Choose the market area and the pilot budget

Why it matters

Real estate ads in the US run under Meta's Housing Special Ad Category, which removes ZIP code targeting and expands every city or pin to a minimum radius. If you plan around a single neighborhood, you will be surprised by where the ads go. Planning the area and the budget up front makes the pilot a fair test instead of a guess.

Step by step

1. 01

   List the places you serve, as cities or counties

   Meta's Housing rules let you target by country, region, state, province or city, but not by ZIP or postal code, and you cannot exclude locations. Cities, addresses and pin drops include an expanded radius: in the US and Canada, at least 15 miles (25 km) around the point. Meta's example: targeting Seattle also reaches people within 15 miles of Seattle's city center.

   1. Open a map and mark the cities where you closed deals in the last 12 months.
   2. Keep cities you can serve well: you or a teammate can show, list and attend appointments there.
   3. Draw a 15-mile circle around each one. Everything inside will see your ads. If the circle covers areas you do not serve, decide now whether your follow-up team can refer those leads out.

   Check: You have a list of 1 to 5 cities or one county, and you have looked at the 15-mile circle around each.

2. 02

   Choose areas by service coverage, never by who lives there

   In practice: if you serve a county, select the county. Do not hand-pick only the wealthier cities inside it. Your price point belongs in the ad copy and the form questions, not in which communities are allowed to see the ad.

   Check: For every area you selected, you can say "I serve here because..." with a reason about your business, not about residents.

3. 03

   Set a target lead count for the pilot

   Decide how many leads you need to judge the funnel. Anu uses at least 20 leads in 14 days as a working rule of thumb, because fewer than that makes qualification and booking rates swing wildly from one lead to the next. This is an assumption you can change, not a Meta requirement.

   Check: You wrote a target lead count on your brief.

4. 04

   Calculate the 14-day budget

   Budget = target leads × assumed cost per lead. Daily budget = that total ÷ 14.

   Worked example with placeholder numbers. Replace both inputs with your own.

   Input	Example value	Where it comes from
   Target leads	20	Your rule from the previous step
   Assumed cost per lead	$40	A placeholder. Ask a local lender or Realtor who runs ads, or use the calculator in chapter 11
   14-day budget	$800	20 × $40
   Daily budget	$57	$800 ÷ 14, rounded

   If the total is more than you are willing to lose, lower the target lead count rather than shortening the pilot. Fewer days compresses the test into a few weekdays and hides the weekend pattern.

   Check: Your brief shows a daily budget and a 14-day total, and you would be fine if every dollar produced nothing.

5. 05

   Decide whether to use your own contact list

   For the database retargeting goal, Meta's documentation lists custom audiences as available in the Housing category, while lookalike audiences and saved audiences are unavailable and exclusion targeting is off. Only upload contacts whose data you are permitted to use for advertising under your privacy policy. If you are unsure, skip the upload and target the market area instead.

   Check: You wrote either "market area only" or "customer list plus market area" on the brief, with a reason.

Copyable templates

MARKET DEFINITION
Locations to select (city or county, no ZIP codes):
1. ____________  Why I serve it: ____________
2. ____________  Why I serve it: ____________
3. ____________  Why I serve it: ____________
Areas inside the 15-mile circles I do not serve: ____________
Plan for leads from those areas (refer to: ____________)

BUDGET
Target leads in 14 days:           ____
Assumed cost per lead (placeholder): $____
14-day budget = leads x CPL:        $____
Daily budget = total / 14:          $____
Maximum I am willing to lose:       $____  (must be >= 14-day budget)

AUDIENCE SOURCE
[ ] Market area only
[ ] Customer list custom audience + market area (permission confirmed: Y/N)

How to test it

Compare your selected areas against your closings map. Every selected area should contain at least one recent closing or a clear reason you serve it. Then reread the Fair Housing callout and confirm no area was chosen or dropped for a reason about residents.

Troubleshooting

Advanced technical details

Optional. You can follow every step above without these.