How to Use LinkedIn’s Search Tools to Find Buyers and Sellers

LinkedIn is often seen as a platform only for job seekers and recruiters. Yet it is also one of the most powerful tools for real estate professionals who want to connect with potential buyers, sellers, investors, and referral partners. With more than 1 billion members globally, LinkedIn provides advanced search functions that allow you to find people based on their job title, industry, location, and even their online behaviour.

For real estate professionals, this means being able to target property owners, investors, developers, and even people relocating to your area. When used properly, LinkedIn’s search tools can help you grow your network and uncover high-quality leads that may not be visible on other platforms.

In this tutorial, you will learn exactly how to use LinkedIn’s search features step by step, with examples designed for real estate professionals.

Why LinkedIn Search Matters for Real Estate

Before diving into the tools, it is important to understand why LinkedIn is so valuable.

• Professional audience: Unlike Facebook or Instagram, people on LinkedIn are usually sharing information about their work, career moves, and investments.

• Decision-makers: Many users are business owners, executives, or professionals with the financial ability to buy or sell property.

• Relocation opportunities: People often update their profiles when changing jobs or moving cities. This can give you early signals about who may be buying or selling.

• Targeted networking: Search filters allow you to look for specific industries or roles that connect to property, such as accountants, lawyers, or developers.

When you combine these strengths with your local property knowledge, LinkedIn becomes a highly effective platform to discover buyers and sellers.

Understanding LinkedIn’s Basic Search

At the top of LinkedIn, you will find the main search bar. This is where you can type in keywords like “property investor” or “home buyer Brisbane”.

Once you type in a keyword, you can filter your results by categories such as:

• People – shows individuals related to your keyword.

• Companies – useful if you want to connect with businesses relocating staff.

• Posts – allows you to see who is talking about property or moving.

• Groups – discover communities where buyers and sellers might gather.

This basic search is often enough to get started. However, to be effective as a real estate professional, you need to use LinkedIn’s advanced filters.

Using Advanced Filters to Find Leads

After entering a keyword, you can refine your results by selecting All Filters. Here you can apply multiple criteria to narrow your search.

Some of the most valuable filters include:

• Location: Target suburbs, cities, or regions where you operate.

• Industry: Focus on industries that are likely to involve property investment, such as construction, finance, or law.

• Job Title: Search for specific titles such as “CEO”, “Property Manager”, “Developer”, or “Relocation Specialist”.

• Connections: Filter to see only 1st-degree (people you already know) or 2nd-degree connections (friends of your network).

For example, if you work in Brisbane, you might search for “CEO” and filter by “Brisbane Area”. These results will give you business leaders in your region who may be looking to buy prestige homes or investment properties.

Finding Buyers Through Search

Buyers often leave digital signals on LinkedIn that can be picked up through search. Some strategies include:

• Relocation signals: Search for people who recently updated their job location to your city. For example, “Sydney” in the location filter with “Joined company within last 90 days”. These are likely to be people moving and in need of a new home.

• First home buyers: Search for younger professionals in industries such as IT, finance, or healthcare. Many of these individuals may be first-time buyers with growing incomes.

• Investors: Look for people with titles such as “Investor”, “Property Developer”, or “Wealth Manager”. These individuals may be looking for rental properties or development opportunities.

Finding Sellers Through Search

Just as you can identify potential buyers, LinkedIn can also highlight likely sellers. Consider these approaches:

• Job changes: People who are moving interstate for new roles often need to sell their home quickly. Use filters for “Past Company” or “New Role” in another city.

• Retirement signals: Search for senior professionals approaching retirement age. Many may be considering downsizing or selling investment properties.

• Property-related industries: Builders, developers, and architects often sell projects or investment stock. Connecting with them can uncover off-market opportunities.

Using Boolean Search for Precision

LinkedIn allows you to use Boolean operators to make your searches even sharper. These are simple words or symbols you add to your query.

• AND: Combines keywords. Example: “Investor AND Brisbane”.

• OR: Expands your search. Example: “Developer OR Builder”.

• NOT: Excludes terms. Example: “Investor NOT Student”.

• Quotation Marks: Finds exact phrases. Example: “Property Investor”.

• Parentheses: Groups terms together. Example: “(Investor OR Developer) AND Brisbane”.

By learning these techniques, you can create very targeted lists of prospects.

Leveraging Sales Navigator (Optional Upgrade)

While the free LinkedIn search tools are powerful, upgrading to Sales Navigator provides extra features. This is LinkedIn’s premium tool for lead generation.

Some benefits include:

• More filters such as seniority level, company size, and years in position.

• Saved searches that notify you when new people match your criteria.

• Lead recommendations based on your activity.

• InMail messaging that allows you to contact people outside your network.

If you are serious about using LinkedIn for lead generation, this upgrade can significantly increase your reach.

Best Practices for Approaching Prospects

Finding the right people is only half the job. You also need to know how to connect in a professional way.

• Personalise invitations: Always mention something specific about the person or why you want to connect.

• Offer value first: Instead of asking if they want to buy or sell, share a useful resource such as a suburb market report.

• Be consistent: Check your saved searches weekly and engage with posts from your target audience.

• Combine with offline work: Use LinkedIn to identify prospects, then meet them at open homes, community events, or networking groups.

How AI Can Enhance LinkedIn Search

AI tools like ChatGPT can make your LinkedIn search even more effective by helping you:

• Generate keyword ideas: Ask AI for lists of job titles or industries linked to property buyers and sellers.

• Craft personalised messages: Input a LinkedIn profile into ChatGPT and request a message that highlights shared interests.

• Analyse trends: Use AI to spot patterns in who is connecting with you or responding positively.

• Build search strategies: Ask AI to design Boolean search strings tailored for specific goals, such as “finding downsizers in Sydney”.

By blending AI with LinkedIn’s own tools, you can streamline your workflow and uncover leads more efficiently.

Step-by-Step Checklist

1. Log into LinkedIn and open the search bar.

2. Enter a keyword such as “Property Investor” or “CEO Brisbane”.

3. Apply filters such as location, industry, or connections.

4. Experiment with Boolean search for sharper results.

5. Save useful searches to repeat regularly.

6. Personalise connection requests to new contacts.

7. Share valuable property updates or reports with your network.

8. Track responses and refine your approach over time.

9. Use AI tools to create targeted scripts or search strings.

10. Build long-term relationships, not just one-off contacts.

Final Thoughts

LinkedIn is no longer just a platform for job seekers. For real estate professionals, it is a powerful search engine that can uncover motivated buyers and sellers if you know how to use it correctly. By learning how to apply advanced filters, Boolean search, and even AI support, you can create a steady stream of quality connections.

The key is consistency and professionalism. Treat LinkedIn as an extension of your personal brand and always focus on building trust. When combined with your property expertise, these search tools will help you uncover opportunities that competitors may overlook.

Author Ken Hobson
ken@agentslibrary.com.au