Lead scoring is a number on every lead in your CRM. A high number means the lead looks motivated. A low number means the lead is cold. You use the score to decide who to call first.

The score comes from your forms. When someone fills out a form on your site, they become a lead in your CRM with a starting score already on it. Real estate lead scoring then keeps that number up to date as the lead moves through your pipeline.

This article covers:

• How the score is calculated
• What the Hot, Warm, and Cold bands mean
• How to use the score in your daily workflow

Every lead starts at zero. Two things add points: the form and the CRM.

The form adds points

Your forms already know how to score themselves. You don't set up scoring by hand:

• Forms made from a preset (Cash Offer, Buyer Signup, Rental Inquiry, and so on) ship with every field pre-scored.
• Custom fields you add to a form get scored automatically based on the field name. A phone field adds 10 points when filled. A property_full_address field adds 15. A dropdown with "ASAP" as an answer adds 25 points to a lead who picks it.

When someone fills out the form, the platform adds up all the points the answers earn. That sum is the lead's starting score — the form score.

If you ever want to change a field's points, click the field in the form builder and open the Lead Scoring section. Most tenants never need to. See Lead Scoring Setup for the full walkthrough.

The CRM adds points

The CRM adds points on its own based on what it knows about the lead:

• New lead under 24 hours old: +10
• Has a phone number: +5
• Has an email: +5
• Has a property address: +10
• Property in a walkable area (Walk Score 70+): +5
• Moved to "Appointment Set" in the pipeline: +20
• Moved to "Offer Sent" in the pipeline: +30

The form score and the CRM score add up. That total — the lead score formula in action — puts the lead in one of three bands.

The total score puts every lead in one of three bands:

• 🔥 Hot (80+). Strong signals, often with pipeline progress. Call first.
• 🌤 Warm (40–79). Solid lead. Worth a call today.
• ❄️ Cold (<40). Thin profile or barely filled out the form. Lower priority.

The badge shows on every lead card in the CRM kanban. Green for Hot, amber for Warm, gray for Cold. You see hot warm cold leads at a glance — no need to open each card to know who's worth your time first.

• Open the CRM each morning and work top-down by score. Hot leads first, then Warm, then Cold if you have capacity. The score is built from real signals — trust it.
• Don't try to override the score by hand. The score reflects what the lead filled in and how far they've moved in the pipeline. If a Hot lead doesn't feel hot, look at the timeline rather than the number.
• Watch for score changes over time. A score that climbs from Warm to Hot means the lead is moving forward (you set an appointment, you sent an offer). A score that drops back to Cold means the lead's stage rolled back — worth a check-in.
• Use the score to prioritize motivated sellers across forms. A Hot lead from a Cash Offer form and a Hot lead from a Rental Inquiry probably both deserve quick follow-up — even if they came from different forms.

For the CRM as a whole, see SiteStakes CRM Overview. For setting up the scoring values on your forms, see Lead Scoring Setup.