Anyone out there trying to figure out the next social network of real estate? Active Rain seems to be the last social network of real estate that had any significant adoption, but has fallen off the map lately (3 years ago?).

I think the time is right for someone to build a new social network for real estate. One that adds value in a meaningful way, not just more content and noise for people to sift through.

Has anyone heard of Angel List? If you are a technology startup, your Angel List profile is the default place many potential investors look to learn more about your company (Oh Hey World’s profile is here & Horizon’s is here). It has all the fundraising rounds. Your employees, advisors, past investors, board of directors, references. It contains your job openings and press. One stop shop for everything an investor needs to know.

The value is in the structured data, which is essentially a massive tagging system.

What’s the opportunity you ask?

An “Angel List for Real Estate“. Instead of startups, you are the company (since you all largely run your own businesses).

What information would it entail? Everything that would help determine if “you” are a company worth working with…

  • Which vendors you are currently using
  • Which vendors you’ve used in the past
  • Which brokerages & franchises you’ve worked for
  • Which agents you’ve sent referrals to
  • Which lenders, home inspectors, appraisers, etc you’ve used
  • What marketing tactics are driving your traffic/deals

What pain points would this address? Let’s face it, the first thing you do when you are thinking about spending money or time on something is get advice from other people you trust (know) that have expertise/knowledge related to that vendor, person, or tactic.

“I’m thinking about working with vendor X or individual Y or employing tactic Z, who do I know that has…”

  • used CRM vendor X?
  • worked at brokerage X in city Y?
  • worked with home appraiser X?
  • used craigslist to drive traffic?
  • advertised on Zillow?

My initial thinking is that this would be a great agent network. But maybe the better play for this would be for brokerages and MLS’.

What do you think? Any takers? If there is someone super passionate about this with some development chops, speak to Mike Price. I can see Geek Estate turning into something like this, but would certainly require a significant investment of time and/or capital to do it right. And no sense doing it half way.