How to evaluate a mortgage or real estate lead vendor: 12 questions to ask

Every lead vendor looks good in a sales call. The leads are “high intent,” the traffic is “premium,” and the exclusivity is “real.” Knowing how to choose a mortgage lead vendor comes down to asking specific questions, knowing what a good answer sounds like, and testing before you commit real budget. The same process works for real estate lead companies.

Below are 12 questions with good and bad answers for each, then a pilot test plan, a list of red flags and a scorecard you can copy.

One tip before you start: send the questions in writing and ask for written answers. It takes a vendor ten minutes to reply to an email if the answers are straightforward. If the replies come back vague, late or only by phone, you’ve learned something already, and you’ll have a record to check against if what you’re sold later doesn’t match what you were told.

12 questions to ask any lead vendor

1. Where does the traffic come from?

Good answer: named channels (for example, paid social or search ad funnels), whether the vendor runs them itself or buys from affiliates, and a sample of the form the consumer actually fills out.
Bad answer: “Proprietary sources” or “a network of partners,” with no example form.

2. Exclusive means what, exactly?

Good answer: a clear statement of how many buyers receive each lead at each price, and whether a lead sold as exclusive is ever resold later, for example as an aged lead.
Bad answer: “Exclusive to your area” or “exclusive for 24 hours,” without saying what happens after. For background, see exclusive vs shared vs aged leads.

3. How old is a lead when it reaches me?

Good answer: a submission timestamp on every lead, delivery in seconds, and pricing that reflects age.
Bad answer: “Real-time” with no timestamp, or batches delivered once a day. Lead age is the biggest driver of contact rate; the speed-to-lead guide explains why.

4. What consent records come with each lead?

Good answer: the exact consent language the consumer saw, a timestamp, IP address and a third-party certificate such as TrustedForm, available on every lead.
Bad answer: “All our leads are compliant,” with nothing to show for it. You carry the risk of how you contact the consumer, so review the records with your compliance team.

5. How do you dedupe?

Good answer: a specific rule, such as blocking the same phone number in the same vertical within a set window, plus a way to avoid selling you someone you already bought.
Bad answer: “We clean our data” with no rule.

6. What can I return, and how fast?

Good answer: a written list of valid return reasons (disconnected or wrong number, duplicate, fake information, outside your service area), a defined window, and credits issued quickly.
Bad answer: returns “at our discretion,” or a policy that only exists verbally.

7. How do leads get into my CRM?

Good answer: real-time webhooks or native integrations with the CRM and dialer you use, with a test lead sent before you go live.
Bad answer: CSV downloads or emailed spreadsheets. See sending leads to your CRM for what good delivery looks like.

8. What can I filter on?

Good answer: state and ZIP, lead type, and attributes that matter to your business — for mortgage, loan amount, property value, credit score band, property type and occupancy; for real estate, budget or home value, timeline and pre-approval status — plus daily caps and delivery hours.
Bad answer: state only, or filters that cost extra per field.

9. What are the contract terms and minimums?

Good answer: terms in writing, no long lock-in, and a clear explanation of any funding requirement, how unused balance is handled and how to pause.
Bad answer: a multi-month commitment before you’ve seen a single lead, or auto-renewal buried in the agreement.

10. How is pricing set?

Good answer: a published price list or a pricing rule you can predict, with the price shown on each lead.
Bad answer: prices that change by account, unexplained surcharges, or “it depends” with no criteria.

11. Can I run a test batch?

Good answer: yes, with a modest budget and the same filters you’d use at scale.
Bad answer: a test that only happens after you sign, or a hand-picked “sample” that isn’t from live inventory.

12. Can you share references and contact-rate reporting?

Good answer: reporting that lets you see your own results by lead type and age, and references in your market you can actually call.
Bad answer: industry-wide conversion claims with no source, or references who turn out to be affiliates.

Run a pilot before you commit

Answers are a starting point. A pilot shows what the leads actually do in your hands.

1. Length: two to four weeks of buying, then keep tracking those leads for 60 to 90 days, since many mortgage leads fund well after first contact.
2. Sample size: enough leads that a few outliers don’t decide the outcome. Many teams aim for 100 to 200 leads per vendor. Smaller tests can tell you about data quality, but not much about funded loans.
3. Same conditions: same lead types, similar geography, the same loan officers and the same follow-up cadence you use for your existing sources.
4. Fixed budget: decide the spend in advance so a slow week doesn’t turn into “let’s give it another month.”

Track these metrics for every vendor:

• Bad-data rate (wrong, disconnected, junk) and how many returns were approved
• Average lead age at delivery
• Contact rate, and contact rate by attempt
• Appointments, applications and pre-approvals
• Funded loans and cost per funded loan

How to read the results

Look at the pilot in layers. In week one, the question is data quality: are the numbers real, are the consumers who they say they are, and do they remember filling out a form? A high bad-data rate this early rarely improves, and it is the clearest signal to stop.

By the end of the buying window, look at contact rate and appointment rate against your existing sources. A vendor whose leads contact well but rarely book appointments may be sending rate shoppers or consumers who didn’t expect a call; check the sample form and consent language again. A vendor whose leads contact poorly may simply be delivering them late.

Over the following 60 to 90 days, funded loans tell you the rest. Keep notes on why deals did and didn’t close. “Credit too low” and “outside our lending area” point to filters you can tighten; “already working with another lender” points to exclusivity or speed.

The final figure is the one to decide on. The cost per funded loan guide shows how to calculate it.

Red flags

• No sample form, no consent records, or consent language that doesn’t name your company or a clear category.
• “Exclusive” leads whose consumers tell you several other lenders already called.
• No timestamps, or delivery in daily batches.
• Return policy that isn’t written down.
• Long contracts or large upfront commitments before a test.
• Pressure to decide today, or pricing that only holds “this week.”
• Guaranteed closings or guaranteed conversion rates. No vendor controls your follow-up.
• Vague answers on traffic source after you’ve asked twice.
• Consumers in the pilot who say they never asked for a mortgage or real estate quote.
• Leads that consistently fall outside the filters you set.

One red flag on its own isn’t always fatal; a vendor may simply have a weak sales process. Two or three together usually mean the product has the same problems.

A vendor scorecard

Score each vendor from 1 (poor) to 5 (strong) on each line, using answers and pilot data. Weight the lines that matter most to your business; for most mortgage teams that’s lead age, consent records and cost per funded loan.

How Maple Leads answers

We’d rather you run this checklist on us than take our word for it. Here are the facts for the questions we can answer directly:

• Traffic: consumers submit forms on Facebook, Google and TikTok ad funnels.
• Exclusivity and age: price is set by lead age when the lead is routed. Leads in the first 15 minutes are exclusive to one buyer; later tiers go to up to two, three or five buyers, and you can see how many buyers already have a lead. The full ladder is on the pricing page.
• Consent records: consent language, timestamp, IP address and a TrustedForm certificate are stored with every lead.
• Dedupe: the same phone number in the same vertical within 30 days is blocked.
• Returns: open within 48 hours for disconnected or wrong numbers, duplicates, fake information, outside your service area, or a consumer who didn’t request contact. Approved returns are credited to your wallet.
• Delivery: signed webhooks in JSON, form-encoded or XML, compatible with most CRMs and dialers, plus email alerts.
• Terms: a prepaid wallet charged when a lead is routed, with no subscription, setup fee or contract.

The rest — contact rate, cost per funded loan, fit for your market — you should measure yourself in a pilot, just as you would with any vendor.