Generally it takes 1-2 weeks to optimize purchase ads and 2-4 weeks to optimize refinance ads, but that does NOT mean that our process of optimizing is done after those time periods as additional optimizations may be required at various stages and these will always differ from account to account and also largely depend upon your budget and targeting parameters.
As a general rule, the higher the budget and/or the larger the geo targeting area we can work with, the quicker optimization happens. The combination of higher budget and larger geo targeting will result in the best & quickest outcomes.
It's also worth noting that TYPICALLY (but not always) leads will start to arrive within 24-48 hours on purchase ads and 3-4 days with refinance ads. Lead costs will 'look' high in the first few days. This is the nature of the algorithm as it picks up steam.
Lastly, we like to note that during Q4 ad costs tend to rise and the 'rules of the game' will change a bit.
Every Q4 is different from the last but to be clear, what happens during this time of the year is that more advertisers start using the Facebook platform to advertise driving up costs across the board for all types of advertisers. Remember that Facebook is an auction based platform with only so much ad delivery inventory available. It's just like any other inventory based economy you can think of in the world. When inventory is lower or in higher demand, the cost of the inventory goes up.
Typically the greatest rise in cost in Q4 happens between about Nov 1st and Dec 20th then they start to drop back to normal and by the beginning of Q1 most 'holiday advertising' has stopped and costs resume to pre-Q4.
We do advise trying to get your ads started and optimized ahead of Nov 1st to avoid any unnecessary cost increases. Getting your ads and the algorithm optimized or close-to pre-November 1st will help.