Comment by Solvency
9 months ago
People like to shit on Nextdoor but once I embraced it as a homeowner it's my go-to for everything. Fuck Google/Yelp for reviews. It's refreshing getting local first-hand reviews and recommendations from neighbors about plumbers, roofers, electricians, solar panel experiences, tax stuff, home security camera questions, etc. Having a local authenticated community is so refreshing compared to the corporate bot infested internet.
Just don't ask for realtor suggestions. Your inbox will never be the same again. And everyone is a realtor or related to the one that does the best job...
It blows my mind why sellers would even need a realtor in hot markets. Your home will get a dozen offers in a week as soon as its put up for sale, you don’t need to burn 5% and do all the bullshit ritualism like staging or aerial photography that people are paying for.
Staging can certainly increase the offer amount by more than it costs
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Ah and there's the example of a service that's local, organic, home-grown, small business, crunchy, and also thoroughly paid-off. To complement my sibling comment that "local" is not the deciding factor
Knowing there's an unpaid human writing the review is about the only thing that matters. I guess for repair services it has to be local, but the real point is, if I get a recommendation from friends or family, I can trust that they aren't affiliates, because they're staking the relationship on their review.
<https://idlewords.com/talks/website_obesity.htm#fatads>
> in dealing with advertisers you must remember they are professional liars. I don’t mean this to offend. I mean it as a job description. An advertiser's job is to convince you to do stuff you would not otherwise do.
There's a couple Facebook groups for residents for the city I live in and I've found them useful for the same reason. I should also start checking NextDoor more, thanks for the mention.