Last week I was woken up at 2am by a volley of popping firecrackers followed by a 2:15am encore performance of several bottle rockets.  The pyrotechnic hooligans did not have the courtesy to hang around for a round of applause from the neighborhood they just startled.

Later that morning I logged on to our neighborhood group on Nextdoor, that neighborhood social network, to see what the chatter was on the late night festivities.  Wow…the chatter was popping.  I learned that my street was center stage for the performance (or ground zero) and police were called.  Several neighbors reported seeing kids racing through the streets and someone got a pic of a license plate.  Cool.

Wow, isn’t Nextdoor a cool site for neighborhood watchdogs to keep our community safe? I have to admit I only go to Nextdoor when something happens and I need some scoop.  I also used Nextdoor to sell a bike and to get rid of some furniture to someone a few blocks over. I prefer selling to neighbors instead of to people I do not know on Craigslist…or as my mother calls it, “Gregslist.”

The biggest value of Nextdoor, however, didn’t hit me until recently. Someone posted “I’m looking for recommendations for a realtor to sell my house.” As a realtor, I was so excited that I froze.  My jaw dropped.  Asking that question is like throwing red meat to a bunch of dogs.

I quickly responded and recommended ME  as I live literally a block away from the neighbor who made the post.  Of course, I was not the only realtor to be recommended or to recommend him/herself!!!  Realtors dream of hearing someone ask that question and spend big money to ensure they are the person neighbors recommend.  Remember all those “Just Listed!” or “your neighbor just sold his house for $200k over asking!” cards you get in the mail? That’s NOT done because realtors like you…it’s done so you REMEMBER them when it comes time to sell your home.

What’s most interesting about posting a “who do you recommend” question is who is doing the posting.  The person posting lives in the neighborhood and is asking for a realtor because he/she is most likely looking to SELL. That lead doesn’t get more “lower funnel” than that!  In this tight real estate market, realtors fight hard to sell someone’s home. The implications of an agent receiving seller leads on Nextdoor are HUGE. Realtors pay BIG money to purchase leads for clients looking to buy…and  most of those leads don’t end up buying a house.

The key for finding these seller leads is in HOW realtors use Nextdoor to build relationships so they can be the realtor neighbors recommend.  More to come once I’ve tinkered with the platform a bit.