I understand that Real Estate agents need to be ‘where the people are’, but there is still very little conversions on social media sites; whereas conversions through email are much more substantial.

My suggestion would not be to drop emails all together; especially when moving forward with a business relationship: use them to your advantage. Place a “social” widget on your site that allows people to control, comment and own their activity on your site with real time feedback from brokers – then, follow up through email with a soft sell approach. Also, try to get people to subscribe to your monthly newsletter that highlights the market in your ares (median house value, local foreclosure market, etc.).

A balance of both email and Social Media is what I see as the best way to sell.