Want to Get More Realtor Referrals? Earn Them This Way
- Pamela Hogan
- Jul 29
- 5 min read
Most loan officers want more Realtor referrals. Few ask the hard question: What makes a real estate agent want to send you a second deal?
It’s not branded coffee mugs. It’s not how many “just checking in” emails you send. And it’s definitely not quoting rates.
It’s about doing the hard, unsexy stuff every time. Do your job, do it well, and make damn sure your agent knows you’re doing it.
Here's what the data and top-performing agents say.
Communicate at the Right Time, Not All the Time
Most LOs default to one of two extremes: over-communicating with irrelevant updates, or under-communicating until they have big news to share. Neither builds trust.
We talked to Cari McGee, a top-performing broker and team lead at RE/MAX Northwest, about what separates forgettable lenders from the few she recommends again and again. For her, it all comes down to integrity and consistent communication.
“Some LO’s will update you once a week, and think that’s sufficient. I don’t like that,” McGee says. “Talk to me when something new comes up, and that may be every week, but it also could be every three days, or every ten days. Tell me what I need to know when I need to know it, and don’t bug me unless you have specific info to report.”
“Talk to me when something new comes up, and that may be every week, but it also could be every three days, or every ten days.”
Top-performing real estate agents don’t need constant pings. They need the right message at the right moment. That means giving a status update when something meaningful happens—like an application submission, appraisal date, or clear-to-close—not just because it’s Friday and you set a calendar reminder.
If you’re using a CRM, use it to send smart automations triggered by loan milestones to keep your referral partners in the loop without adding to your to-do list. This not only keeps the lines of communication open, it also shows competence.
Build Trust with Realtors by Owning the Hand-Off
One of the most overlooked aspects of the lender-agent relationship is emotional. When an agent sends you a client, they’re not just referring—they’re relinquishing control. They’ve invested hours getting that buyer under contract. Now, they’re handing the baton to you.
“The hardest part about real estate for me to learn at the beginning was that there are certain points in the transaction where I had to let go and hand over control to someone else—most often the lender,” McGee says. “Don’t you mess it up, lender, now that I’ve passed you the baton!”
You don’t have to be perfect. But you do have to be accountable.
Be Transparent, Especially When Things Go Wrong
When something goes sideways, the agent’s trust depends on how clearly you communicate the issue and how quickly you take ownership. Silence breeds suspicion. Proactive updates build credibility—even when the news isn’t great.
According to HomeASAP’s 2021 Lender Relationship Survey, real estate agents’ two biggest complaints about lending partners are slow or no responses and a lack of communication or transparency. When an agent refers a client, they’re putting their own reputation on the line—so when they’re kept in the dark, it doesn’t just create anxiety, it damages trust. As one agent put it, “I need to know what’s going on so I can keep my client calm.”
“I need to know what’s going on so I can keep my client calm.”
Silence is not neutral—it’s negative.
Use a CRM for Referral Tracking That Actually Works
If you want to understand how to get more realtor referrals, start by making sure your CRM is automatically linking every inbound lead to its referral source. Referrals are reciprocal. You can’t reinforce strong relationships or repair fraying ones without clean, accurate attribution.
That’s why smart loan officers use dashboards to see not just who’s sending them business—but what’s actually closing, what’s stalling, and where the warm leads are hiding. It’s the difference between just guessing and leading with insight.
Prove Your Value with Results, Not Self-Promotion
A good rule of thumb: the more a lender talks about how great they are, the less likely they are to deliver. McGee recounted one lender who advertised on the radio in her region, bragging that they were the lender most Realtors in the area used. They weren’t. That lie ruined any chance she would ever work with them.
“What kills a working relationship for me? Making promises you can’t deliver on. Touting yourself as the lender-of-choice when you are anything but,” she says.
Referability comes from outcomes, not overstatements. Instead of selling yourself, let your performance metrics do the talking. Track your conversion rate on referred leads. Share a summary of closed volume by partner. Bring data to your next agent meeting—ideally with branded reports that make them look good, too.
Make Referring You Easy—and Agents Will Do It Again
Referral relationships don’t thrive on charisma. They thrive on a frictionless experience. If you want to be the go-to lender for an agent or team, you need to make it effortless for them to refer you.
The same survey found that good customer service and fast response times were the top qualities agents look for in a lender they’re willing to refer. “Real estate agents strive every day to show their clients personal care and attention, and they demand that their lender partners do the same,” the report noted.
“Real estate agents strive every day to show their clients personal care and attention, and they demand that their lender partners do the same.”
Proactive and frequent communication—without being asked—is essential. Agents want a clearly defined process from the outset and ongoing updates that reflect a true partnership. That means:
Making sure they always know the status of their client.
Keeping your contact info easy to access and easy to share.
Giving them full confidence that you’re tracking and taking care of every lead they send with regular all lead status updates (your CRM should be able to pull this data into a report easily)
Creating a feedback loop, so they know which leads are moving forward in the process and which ones need follow-up.
Want More Realtor Referrals? Be the Lender They Can Rely On
How to get more realtor referrals comes down to both skill and system: showing up with clarity, following through with integrity, and letting your results reinforce the relationship. If your CRM isn’t helping you do all of that, it’s time to upgrade your tools—or risk losing your best referral partners to someone who already has.
*Any experts mentioned or quoted in this post are not affiliated with Third Floor and their inclusion should not be interpreted as an endorsement of our products or services.