What if you could know your neighbors before you commit to the move?
Greetings IH. The post title is just one of the many headlines today from r/neighborsfromhell.
To try and address this problem, I'm working on a new idea, called, "Hello, Newman." (let me know if you get the reference). It's a service for home buyers and renters who want to find out who their neighbors are before (or even after) they move.
In the US, home buyers hire an attorney, get a title search, hire a home inspector, but what about the neighbors? Are you unknowingly about to move next to a registered sex offender, spinster with 50 cats or a Journey cover band?
So I'm putting together "neighbor reports" based on publicly available information. Sure anyone could do this but many don't know where to look, how to search for it, or that certain info is even available.
How would you market this? I was thinking of partnering with home inspectors or real estate attorneys, perhaps they could offer it as an additional service? Reddit has a r/realestate and r/firsttimehomebuyer but they are pretty strict about promotional posts. Where else could I find those in the home-buying process?
I just started and already had a customer just from posting on Twitter. They were really impressed with the research. Thanks IH!
This may be a long shot. However, if you’re open to working with apartments, you could have some pretty hyper-targeted marketing. Most complexes would have access to strong indicators/data for both moving in (Ex: a property tour) and moving out (Ex: many complexes require a renewal request a month or two before the lease is up).
Real estate agents too? Maybe as an added service that the real estate agent could offer. I know they work on commission and don’t usually charge for additional services. But it seems like a good idea.
I thought about that as well. Not sure if they would see it as a potential deal killer though? It's worth a shot I guess.
To combat that all you'd have to do is also show positive traits. Kramers instead of Newmans. Then it's not just a deal killer - could be a deal maker too.