Verification for real estate lead lists
Real estate databases accumulate from sources that differ wildly in quality. A portal lead is typed by someone with intent. An open-house sign-in sheet is handwriting transcribed by whoever had a spare half hour.
Those two sources need different treatment, and checking them as one list wastes credits on the half that is fine.
Handwritten sign-ins are the worst data in the business
An open-house sheet produces addresses with the wrong domain, a missing letter, or a name transcribed from handwriting that was never legible. Some of those people were serious buyers.
Then there is the deliberate bad address. Visitors who did not want the follow-up write something that looks plausible. Verification separates the typo from the fake without you having to guess which is which.
The past-client database is the opposite problem. Those addresses were real and a good number have aged out: people move, change providers, and leave a work address behind when they change jobs. Before any market-update campaign to a list that old, check it.
How the work gets done
The order that matters for real estate, rather than a generic checklist.
Check sign-in sheets the same week
While you can still read the handwriting and, if someone is a genuine prospect, still call to confirm the address.
Fix the typo rather than deleting the lead
The did_you_mean field catches the one-letter domain error. A serious buyer whose address was transcribed wrong is worth a correction, not a deletion.
Verify the past-client list before a market update
Years-old addresses bounce in volume, and one campaign to a stale database can cost you the sending reputation that reaches this year's clients.
Leave portal leads mostly alone
Someone who typed their own address into a portal form usually typed it correctly. Sample rather than verifying the whole segment.
What verification will not do here
What it costs
Most agent and small-brokerage databases fit the $25 tier for 10,000 addresses. Credits never expire, so a pack bought for a spring campaign is still there in autumn.
Every tier works the same way. Unknown results and duplicates are never billed, and credits do not expire.
Questions we get asked
Why do Yahoo addresses come back catch-all?
Yahoo and AOL accept every address at the SMTP step by design, to defeat harvesting, then bounce later. No verifier can resolve them at mailbox level, and any that reports them as confirmed valid is guessing.
Should I delete everything that is not valid?
Delete the invalid. Keep the catch-alls and unknowns, which include a lot of ordinary Yahoo and corporate addresses.
How often should a past-client list be checked?
Before any campaign to it, and at least yearly. These addresses decay quietly and the damage arrives all at once.
Try it on your own list first
100 free checks a month, no card. Run a sample and read the unresolved count before you decide anything.