Real Estate
How to follow up real estate leads from 99acres, MagicBricks and Housing.com
A minute-by-minute follow-up cadence, the qualifying questions that separate buyers from browsers, and a simple way to see which portal actually sends you site visits.
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Updated 18 September 2026
How portal leads behave
If you pay for listings on 99acres, MagicBricks or Housing.com, you already know the pattern: a burst of enquiries, a lot of numbers that do not pick up, and a few serious buyers who went with whoever called first. Following up portal leads well starts with accepting three facts about them.
Your lead is rarely yours alone
A buyer searching for a 2 BHK in one locality enquires on several listings in one sitting, and popular projects are listed by many brokers. The same person may get calls from five agents within the hour.
Speed decides who gets the conversation
The first useful response, a brochure, a price sheet, a clear answer, sets the frame. The fifth caller gets “I am already talking to someone.” Our guide on speed to lead explains why minutes matter.
Many are browsing
Some enquirers are a year away from buying, some are checking rental yields, some are curious about a neighbour’s building. They are not bad leads, they are early leads, and they need a longer, lighter follow-up.
The follow-up system below is built for exactly this: be first with something useful, qualify quickly, and keep the browsers warm without burning your team’s time.
The follow-up cadence: minute 0 to day 30
Here is a cadence that works for most brokers and small agencies. Adjust the content to your inventory, not the timing.
| When | Channel | What to send or say |
|---|---|---|
| Minute 0 | A short hello that names the property they enquired about, the brochure or floor plan, and one question: “Are you looking to buy for yourself or as an investment?” | |
| Minute 5 | Call (AI or human) | Confirm interest, ask the qualifying questions below, offer a site visit slot. If no answer, one retry after 30 minutes. |
| Day 1 | Answer whatever they asked, share two similar options in the same budget, and a site visit link. | |
| Day 3 | Call | A second call for anyone not yet qualified. Mention something specific: a price change, a new unit, a visit slot this weekend. |
| Day 7 | A useful piece of content: locality guide, loan eligibility checklist, possession timeline. Ask if their plans have changed. | |
| Day 30 | WhatsApp, then call | A check-in with fresh inventory. Browsers who reply now are often the ones who buy. |
Key point: stop the cadence the moment the buyer replies. From then on, a person owns the conversation. Automated steps are for silence, not for people who are talking to you.
On the WhatsApp Business Platform, a 24-hour customer service window opens when a person messages you; outside it, Meta’s documentation says you can only send pre-approved template messages. A portal lead has usually never messaged you on WhatsApp, so write your minute 0, day 7 and day 30 messages as templates and get them approved before you start. Our WhatsApp CRM for real estate page shows how brokers set this up.
Qualifying questions that matter
You need five answers to decide whether a portal lead deserves a site visit this week or a nurture sequence for the next quarter. Ask them over the call or across two or three WhatsApp messages, never as a form.
- Budget. “What range are you comfortable with, including registration?” Ask for a range, not a number.
- Location. “Which areas are you open to?” Buyers who name only one micro-market are usually further along.
- Configuration. 1, 2 or 3 BHK, ready to move or under construction, and any must-haves such as parking or a school nearby.
- Timeline. “When would you like to move in or close?” Map answers to three buckets: within 3 months, 3 to 6 months, later.
- Loan. “Will you be taking a home loan, and has it been discussed with a bank?” A pre-approved buyer is a priority.
Record each answer in a field, not in free notes. That is what lets you sort 200 leads in a minute and hand the hot ten to your best closer.
Booking site visits and cutting no-shows
A site visit is the real conversion in real estate. Make it easy to book and hard to forget:
- Offer two specific slots (“Saturday 11 am or Sunday 4 pm?”) instead of “when are you free?”.
- Send a WhatsApp confirmation immediately with the location pin, the name of the project and what to bring (ID for gated projects, loan documents if relevant).
- Send a reminder the evening before and again two hours before, with an easy reschedule option.
- After the visit, send a same-day follow-up with the unit details they liked and the next step.
The principle DueDoor is built on is that every touch, the portal enquiry, the WhatsApp chat, the call recording and the visit, lives on one lead record. DueDoor’s meetings feature sends WhatsApp confirmations and reminders before the visit, and the AI calling agent can make the minute 5 call and save the outcome on the lead.
Getting portal leads into your CRM automatically
Copying leads from a portal dashboard into a spreadsheet is where the first hour gets lost. There are three common routes to automate it, and which one you can use depends on your portal subscription:
- Lead notification emails. If your portal emails you each new enquiry, those emails can be forwarded to a dedicated inbox and read into your CRM, creating a lead with name, phone, property and source.
- Exports. If your advertiser dashboard lets you download enquiries, a daily import is slower but still better than typing.
- Direct integrations. Some portals offer an API or a CRM integration on certain plans. Ask your portal account manager what is available on yours.
With DueDoor, the route is chosen and set up during onboarding, depending on what your portal offers. Once leads arrive, duplicate-safe phone matching means a buyer who enquires on three of your listings stays one lead, not three records that get three separate calls. The real estate CRM resource page covers the pipeline stages that work well for brokers.
Reporting: which portal gives buyers
Lead count is the wrong way to judge a portal. Track each source down the funnel and compare cost per site visit and cost per booking.
| Source | Leads | Connected | Qualified | Site visits | Bookings | Monthly spend | Cost per visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portal A | 120 | 70 | 24 | 9 | 1 | ₹45,000 | ₹5,000 |
| Portal B | 60 | 42 | 18 | 10 | 2 | ₹40,000 | ₹4,000 |
| Meta lead ads | 200 | 90 | 20 | 6 | 0 | ₹30,000 | ₹5,000 |
This is an illustrative worked example, not real data. A small agency looking only at lead count would renew Meta ads and Portal A. Looking at site visits and bookings, Portal B sends half the leads but more visits and more bookings for less money. Set the stage names once (new, connected, qualified, visit booked, visited, negotiation, booked) and the table fills itself every month. See DueDoor for real estate agencies for how the pipeline is set up.
A note on privacy: a buyer who enquires on a listing has shared their number for that purpose. India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 even uses the example of a person messaging a real estate broker for help finding a home, where the broker may process the details shared for that purpose. Keep your follow-up tied to their enquiry and stop when they ask you to.
Frequently asked questions
How fast should I follow up a 99acres or MagicBricks lead?
Within minutes. The same buyer usually enquires on several listings, so the first broker to send something useful, such as a brochure on WhatsApp followed by a short call, usually gets the conversation. An automatic WhatsApp message at minute 0 and a call at minute 5 is a practical target.
How many times should I follow up a real estate lead that does not respond?
A cadence of minute 0, minute 5, day 1, day 3, day 7 and day 30 covers most buyers without spamming them. Stop automated steps as soon as the buyer replies or asks you to stop, and move non-responders to a monthly inventory update.
Can portal leads come into a CRM automatically?
Usually yes, through lead notification emails, exports or a portal integration where your plan includes one. Which route works depends on your portal subscription; with DueDoor it is set up during onboarding based on what your portal offers.
What should I ask a property buyer on the first call?
Budget range, preferred locations, configuration, timeline and whether they need a home loan. Those five answers tell you whether to book a site visit this week or add them to a longer nurture sequence.
How do I know which property portal is worth paying for?
Track every lead by source through connected, qualified, site visit and booking stages, then divide each portal’s monthly spend by its site visits and bookings. The portal with the lowest cost per site visit and per booking is worth more than the one with the most leads.
Sources
- Meta for Developers: WhatsApp Cloud API, send messages (customer service window) (checked on 18 September 2026)
- MeitY: The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (section 7, illustration II) (checked on 18 September 2026)
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