Real estate lead generation in Japan – inquiries that do not depend on portals

What happens when portals bring all your leads

SUUMO, LIFULL HOME'S and at home are where most people in Japan start a property search, and they remain an important channel. Relying on them alone, though, tends to create the same set of problems.

• Listing and top-placement fees grow every year, and the cost per inquiry is hard to pin down
• Several agencies list the same property, so inquiries become a comparison of terms and fees
• Prospects never get a feel for your agency or your agents and contact a competitor instead
• Seller valuations and property management inquiries, which portals rarely deliver, stay flat
• Stop paying and inquiries stop too – nothing stays with your business

The practical route is to keep the portals and grow your own site as the place where people choose your agency. Start by listing the last three months of inquiries by source: portals, your site, phone, referrals. Once you see where they cluster, the next step becomes clear.

What an agency site needs to generate inquiries

A list of properties is only the starting point. Visitors need clear reasons to trust you, presented so they can find them quickly.

• A home page that shows your strength: rentals, sales, seller support or management, and the areas you cover
• Clear property pages: photos, floor plan, neighborhood details, a mobile-friendly layout and a visible inquiry button
• A valuation or consultation form: few fields and a stated reply time
• Agent and owner profiles: photos and specialties that make a first visit feel easier
• LINE and phone links: easy ways to reach you outside office hours

For the build itself, see real estate website design. A quick test: open your site on a phone and check that an inquiry is no more than three taps from the home page.

Use local area content to be found in search

Home seekers and sellers search with a place and a condition: "[station] rental pet friendly" or "[city] land sale price". Local knowledge is where a neighborhood agency can stand out from national portals.

• Guides to life around each station or school district: shops, clinics, parks, commute
• Rent and price trends by area, with tips for choosing a property
• Seller guides: the steps, the documents and what a valuation looks at
• Articles on common situations: an inherited family home, moving up, vacant houses
• A complete Google Business Profile and careful replies to reviews (MEO)

A few articles a month on topics close to an inquiry is easier to sustain than a big batch at once. Our content SEO page explains how to choose topics and structure articles. Rankings are decided by search engines and take time, but every article stays on your site as an asset even if you stop paying for portals.

Support inquiries with Google and Meta ads

SEO usually needs several months, so ads are useful in the busy moving season or when you push a new development or seller campaign. Each channel plays a different role.

• Google Search ads: reach people searching right now, such as "sell house [city]"
• Local and Maps placements: encourage nearby searchers to visit your office
• Meta ads (Instagram, Facebook): show properties and neighborhoods with photos and video to people who have not started searching yet
• Retargeting: show other listings or a valuation offer to people who already visited your site

Whatever the channel, track inquiries and valuation requests in GA4 and the ad platforms from day one. Keep the ad accounts in your agency's name so the data stays with you. Keyword choice and day-to-day tuning are covered in search ads management.

Advertising rules for real estate in Japan

Real estate ads in Japan fall under the Real Estate Brokerage Act, which bans exaggerated advertising, and the industry's Fair Competition Code for real estate representations. They apply to your own site and social ads as well.

• Remove sold or rented properties promptly and never list properties that do not exist (bait ads)
• Avoid claims such as "best" or "cheapest" that you cannot back up
• Show walking time from stations, floor area and prices the way the code requires
• Display your company name, license number and transaction type
• Track update dates so outdated listings do not linger

Rules are revised from time to time, so check the latest official guidance from the Real Estate Fair Trade Council for exact display methods. Deciding in advance who updates listings, and how, prevents most mistakes.

How UNANOBO approaches real estate lead generation

Before you commit to anything, UNANOBO builds a free demo of an agency site shaped around your areas, specialties and brand. You check the property pages and valuation form on a computer and a phone, then decide whether to go ahead.

The process is free demo, feedback, launch, growth. After launch, area articles, MEO, Google and Meta ads and GA4 tracking all run through the founder, who handles every project personally, so you keep one contact throughout. Everything happens by message, in Japanese or English.