Case study · Real Estate Agents & Mortgage Pros

A solo agent closed 11 extra sides in six months with an AI homebuyer quiz

February 20, 20268 min readMarcus Ellery Real Estate — Charleston, SC · solo agent

A neighborhood-aware AI quiz replaced a stale IDX search and produced a stream of pre-qualified buyer leads without a Zillow spend. Buyer consults drop sharply in December during the holiday slowdown — nobody wants to tour homes between Thanksgiving and New Year's — and rebound in January as buyers re-engage for spring.

Cost per lead
$34
from $142 −76%
Quiz-to-consult
27%
from new
Closed sides/6mo
29
from 18 +11 sides
GCI attributed
$186k
from 6 mo

Buyer consultations per month (Dec dip = holiday slowdown)

6-month engagement · ±8% range

How we modeled thisBuyer consultations are logged in the agent's CRM. Dec drops with the holiday slowdown (a well-known real-estate seasonality pattern) and Jan rebounds as buyers re-engage; both are observed rather than smoothed.

The challenge

Marcus was paying $1,900/mo to Zillow for leads he described as 'tire kickers.' His site was an IDX iframe with no lead capture beyond a generic form.

What we built

  • AI homebuyer quiz that scores lifestyle fit across 14 Charleston neighborhoods
  • Auto-generated neighborhood guides with local schools, walkability, and market data
  • Listing landing pages with SMS 'Text me the tour link' CTA
  • 3-week nurture sequence tuned to quiz-detected buyer stage

Results after 6 months

  • Cancelled Zillow — kept the same lead volume at 1/4 the cost
  • Buyer quiz completion: 62% (vs 8% form fill)
  • 11 additional closed sides in the first 6 months

"The quiz tells me whether to spend two hours or twenty on a lead. That's everything."

Marcus Ellery, REALTOR®
The investment
Package
Essential
Setup
$2,499
Monthly
$199/mo
Payback
≈ 3 weeks
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