Florida’s Top Mortgage Lead Providers in 2024

Mortgage interest rates are finally changing for the better. That’s not just welcome for the would-be homeowners who’ve been waiting for just such an update. It’s also a boon to mortgage lenders, brokers, and credit unions. 

Recent data shows that originations have spiked up 23.2% over the last three months. Dropping rates means increasing interest among potential borrowers.

That’s great news for your Florida mortgage lending operation, whether you’re lending in a big city like Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Orlando, or St. Petersburg or you primarily serve people in smaller Florida towns. If you have a solid website and loan officers who are good at networking, you should be able to attract some extra business organically. 

But if you’re really trying to maximize the opportunity to close loans, it’s worth exploring using a Florida mortgage lead provider. Why? To explain, it helps to look at the state of mortgage lending in the Sunshine State. 

What you’re up against as a Florida mortgage lender

Per the Florida Housing Data Clearinghouse, 363,699 home purchase loans were originated for 1-4 family properties in 2022 (the latest year for which data is available). Mortgage News Daily says that the average size of that mortgage loan is $254,857. 

That news publication also reports that a few institutions have a slice of the statewide lending pie above 1%. The biggest lenders in the Sunshine State are currently:

• Pennymac Home Loans (4.8%)
• US Bank (1.6%)
• Quicken Loans (1.2%)

Everyone else is originating less than 1% of statewide loans. And that leaves your lending operation room to maneuver. 

More good news for Florida mortgage lending institutions. The 2023 Annual Report from Florida Realtors® says that cash sales declined by 7.5% from 2023 to 2022. Last year, they made up 29.6% of all closed sales, a nice downward movement from 32% in 2022. If this trend continues — something that’s likely if rates continue to come down — your loan officers have the opportunity to convert leads who otherwise would have paid cash. 

The trick, then, is getting those potential borrowers to your closing table. Yes, you can have your team do things like hosting educational sessions and making cold calls. But this added work for your loan officers could get in the way of them closing the leads they already have. 

That’s where Florida mortgage lead providers come in. When you invest money with these solutions, you get warm leads delivered to your team without any added internal lift. 

If that sounds good, we have a few options that are worth your consideration. 

#1: Mortgage Research Center

The Mortgage Research Center (MRC) has a pretty broad range of mortgage lead opportunities for Florida lenders. 

For starters, it maintains its own rate tables and regularly publishes articles on rate updates. That means that when potential borrowers are using the internet to research their options, they could end up on the MRC site. And if you’re advertising your rates there, they could click through to complete one of your lead forms, connecting them with a loan officer from your company. 

But the potential for MRC lead generation in Florida doesn’t stop there. You can also work with the company to advertise on VAloans.com and FHAloans.com, two of its other sites.

Additionally, you can tap into the MRC’s ICanBuy rate tables and calculators. If you want to learn more and see this option in action, we hosted a webinar with Brian Richards, Director of ICanBuy, about how this works for mortgage lenders. 

#2: LendingTree

LendingTree is a long-standing player in the Florida mortgage lead generation game. In fact, your team is probably already familiar with it — and a lot of your potential leads are, too. The LendingTree network of borrowers is 30 million strong. 

The company offers a few Florida mortgage lead opportunities. It has a location-based lead generation tool, which helps you connect with would-be borrowers in your area. You can get leads specifically for Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Orlando, or St. Petersburg, for example. LendingTree also features its own rate comparison tables on which you can advertise. And if you’re looking for pre-qualified leads, you can get them from the LendingTree customer care team. 

One thing to note here: LendingTree leads aren’t exclusive. That means that when an individual’s contact info goes to one of your loan officers, it could — and probably is — going to a competitor, too. The upside is that nonexclusive leads cost less, so LendingTree can be a good option if you don’t have a big budget for your Florida mortgage lead provider.

The main takeaway here is that if you get a lead from LendingTree, your team needs to be poised to act fast. If they can connect with the lead faster than your competition, they’re more likely to close it. 

#3: More Florida mortgage lead providers

Those are just a couple of options to help you get a feel for how mortgage lead generation can work in Florida. But you have plenty of choices beyond the MRC and LendingTree. In fact, we’ve got eight more lead providers teed up for your consideration.

Because there are so many different companies that offer Florida mortgage leads, the trick is finding the right balance. You need to consider your advertising budget, your loan officers’ ability to connect with leads quickly once you get them, and your ideal borrower profile.  

You don’t have to figure that out on your own. Our team has years of experience helping mortgage lenders, brokers, and credit unions in Florida tap into lead generation opportunities. And we directly interface with a lot of these lead providers, so we can give you an inside look at what they do and don’t offer.

To talk with our team about Florida mortgage lead generation and which provider(s) might be right for your company, book some time with us today.