate professionals get recurring touchpoints and referrals.
All of this happens automatically – Prospektr’s AI handles the heavy lifting of data, analytics and email campaigns.
Key Features & Benefits
| Feature (Claim My Home) | Benefit for Agents / Brokers | Benefit for Loan Officers / Brokers |
|---|---|---|
|
Automated Home-Value & Equity Alerts Monthly updates on home value and net equity. |
Keeps agents top-of-mind with past clients and reinforces ongoing market expertise. Helps re-engage homeowners ready to sell or refinance. | Surfaces early refinance and cash-out opportunities and strengthens the loan officer’s advisory role. |
|
Branded Client Portal & Emails Personalized homeowner experience with your branding. |
Builds trust and brand loyalty by keeping the agent visible on every update and report. Positions the agent as the long-term advisor. | Reinforces co-branding with agents and strengthens the agent–loan officer partnership. |
|
Equity & Refinance Insights Mortgage balance, rates, and equity modeling. |
Provides strong conversation starters tied to equity growth and market timing. | Enables proactive refinance and home equity loan outreach when conditions are right. |
|
Real-Time Market & Listing Alerts Local listings, price changes, and activity signals. |
Helps agents identify listing opportunities early and stay connected to client neighborhoods. | Keeps loan officers informed about market shifts that may trigger financing needs. |
|
Instant Home Value Reports On-demand AVM reports when homeowners claim their home. |
Creates immediate value and re-engagement opportunities through branded reports. | Captures motivated borrowers when homeowners explore value or financing scenarios. |
These features mean agents and lenders stay in control of the client relationship long after closing. Instead of passively hoping clients remember them, professionals using Claim My Home have built-in reasons to reach out. Clients receive tangible, tailored information that keeps the agent’s (and lender’s) name top-of-mind. Over time this fosters loyalty and repeat business: clients are far more likely to return to the agent or loan officer who actively guided them than to a faceless internet portal
FAQ
Retention depends on consistent, value-driven follow-up. Past clients stay engaged when they receive useful insights like home value, equity, or market updates not generic check-ins. Automation makes this easy to do at scale without adding daily work.
Automated home-value alerts provide homeowners with periodic updates on their property value and equity. Clients care because their home is their largest asset and they want to track how it’s performing. These updates keep professionals relevant long after closing.
Claim My Home is an automated engagement feature that sends past clients branded home-value and equity updates. Prospektr identifies and verifies properties, invites homeowners to claim their home, and delivers ongoing insights automatically. Agents stay visible without manual outreach.
A CRM with home equity data actively engages clients instead of just storing contacts. Equity updates signal opportunities to sell, refinance, or invest. This allows agents and loan officers to reach out at the right time with relevant conversations.
Repeat and referral clients are easier to convert and come with built-in trust. Even small improvements in retention can significantly increase long-term revenue. Staying in touch ensures clients remember you when the next opportunity arises.
Home equity alerts highlight refinance and cash-out opportunities as equity grows or rates change. Regular updates keep loan officers visible, preventing borrowers from forgetting them. When clients are ready to act, they reach out to the most familiar name.
Zillow and similar tools engage homeowners under their own branding, not yours. Homebot and CRMs require agents to manually build and manage past-client lists. Prospektr reduces friction by identifying past clients and keeping all engagement branded and agent-owned.
Prospektr tracks engagement and flags active homeowners as leads. Agents and loan officers receive notifications when clients request reports or interact with insights. This enables timely, personal follow-up without missed opportunities.
Experience firsthand how automated home-value alerts and equity insights can transform your follow-up strategy and keep your name on every client’s mind. Book Your Free Demo Today and see how easy it is to turn past clients into lifelong customers.