Community networking platform Nextdoor announced the expansion of its real estate arm into three new markets: Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota; Washington, D.C.; and Tampa-Saint Petersburg, Florida. The company, which reportedly just raised $75 million in funding, says it chose these three areas due to long waiting lists and robust market conditions.
The real estate division, which launched in August 2017, enables Nextdoor users to chat with local real estate agents about a variety of topics ranging from local and national housing trends to available listings. Furthermore, Nextdoor rolled out for agents three ad products, which included local pages, branded listings and neighborhood sponsorships.
“This will ensure that when a neighbor thinks about real estate, your name is the first name that comes to mind,” Nextdoor CEO Nirav Tolia told Inman in August.
Nextdoor’s agent local page
Tolia said the real estate section and ad products were a “natural fit” for the platform and allowed agents to become digital mayors of their neighborhood.
“From the very beginning, some of the most popular neighborhood conversations on Nextdoor have been about homes for sale and the local real estate market,” Tolia said in an emailed statement.
“The launch of our new real estate category makes it easy for neighbors to easily find listings for nearby homes for sale and identify and connect with the most recommended real estate professionals in their local area.”
The real estate section initially launched in the greater Atlanta area, Austin, San Francisco Bay Area, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento and San Diego, and Tolia said the overwhelming success of the section made it an easy decision to expand into new markets.
“There’s a growing waitlist for the neighborhood sponsorships in markets across the country,” Tolia said.
“We’ve seen tremendous demand from agents seeking neighborhood sponsorships to become the face of a specific neighborhood. It’s not as much about lead generation, but farming and brand building,” he added.
Agents in the newly added markets can claim their local page and create a business page at no cost. The other offerings range from $50-$500 per month.