As one method to find buyers to put on my buyers list I put up an ad in the local Craigslist section for Real Estate for Sale. It lasted about 12 hrs, got one response then was promptly flagged by a user as spam and removed. How is everyone wording their Craigslist ads to stay within the TOS and get responses from buyers? So far with one response in 12 hrs I am feeling I can find a lot of buyers throughout the state with no out of pocket expense and not a lot of effort, a marketing homerun. How do I effectively use this tool to meet my needs?
Don’t list it in “RE For Sale” as it will get flagged almost instantly by home sellers and other investors. Put it in the “Real Estate Services” category and it should be fine (since that is exactly what you are offering). Another “trick” is to list a phantom property for sale/rent and include your usual investor blurb about buying houses. It may get deleted as well, but should have a lesser chance.
I have one up now that says I have properties that are going to be available soon and to contact me for details because I “can’t post the details publically yet.” This one mentions multis, I am going to initially try and find disgruntled landlords and get deals on their properties. This area has a definite lack of cashflowing multis on the market in any price range, hardly any will “cashflow” with guru numbers so finding so value priced multis to spruce up will be a valuable tool I think.
Rich…I guess I’ll just follow you around the board today ;D j/k.
I use a generic blurb to get buyers on Craigslist. We had a discussion about it here http://www.reiclub.com/forums/index.php?board=31;action=display;threadid=9853.
I think “Craig” will let you keep that new post up. Remember if you have an account you can easily renew a generic post every week.
HTH…d
Thanks for the link, very helpful.
I’ve never found craigslist to be effective. A couple of months ago I ran an ad that pulled nearly 4,000 hits, but I only got one buyer serious enough to get their credit checked and they couldn’t quality to buy a loaf of bread on credit, let alone a house!
Some suggestions on building a buyer’s list that I think is more effective than Craigslist:
- Join a local REI Club & network.
- Get a newspaper where people advertise “I buy houses”. Call the ads. Same with the bandit signs you see on the corner.
- Go to foreclosure auctions and network with the people buying the houses.
Obviously I will be using all of those methods as well, this would be additional exposure that’s totally free.