Anyone who’s been on Nextdoor, the neighborhood social network, is probably used to seeing the occasional real estate listing pop up in their feed between complaints about “some idiot” who’s always driving too fast and offers for “gently used” furniture.
But Nextdoor appears to be rolling out a new feature that will make those occasional real estate listings appear far more often; a new, property section is currently being piloted on the site.
In fact, Nextdoor’s move could position the social network as a new competitor for Zillow, Trulia, realtor.com, Redfin, and other online real estate listing sites; perhaps even Amazon.
Nextdoor is now testing the separate “real estate” section of its website and app that features real estate listings in the user’s neighborhood and nearby areas.
The company posted an information page about the program in the “Help” section of its website.
“We’re piloting a new Real Estate section, which offers you the opportunity to see how homes are selling in your neighborhood,” the webpage states. “The initial pilot will only be available in a limited number of areas. We plan to expand into additional markets over the course of 2017.”
(Image courtesy of Nextdoor. Click to enlarge)
The listings aren’t just some homeowner posting to say their house is for sale, either. These are full-fledged real estate listings; complete with pictures, descriptions, links to listing websites, and MLS ID#s (as seen in the image below).
(Image courtesy of Nextdoor. Click to enlarge)
But the program isn’t just informational for prospective buyers or curious neighbors; the program is also an advertising vehicle for real estate agents and Realtors.
Nextdoor is inviting real estate agents and brokers to participate in the program as advertisers. In fact, the program’s information page has four separate links that encourage real estate agents to get more information about participating in the program.
According to the information page, “some” real estate listings will have a spot that features the listing agent, assuming the listing agent pays for that privilege, of course.
“Some pages will have a module to the right showcasing the listing agent,” the webpage stats. “This is one of the paid products real estate agents can participate in. This makes it easy for members to reach out to a listing agent and learn more about some of the agents who sell homes in their local community.”
But that’s not the only “paid program” that real estate agents can participate in as part of Nextdoor’s real estate section.
The webpage also states that Nextdoor is launching a “Neighborhood Sponsor” program, which allows agents to sponsor the real estate content on Nextdoor in specific areas.
(Image courtesy of Nextdoor. Click to enlarge)
This is how Nextdoor describes it:
We're piloting Neighborhood Sponsorship to give real estate agents like you the opportunity to promote your market expertise in the neighborhoods you know best.
By participating in Neighborhood Sponsorship, you will be promoted in the Newsfeed, Daily Digest emails, and Real Estate section for the neighborhoods you choose to sponsor. Sponsoring agents will also have the opportunity to answer real estate-related questions from Nextdoor members, highlighting your local knowledge.
Nextdoor began testing the real estate listings program at some point over the last few months in a few markets, with apparent plans to expand it throughout 2017.
The website doesn’t list which areas or cities are currently in test phase, but a HousingWire review of its own backyard found that Dallas appears to be one of the test markets.
But, there is a separate page for information on the Neighborhood Sponsor program, which states that Neighborhood Sponsorship is currently only available for “limited markets in the San Francisco Bay, San Diego, Portland, Phoenix, greater Atlanta, and Dallas/Fort Worth areas.”
It also isn’t clear what the source of Nextdoor’s current listings in those limited markets is.
A review of Dallas listings showed that each listing has a link to the listing website, listing agent, and name of the listing agency.
But each listing also featured a section inviting visitors to see the “newest listings” on realtor.com.
Also of interest for real estate agents, Nextdoor is currently only inviting brokerages to participate in the program.
One of the links on the main page is for agents who want to participate. That link leads to a page titled “Want your listings on Nextdoor? Tell your broker.”
The page states:
Nextdoor is launching a new real estate product that connects agents and their listings with neighborhoods. At this early stage, we're only inviting brokerages to participate. Get in on the ground level by sharing this form with your broker and our team will follow up with next steps.
The page asks for various information about the brokerage including the number of agents, the brokerage’s annual listing volume, listing markets, and more.
Interestingly, the page also asks for the type of XML feeds that the brokerage can provide to Nextdoor, and provides several choices: Trulia, Zillow, Redfin, and “Other.”
So while it appears that the current listings on Nextdoor’s real estate section may come from realtor.com, the company seems to be seeking additional sources for listing data from brokerages.
For now, the main page states that the program is still under development.
