Tech Nest: The Proptech Podcast Building for Tighter-Knit Communities with Phil Levin, Founder and CEO of Live Near Friends
In this episode, Phil Levin, Founder and CEO of Live Near Friends, shares insights on the importance of proximity in shaping our lives and the potential for multiplayer mode housing. He discusses the benefits of living near friends and family, how transportation influences city design, and the rise of cul-de-sac communities. Phil also touches on the role of ADUs in fostering closer-knit neighborhoods, the loneliness epidemic, and the health impacts of community living. The conversation highlights how proximity to happy friends can boost happiness by 40%, and explores the future of urban planning with self-driving cars.
More about Phil and Live Near Friends
LiveNearFriends reinvents residential real estate by focusing on the #1 amenity: people. We address many of today's biggest pain points: loneliness, isolation in raising families, and lack of rootedness in a WFH world. There’s a silver bullet for these problems, and it's living in proximity to people you love.
Today's product aggregates latent demand for living near friends & family, identifies existing housing supply that is a good fit for groups, and greases the behavioral mechanics. It's been covered by Vox, Guardian, Axios, Bigger Pockets and Business Insider. The vision is to become the marketplace where all "proximate housing" is marketed, developed, financed, and sold.
Phil is the CEO/founder of Live Near Friends, the social real estate platform that helps people live within walking distance of friends & family.
Previously, he helped start Culdesac (a developer building walkable, car-free neighborhoods, $200m+ raised).
Phil started a housing cluster called Radish where he lives near 19 friends and 5 of their kids spread across 10 homes. He writes about this on Supernuclear, the #1 newsletter on living near friends (160K reach).
Phil’s mission is to create forms of housing which makes us happy, healthy, and connected. And in doing so rebuild the social fabric of our neighborhoods.