Where buying moments actually show up
Six public places carry most of the moments that matter to an agent. Each one works a bit differently, so pick one or two to start.
- Reddit: your city subreddit is the strongest single source. People ask "moving to Denver in August, which neighborhoods?" and describe their whole situation — budget, kids, commute.
- LinkedIn: job changes and relocations. Someone starting a role in a new city usually needs housing within 60 days.
- Instagram: local hashtags and geotags around moving, new homes, engagements, and baby announcements.
- X/Twitter: fast, text-first. Good for keyword searches like "pre-approved" plus your city name.
- Threads: similar to X but chattier and more personal. People vent about small apartments and landlords here.
- TikTok: less about posts, more about comments. Under "moving to Phoenix" videos, the comment section fills with people who are actually moving.
Neighborhood Facebook groups also work, but many ban agents from posting or DMing. Read the group rules before you touch anything there.
The words people write right before they move
You are not searching for "looking for a realtor." You are searching for the sentence a normal person writes about their own life. Here are the real phrasings, grouped by what they mean.
Money is ready: - "we got pre-approved!" - "pre-approval letter came through today" - "talked to a lender this week" - "finally hit our down payment goal"
The space stopped working: - "we outgrew our apartment" - "two adults, a toddler and a dog in a one-bedroom, send help" - "our lease is up in June and we are not renewing" - "working from the kitchen table is killing me"
A move is coming: - "starting a new job in Austin next month" - "we're relocating for my wife's work" - "any advice for someone moving cross-country in July?" - "house hunting trip this weekend"
Life changed: - "we're engaged 💍" - "baby number two arriving in spring" - "got married, now we need a real home"
Already closed: - "just got the keys 🔑" - "closing day!" - "officially homeowners"
That last group is not a buyer anymore — but it is a warm contact for referrals, for a contractor introduction, and for a seller conversation in a few years. Treat it differently, do not pitch a purchase.
A 30-minute daily habit that finds them
Consistency beats cleverness. The people who get results check the same places at the same time every weekday.
- Morning, 15 minutes: open your city subreddit sorted by New. Scan titles only. Open anything about moving, neighborhoods, schools, or rent versus buy.
- Morning, 5 minutes: check LinkedIn notifications for job changes in your connections, plus a search for your city name and "excited to announce" or "new role."
- Evening, 10 minutes: run two or three saved keyword searches on X and Threads — a phrase from the list above plus your city.
Once a week, spend 20 minutes on Instagram local hashtags and on comment sections under "moving to [your city]" videos on TikTok.
Keep one simple list: link, name, what happened, date you messaged. A spreadsheet is fine.
If you would rather not run searches by hand, this is exactly what ByPath does — it watches those six platforms for life-moment posts in your city and language and sends about five scored ones each morning, with a suggested first message you send yourself.
Real moment or just noise
Most of what you find is noise. Run every post through five quick questions before you spend time on it.
- Is this a real person talking about their own life, in their own words? Not a brand, not a reposted quote.
- Is it recent? Anything older than about two weeks has usually moved on. Fresh is everything.
- Is the city right? Either they live where you work, or they are moving there.
- Is there a timeline in it? "Lease ends in June," "starting in September," "closing next month."
- Can you actually reach them? Open DMs, or a public comment thread where a reply is welcome.
Three yeses out of five and it is worth a message. Fewer than three, skip it and move on — chasing weak posts is how agents burn an hour and get nothing.
Common traps: other agents and lenders posting advice, giveaway entries, meme accounts, someone whose post is a year old and just resurfaced, and people who already mention their agent in the comments. Read the replies before you write.
Speed beats polish
When someone posts "moving to Nashville in August, where should we look?" they get a pile of replies within the first day. The useful answer that arrives early is the one they remember and click on.
Reply within hours, not days. A short, genuinely helpful comment posted the same morning beats a perfect message sent Thursday.
This is the whole reason the daily habit matters more than the tools. A moment has a short window: from post to "we picked an agent" is often a week or two. Miss the window and you are just another DM.
How to write the first message without being creepy
The rule is simple: mention only what they posted publicly, give one specific useful thing, and ask for nothing. No pitch, no calendar link, no "I see you're looking to buy." Do not reference their profile, their photos, or anything they did not put in that post.
Keep it under about 60 words. If they reply, you can talk properly then.
Example 1 — someone asking about neighborhoods after a job move:
"Congrats on the new job. Honest answer to your question: if you want a 20-minute commute and a yard, look at the north side first — south is nicer to walk but you will pay more per square foot. I sell here, happy to send a short list of streets if that helps. No pressure either way."
Example 2 — someone who posted about getting pre-approved:
"Congrats, the pre-approval is the annoying part and it's done. One tip while you shop: ask your lender to re-check the rate lock before you write an offer, it moves. If you want to know what your number actually buys in this market right now, just say the word."
If there is no reply, send one short follow-up a week later, then stop. One follow-up. That is the whole rule.
Keep a simple scoreboard
You cannot tell if this works from feeling. Track four numbers each week on one line in a notebook or sheet.
- Posts you found worth messaging
- Messages sent
- Replies
- Conversations that turned into a call or showing
After three or four weeks you will see which platform is actually producing for your city, and you can drop the rest. In some markets Reddit carries almost everything. In others it is LinkedIn relocations. Nobody can tell you which without you testing it.
If your reply rate is low, the problem is almost always the first message, not the source. Shorten it and remove the pitch.
Start with one platform this week
Pick your city subreddit. Check it every morning for ten minutes for two weeks. Message the ones that pass three of the five questions, using the short format above. That alone puts you ahead of most agents in your market, who are still buying cold lead lists.
When the manual habit proves it works and you want the searching handled for you, ByPath does the same job automatically across all six platforms — about five scored moments in your inbox each morning, in any city and any language, with a draft first message you send yourself. It never messages anyone for you, and it only reads public posts. There is a 7-day free trial, no card, if you want to see what it finds in your area.
Tell it what you sell and where. Every morning you get about 5 of these moments — with the post, the reason it’s a lead, and a first message ready to copy.
Questions people ask
Is it OK to message someone because of a public post?
Yes, if the post is public and you follow the platform's rules on DMs and self-promotion. Keep it short, reference only what they wrote in that post, and stop after one follow-up. What makes it feel wrong is volume and pitching, not the message itself.
Which platform is best for real estate agents?
It depends on your city, so test rather than guess. City subreddits and LinkedIn job changes are the most reliable starting points in most markets; Instagram and Threads work better where the local community is active there.
How many leads should I expect from this?
Real life-moment posts are not high volume — you are looking for a handful of genuinely good ones per week in one city, not hundreds. The value is that they are early and warm, so the reply rate is far better than a cold list.
What if they already have an agent?
Say congratulations and move on, politely and without a pitch. People switch agents more often than you think, and a graceful exit is the reason they remember your name later.
How is this different from buying leads from a portal?
Portal leads are people who already raised their hand, so you are one of several agents calling at once. These posts catch people weeks earlier, before they start shopping for an agent, which is why timing and a low-pressure first message matter so much.