When you compare shared vs. exclusive DSCR leads, start with what the supplier actually promises. A label alone does not tell you who else receives the inquiry, when they receive it, or whether the investor fits your lending programs.
For a mortgage broker or lender, the useful question is practical: can this source produce conversations with investors your team can serve, at a cost your business can support?
Before you choose a lead package, get clear answers about distribution, timing, information quality, and how you will measure results. These questions give you a consistent way to compare offers, including offers that use similar language for different arrangements.
Define exactly what shared and exclusive mean
Use shared to mean that the supplier may distribute the same inquiry to more than one buyer. Then ask for the maximum total number of recipients. Clarify whether that count includes your business, affiliates, partner networks, and any buyers who receive the inquiry later.
Use exclusive to mean exclusivity within a specifically stated distribution arrangement. Ask what the supplier controls and what it commits to. Does the agreement prevent resale permanently, or only for a defined period? Does exclusivity apply to the whole inquiry, one loan product, or a particular territory?
A supplier's distribution commitment cannot tell you whether an investor independently contacted another lender. Keep that distinction clear when you assess the offer.
Request the terms in writing. A useful answer describes the recipients, scope, and duration, so your team knows what it is buying.
Ask when each buyer receives the inquiry
Sharing arrangements can use different delivery sequences. In simultaneous delivery, participating buyers receive the inquiry at approximately the same time. In sequential delivery, one buyer receives access before another. Ask which arrangement applies and what triggers the next delivery.
For example, a supplier might describe an inquiry as exclusive during an initial window, then make it available to additional buyers. That is a time-limited arrangement. Your comparison should reflect both stages.
Ask these questions before setting expectations with your team:
- How many buyers can receive this inquiry over its full distribution life?
- Do buyers receive it together or in sequence?
- What is the initial access window, if any?
- Can another business redistribute the inquiry?
- Will your delivery record identify the arrangement you purchased?
The answers help you plan staffing and follow-up without assuming that a product name explains the workflow.
Separate lead age from delivery speed
An inquiry can reach your system quickly and still have been submitted some time earlier. Ask for the original inquiry timestamp and your delivery timestamp. If the record was refreshed or reconfirmed, ask what happened and when.
“Updated today” needs an explanation. It could describe a new conversation, a corrected field, or another change. Those events do not all mean the investor recently requested financing.
Review the information your team needs to assess an initial fit. Depending on your programs, that may include property location and type, financing purpose, requested loan amount, purchase price or estimated value, rental information, and stated timing.
Ask which details are supplied by the prospect, which are checked, and which can be missing. A sample record should make the actual field definitions understandable. Avoid treating a completed field as proof that its contents have been independently verified.
Compare cost per qualified opportunity
Before a test, define a qualified opportunity for your own business. For example, it could be an investor your team has reached, whose stated scenario fits a current program, and who agrees to a next step.
Use the same definition for each supplier. Then calculate:
Cost per qualified opportunity = lead spend for the measured group ÷ qualified opportunities from that group.
State whether spend is before or after issued credits, and use that treatment consistently. Track staff time separately if you want to understand the full cost of working each source. When a group has no qualified opportunities, record that outcome; the formula does not produce a useful cost figure.
Give comparable groups the same follow-up process and time to develop. Record contact attempts, conversations, qualification outcomes, and next steps. Price per lead remains useful, but these records show what your team obtained for its spend.
Before buying DSCR leads, match the written distribution terms to your team's capacity and measurement plan. View the LeedWallet sample lead, then follow the buyer-form link from the LeedWallet homepage to discuss what you are looking for. Bring your questions about sharing, timing, and required fields so you can evaluate the offering with clear expectations.