Why Agents Who Embrace Real Estate Data Will Dominate in 2026

Disclaimer: PropStream does not offer legal advice. This article is for informational purposes only. Review your state and local telemarketing regulations and consult a legal professional before using real estate data to contact leads.

Many real estate agents hustle their way to the top of their market. However, you don’t always have to work harder to get ahead. With high-quality real estate data, you can work smarter by identifying which leads and opportunities have the most potential (and which to pass on).

As you gear up for 2026, consider making real estate data a core engine of your business. That way, you can maximize your return on your time and resources. Read on to learn more about modern data-driven prospecting methods and how you can adopt them in the new year.

Why Real Estate Data Matters More Than Ever in 2026

It’s no secret that data (including real estate data) is more accessible than ever. According to one estimate, 402.74 million terabytes of data are created each day. As a result, finding information on off-market properties and potential sellers (and buyers) can be easy.

For example, with a real estate data platform like PropStream, you can uncover potential deals before they hit the market by targeting properties with specific characteristics (e.g., across location, ownership status, condition, etc). When housing inventory is tight and competition for MLS listings is fierce, proprietary data like this can give you a significant edge. 

Furthermore, knowing more about a property can help you personalize your outreach. For instance, instead of blasting homeowner leads with a single mass cold email, you can write individualized messages tailored to each prospect’s situation, whether that’s facing foreclosure, downsizing, or trying to offload an unwanted rental property. 

Important: Before contacting prospects, ensure you understand and comply with all federal, state, and local data privacy and telemarketing regulations. 

What Data-Driven Prospecting Allows Agents to Do

Access to quality real estate data can open the door to:

• Targeting smaller geographic areas. Focus on markets and neighborhoods with the highest ROI potential rather than picking them at random or based on where you live.
• Identifying homeowners with selling indicators. Examples of common selling indicators include high equity, long ownership, vacancy status, and absentee ownership. 
• Segmenting prospects by motivation. Categorize your pool of qualified leads by selling motivation, such as downsizers, tired landlords, and senior owners.
• Personalizing outreach. Tailor your messages to each lead by expressing empathy for their situation and offering a free property valuation or local housing market update. 
• Optimizing marketing spend. Steer your time and resources toward higher-profitability sellers and opportunities. 

6 High-Intent Lead Types Agents Can Target Using Data

Let’s take a closer look at some of the lead types you may want to focus on as an agent:

Long-Time Owners with High Equity

Homeowners with high equity have more to gain from selling because a larger portion of the sale proceeds goes toward paying off the mortgage, and more stays in their pocket. This can make selling more attractive and nudge them to list with you. 

Absentee Owners or Long-Distance Landlords

Managing investment property from afar can be challenging. What once may have been a great investment initially can quickly turn into a headache. By offering to help absentee owners (especially out-of-state owners) offload their assets, you could be doing them a favor.

Pre-Foreclosure or Financially Distressed Owners

Pre-foreclosure is the period between when a homeowner defaults on their mortgage and the lender initiates foreclosure proceedings on their property. Owners in this and similar situations often face financial challenges that could be alleviated (and credit damage minimized) by selling. 

Senior Homeowners Planning to Downsize

Many senior owners downsize their homes to minimize upkeep and adjust to the fact that they no longer have children living at home. This can be an excellent opportunity to win a listing and a new buyer client as owners move from one house to another. 

Vacant Properties or Probate Leads

While not available in every market, vacant and probate properties can signal high selling motivation: Owners of vacant properties are most likely losing money on their investment, while probate properties are often inherited by heirs who’d rather liquidate than keep the asset. 

Owners with Recent Mailing Address Changes

If a property owner changes their mailing address to another location, it may suggest that the property is now vacant or is about to go on the market. After all, changing mailing addresses is a common step before listing a home for sale. 

How Data Helps Agents Build a Sustainable Lead Generation System

Real estate data doesn’t just help you when you’re actively searching for new leads. With the right software, you can also use it to build a sustainable and scalable lead generation machine. 

For instance, you can create micro-farms (300-700 homes) from which you can pull information on homeowners who meet your selling motivation criteria. You can also use property-level criteria to help buyer clients find their dream homes. Meanwhile, you can tailor and time your outreach by ownership length, equity position, and other milestones. 

By combining quality real estate data with targeted search criteria, you can streamline your entire lead generation process. 

Tips for Agents to Maximize Data-Driven Success in 2026

To get the most out of your real estate data, follow these best practices:

Refresh Lead Lists Regularly to Avoid Stale Data

Real estate data isn’t much help if it’s outdated. That’s why you must keep your lead lists up to date. For example, PropStream’s Lead Automator automatically adds prospects to your lead lists when they meet your criteria and removes obsolete leads so you don’t have to do this manually.

Build 2–3 Niche Funnels

Pick two or three lead types to focus on. That way, you can attract more business by becoming an expert in helping specific types of homeowners. For example, PropStream offers 20 pre-built lead lists, including “Tired Landlords,” Pre-Foreclosures,” and “High Equity.” 

Test Different Outreach Messages and Track Conversions

You can’t improve what you don’t measure. To make your outreach as effective as possible, experiment with different marketing messages and channels, track your results, and double down on what works best.

Personalize Calls Using Property Details

Property details help you not only identify leads but personalize your outreach to them. For example, seamlessly integrate insights into a lead’s ownership length, equity position, or local housing market to make your messages more relevant to them.

Follow Compliance Guidelines When Calling or Texting

When reaching out to leads who haven’t yet expressed interest in your services, ensure you comply with federal, state, and local telemarketing and data privacy regulations, including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Consult a legal professional to learn more. 

Review Market and Neighborhood Trends Monthly

Housing markets are constantly changing. Stay up-to-date on the latest trends, enabling you to serve your clients better and capitalize on opportunities more efficiently. 

PropStream + BatchDialer: A Robust Combo for Data-Driven Agents

As we all know, there are many ways to reach out to prospects. With PropStream, you can launch a postcard or email marketing campaign directly within the platform. In addition, you can also combine PropStream with BatchDialer to launch a multi-line cold calling campaign. 

Together, PropStream and BatchDialer can give you the best of both worlds:

Lead Generation With PropStream

• Access nationwide property and owner data.
• Utilize over 165 search filters to create targeted seller lists.
• Choose from 20 pre-built lead lists (tired landlords, pre-foreclosures, high equity, etc.).
• Analyze comps, equity, mortgage details, and ownership history.
• Create unlimited custom lists for your farming areas.
• Skip trace within PropStream (higher-quality contact data than generic purchased lists).

Outreach With BatchDialer

• Quickly import and map custom lead lists from PropStream. 
• Utilize multi-line/predictive dialing to increase the number of conversations.
• Improve answer rates with local presence ID features.
• Track call outcomes and follow-up tasks.
• Perfect for daily contact goals and niche lists.

Data-driven prospecting may help define the top agents of 2026. To stay ahead of the competition, use PropStream to build targeted lead lists and BatchDialer to turn those lists into conversations and new listings.

*PropStream engages an independent third party to perform skip-tracing.