How to Use YouTube Ads for Real Estate Agents

How Matt van Winkle Built a Hyperlocal Real Estate Business with YouTube Ads

Many real estate agents believe YouTube ads are complicated or expensive, but they’re actually one of the simplest ways to reach homeowners in your target market. In this webinar recap, learn how Matt van Winkle, creator of the Neighborhood Expert System and top agent in Steiner Ranch (Austin, TX), rebuilt his business from scratch using simple, affordable YouTube ads. Through a Q&A format, we’ll break down his real strategy: how he selects neighborhoods, creates videos, uses BIGVU and ChatGPT to batch content, manages budgets, and turns ads into real listing appointments from neighbors who already feel like they know him.

Q1: Who is Matt van Winkle, and Why Should Agents Listen to Him?

Matt began his real estate career in 2009 during the market crash, building an internet marketing-driven team with Google AdWords and Zillow. He later owned a RE/MAX brokerage in Seattle, training and coaching around 700 agents across Washington and Oregon.

After a decade on the brokerage side, Matt moved to Austin, Texas in late 2022 with no database, network, or leads—determined to prove you can still build a predictable business from scratch. His main lever? Hyperlocal YouTube ads focused on Steiner Ranch. Within a year, he became the top listing agent there.

Q2: Why Are YouTube Ads a Big Opportunity for Local Agents?

• YouTube is the most underused local marketing channel in real estate.
• Most agents focus on Instagram and TikTok, but YouTube is heavily watched on TV screens, not just phones.
• Your ad can appear in a family’s living room while they cook dinner.
• YouTube allows precise geographic targeting, so your ads only show to people in your chosen neighborhood.
• Instead of hoping the algorithm works, YouTube ads let you pay a small amount to guarantee homeowners in your area see you repeatedly.

Q3: How Did Matt Know His YouTube Ads Were Working?

• The first signs were real-life reactions, not CRM leads.
• His kids’ classmates recognized him from YouTube.
• People at open houses said, “Hey, I saw you on YouTube talking about [topic].”
• Over time, the message shifted from “I’ve seen you” to “Can you come list my house?”
• Now, he gets weekly texts like, “You’re the YouTube guy in Steiner, right? Can you help me buy/sell?”

Q4: How Much Time Does This Strategy Take?

Very little—if set up right. Matt spends less than an hour a week maintaining his YouTube ads.

1. Batch scripts: Keeps a running list of topic ideas from real buyer/seller questions and local news. Uses ChatGPT to generate hooks and 15–20 second scripts.
2. Use BIGVU: Loads scripts into BIGVU in bulk, ready on his phone as a teleprompter.
3. Film in “dead time”: Records 5–10 videos during slow moments at open houses. Short scripts and teleprompter make recording fast, often in one take.

Q5: How Do You Choose the Right Neighborhood to Dominate?

• Size: Around 4,000–5,000 homes.
• Price point: Above market average (e.g., Steiner Ranch averages $1M vs. Austin’s $500K–$600K).
• Turnover: Ideally 5%+ in a normal market (4% can work in low-inventory times).

Matt worked with a title company to identify neighborhoods, checked turnover in the MLS, and focused all his marketing on Steiner Ranch. The goal: be the name in one profitable neighborhood, not the whole city.

Q6: How Do YouTube Ads Work, and What Should You Say in the First Five Seconds?

• Matt uses skippable in-stream ads (before or during videos).
• Viewers must watch the first five seconds before they can skip.
• Contrary to social media advice, Matt starts with his name: “Hey, I’m Matt Van Winkle, your Steiner Ranch neighbor and real estate agent…”
• His name also appears as a watermark.
• Even if viewers skip, they’ve heard and seen his name, associated with the neighborhood.

Q7: Should the Ads Be Vertical or Horizontal?

• Both. YouTube shows vertical ads on Shorts and horizontal ads on TVs, laptops, and many mobile views.
• Matt films each script in both vertical and horizontal formats using BIGVU, maximizing reach without doubling the work.

Q8: What Kinds of Ad Scripts Work Best?

• Authority / Problem-Solving Ads: Short tips about rates, pricing, inventory, and common seller questions.
  • Example: “I’m currently sending Steiner homes to 13 active buyers who can’t find anything. I bet one of them wants to buy your house…”
• Listing & Proof-of-Concept Ads: Show actual properties and results.
  • Example: “We used YouTube and social media to get over 10,000 views on this home before it hit the market — that’s how we set a price record in Steiner Ranch.”

These ads demonstrate specific strategies and outcomes, which sellers care about.

Q9: How Does Matt Write and Manage So Many Scripts?

1. Capture ideas: Maintains a list of ad topics in a project management tool.
2. Use ChatGPT: Expands topics into multiple hooks and 15–20 second scripts, refining as needed.
3. Generate multi-channel assets: From one prompt, gets a teleprompter script, YouTube Shorts title, description, pinned comment, and Instagram caption.
4. Paste into BIGVU: Final scripts are loaded for easy filming.

With this pipeline, he can create 10–20 new ads in a single session.

Q10: What Budget Do You Need, and How Long Before Leads Show Up?

• Started at $100–$150/month; now spends about $400/month as he runs more listing ads.
• $400 on postcards might reach 400 homes once; $400 on YouTube ads can generate tens of thousands of impressions and thousands of “true views” from the same area.

Timeline:

• 1–2 months: People at open houses start saying, “I’ve seen you on YouTube.”
• 3 months: Direct inbound leads begin—texts/emails from people asking for help buying or listing.
• Meanwhile, all other leads convert more easily because they already know you.

Q11: What Happens After Someone Clicks an Ad?

Matt focuses on branding and familiarity, not just clicks. He uses simple landing pages aligned with the ad message, such as:

• “What’s my home worth in Steiner Ranch?”
• “What’s coming soon / off-market in Steiner?”
• “Ask Matt anything about buying or selling in Steiner Ranch.”

These pages give people easy ways to reach out when ready, while ads keep warming the neighborhood.

Q12: How Does He Turn Views and Open Houses into Listings?

1. At open houses, instead of offering generic listings, he asks buyers:
   • “Why isn’t your current house working?”
   • “What would your ideal home in Steiner look like?”
2. If buyers are interested in off-market options, he checks his homeowner database and emails owners of matching homes.
3. His emails are ultra-specific, e.g., “Would you consider selling [address] to a client of mine? They’re looking for a 5-bedroom home with a 3-car garage in [school zone]…”
4. Because of his YouTube presence, these emails get higher open and response rates, resulting in:
   • Off-market deals for buyers
   • Listings from proactive outreach
   • A growing database of future sellers

This creates a self-feeding business machine.

Q13: Do You Still Need Organic Content, or Are Ads Enough?

Matt does both, but keeps organic content simple:

• Posts one YouTube Short daily—either a quick real estate tip or a short “feature tour” from a house.
• Repurposes the same content on Instagram and Facebook.
• Ad spend remains focused on YouTube for the best local reach and repetition.

Q14: What’s Matt’s Message to Agents Posting with No Results?

• Stop trying to go viral. Start being local.
• Stop broadcasting to the whole city. Start owning one profitable neighborhood.
• Use YouTube ads to ensure the right people see you—not just other agents or random viewers.

When you combine hyperlocal YouTube ads, simple repeatable scripts created with AI, BIGVU for batching and filming, a clear neighborhood focus, and smart follow-up using open houses and targeted emails, you can build a business where most clients live five minutes away and your profit per hour worked increases dramatically.

That’s the real takeaway: Done right, YouTube ads don’t just get you views—they make you the agent your neighbors already know before they ever start searching.