Nextdoor Launches Real Estate Ad Section for More Locally Relevant Content

“Users will also be able to see how many people recommended a real estate agent. Real estate is apparently one of the most popular topics on the site. Nearly 25,000 real estate agents have set up local pages on the social network, more than any other profession, according to Nextdoor.”

If you haven’t moved 98 percent of your advertising dollars on line and out of print, here is yet another chance — besides CandysDirt.com, of course!

The neighborhood-based social network, Nextdoor, launched a community real estate ad section Tuesday in 10 markets, including Dallas-Fort Worth. The section will also be rolled out in Atlanta, Austin, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento and San Diego.

(Inman Real Estate Connect starts Wednesday morning, wonder if the launch was timed to Connect?)

Ali Jafari, Nextdoor’s vice president of business development and a native of Odessa, Texas, says the real estate section is just another way for people to consume locally relevant content. It allows, he says, real estate agents to interact with neighbors in a more “authentic” way, giving advice on the countless questions that arise on home improvement and even, come DCAD home appraisal time, valuations. This puts real estate agents right where they want to be positioned as hyperlocal resourceful experts ready to help when you want to sell. 

It helps that the real estate industry spent $26.8 billion on advertising in the U.S. in 2016, making it one of the largest local categories for advertising sales, especially in hot markets, according to Borrell Associates,

Referrals, of course, are the life-blood of a real estate agent. Jafari says referrals — especially from neighbors — will help drive business to real estate agents. We know an increasing amount of buyers turn to social media to find agents and listings. Nextdoor, says Jafari, is the way to get deep into the neighborhood.

Or is it too deep?

Nextdoor, like many hyperlocal blogs, has been accused of creating “silos” and dividing neighborhoods. On the other hand, Nextdoor has assisted some neighbors in reporting crimes and break-ins, leading to arrests.

“After too many solicitations from businesses, realtors, and the like from outside the boundaries of our real world neighborhood — and way too many angst ridden & derogatory posts from ‘virtual neighbors’ — I finally quit the bogus online world of NEXTDOOR,” one homeowner told Street Fight Daily.

Another said, “I quit, too, because my neighbors are idiots.”

Nextdoor has been accused of promoting fear mongering and racial profiling. Like “OMG, has anyone seen the Asian girl walking, texting on her phone? It was 9:30 at night and she seemed suspicious.” Or “Alert! Two black guys walked past my house and they didn’t seem nice at all. I think they’re up to no good!”

Nextdoor, if you don’t know, sends digital “postcards” to people when they move into a new ‘hood, inviting them to set up a profile, and then links them together in a semiprivate group of their neighbors. Certain neighbors volunteer to be “leads”, on-line commenter police to “keep it calm”. Those volunteer jobs can become overwhelming as neighbors stir up paranoia. Last year, Nextdoor released tools to curb racial profiling within its groups. Nextdoor frowns upon political discussion, which is probably wise given the intense political divides in our nation. I learned this first-hand when I was running for Dallas City Council this spring.  

For all its growth, Nextdoor’s revenue has remained elusive.  The social network claims to have saturated 80% of the homeowners in the U.S., even more in hot real estate markets with tech-obsessed millennials such as San Francisco and Silicon Valley. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, and has begun to expand to the U.K., the Netherlands and Germany. More than 160,000 neighborhoods across the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, and the Netherlands are using Nextdoor to build stronger and safer places to call home, says the company.

Nextdoor has raised more than $200 million and tipped a $1 billion valuation more than two years ago. The company, which launched in October, 2011, has even admitted that, until recently, the business has been mostly funded by its investors. The start-up was founded in 2010 as a Facebook-like, area-specific clone for private online communities where they get to know one another, ask questions, and exchange advice and recommendations. The company is owned by a group of investors: Benchmark, Greylock Partners, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers,

Nextdoor recently started offering native advertising, or “sponsored content”, from select businesses which has helped spark a growing revenue stream. Full disclosure: this blog creates a revenue stream from some sponsored content.

I spoke with Annie Barco on ND’s communications team, and asked how much the real estate ads will cost. She said it varies from a low of $50 on up to several hundred, depending on the size of the particular community.

For real estate professionals, there are several ways to build relationships with neighbors on Nextdoor:

• Claiming their free Local Page to create an official page to connect with residents, collect recommendations, and respond to comments and questions.

• Purchasing Branded Listings to showcase neighbor recommendations next to each of their listings so homeowners know they’re a name they can trust.

• Becoming a Neighborhood Sponsor to promote their market expertise and build relationships with people in the neighborhood.

“It’s an opportunity for real estate agents to sponsor a dedicated section where they can connect and build relationships with neighbors,” Nextdoor CEO Nirav Tolia said in an interview.

Of course, this means Nextdoor is also competing in ad sales with real estate sites such as Zillow, Trulia, Redfin and Realtor.com. 

Facebook, which has 2 billion users, also has an ad product for real estate brokers and agents to promote targeted home listings on the social network.

But Nextdoor’s founders think that basing the search upon the neighborhood first might be gold, as users use the real estate section to get a sense of the value of the homes in their neighborhood, find the availability of open houses or get advice from a real estate agent.

Here’s a new hoop for agents: users will also be able to see how many people recommended a real estate agent.

Real estate is apparently one of the most popular topics on the site. Nearly 25,000 real estate agents have set up local pages on the social network, more than any other profession, according to Nextdoor.

Nextdoor is available in more than 150,000 neighborhoods nationwide.

What do you think? Will agents sell any homes by advertising on Nextdoor? Will sellers love this, or pass?