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My Craigslist Experience with Listings

By Max Douge

Real Estate Agent with Exit Realty Enterprises

February 11, 2008 03:56 AM

Craigslist has been a great tool for me to market listings, and more importantly, to create visibility (branding). At one point, I had 20 listings. Instead of putting them on Craigslist all at once, I put 3-4 per day until all were on. The reason was that I wanted maximum exposure for the different listings. My experience is that we all have a tendency to write all of our ads in the same manner. So after 2-3 ads, if the public is like me, they'll pass over many of the ads because they're tired of reading the same type of ad. Whereas, if you spread them out, you'll likely get different people to view your most recently posted ads. The other reason I like spreading them out is my name gets maximum exposure because when one of the listings expireds, I still have others that are still being marketed. And when I repost an ad, it ensures that my information will continue being out there until it sells or I remove it.

Some tips that have worked for me:

ALWAYS create a link to your website where you'll have more information ready for them to view; in other words, drive the public to your website
Provide 1-2 pics of the property in the ad, but have more available on your website or listing
Include your logo (again... branding!)
Include your phone or email; don't use the email address that Craigslist provides

I invite you to join this group and share your Craigslist experiences. Thanks.

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Tracy Riba

HomeTowne Realty, Johnston County NC - Clayton, NC

Residential & Commercial NC Real Estate Broker

I use my Point2Agent website that send all my listings to craigslist. I get more activity from those than anything else. Thanks for adding the group.

Feb 28, 2008 04:47 AM

Michael Zinsmeister

Market Postings - Palm Bay, FL

Hello all!

I used to handle the marketing for a real estate company and found that Craigslist was by far the most valuable online marketing tool after the MLS. After I moved on from that position I decided to start a Craigslist posting service. I use Postlets to create high-quality ads that really stand out and then post them to Craigslist. I then re-post the ads every 48 hours for as long as a customer has an active subscription.

I see that Max, Greg, and Ken have either used some sort of service to manage their Craigslist postings. I would be interested in hearing what the service was like (prices, results, etc). You can check out my website at www.MyMarketPostings.com to see what I offer. I currently have a 10 ad package and a 20 ad package for $75 and $100 a month respectively. Please provide any feedback you may have. It is more than welcome!

I would also like to say that I have noticed that the results generated from Rental listings is FAR greater than For Sales. I just think the CL users tend to be of a demographic that is more interested in renting than purchasing. It is still wise to post For Sales on CL as there are still many great leads generated from these ads.

Best of luck out there!

Michael Zinsmeister

MarketPostings@gmail.com

www.MyMarketPostings.com

Mar 07, 2008 01:25 PM

Marlene Scheffer

Realty Station - Bremerton, WA

Realtor to Kitsap County, WA

I have actually sold a listing through craigslist. I didn;t use any of the fancy html programs, I just wrote the post like I would if I were selling a piece of furniture on CL, and included four photos. Now that I've found listingdomins.com, I'm not getting as good as response. Coincidence? Hmmmm.....

Mar 11, 2008 07:22 PM

Mike Tetreau

William Raveis Real Estate - Fairfield, CT - Fairfield, CT

ABR, CRS, GRI, Sales Vice President

I have been using CL for a couple of months now. In the New York City/ Fairfield CT area, I am finding most of the listings are NYC based....and we are just starting to use CL out here in CT. Also, Rentals definitey get more response than Sales but we do see some activity.....I am trying to make sure that I post Open Houses on CL to get the weekenders looking for something to do...and I am now using VFlyer to create professional ads.......Hope this helps the discussion, Mike

Mar 16, 2008 02:48 AM

Susan Jackowski

Lake Norman NC - Mooresville, NC

Lake Norman NC & Hudson Valley NY

Great ideas about putting the listings in seperate. Thanks for the tip

Mar 20, 2008 01:38 PM

Tara Colquitt

Tara Colquitt, The Credit Woman, LLC - Philadelphia, PA

Credit Counselor

Thanks for the tips Max! I will use them tonight.

Apr 06, 2008 02:21 PM

Ben Myers

The Broker Ben Group at Realty Idaho - Meridian, ID

CEO/Designated Broker

I'm excited to see how others are using Craigslist. I haven't sold a home off CL yet, but I did have another agent in my market show the property after a client found it on CL. I think like any advertisement you have to be sure to add calls to action. If not, you will get great traffic, but few responses. Make sure you offer them something out of the ordinary. I had good results when a seller was offering 6 months of paid mortgage payments. Just a tip. Thanks!

Apr 07, 2008 11:28 AM

Rosemary Brooks

BMC Real Estate - 209-910-3706 - Stockton, CA

The Mother & Daughter Realty Team

When you post on Fridays by 5pm you seem to get more attention. I think people start to check CL on Fridays to see the weekend specials.

Apr 14, 2008 10:16 PM

Max Douge

Exit Realty Enterprises - Frederick, MD

Rosemary... I've had similar experiences when posting ads late Friday. I think there's plenty of validity to your point.

Apr 15, 2008 06:37 AM

Warren Harbison

Harbison & Hoyt, LLC Attorneys at Law - Daphne, AL

How do you use HTML on craigslist?

Warren Harbison

Harbison & Hoyt, LLC Attorneys at Law

May 19, 2008 05:50 PM

Jennifer Kladny

Premier Servicing Company, LLC - Kittanning, PA

Max - question for you since you post frequently on CL. I use links, html, photos, etc. It seems the less I use, the less I get flagged.

The more I use, the more postings I get flagged. What is your take? Any ways to avoid this? JENNIFER

May 28, 2008 12:00 PM

Max Douge

Exit Realty Enterprises - Frederick, MD

Jennifer,

I've only had a few postings flagged, and I wasn't sure why someone flagged them. I often wonder if there are people who do it just to do it, if it's competition or if there are people who interpret CL rules in a particular way. However, I haven't seen a pattern to my flagged posts that have caused me to alter my approach. I encourage you to continue your posts and be dilegent.

I do, however, believe that a simple post with minimal links and 2-3 photos have worked best for me, almost like a teaser. Then I direct the viewer to my website for more information and pictures. I've had more success with that than with an HTML code for an elaborate flyer.

May 30, 2008 03:03 AM

Jennifer Kladny

Premier Servicing Company, LLC - Kittanning, PA

Thanks Max! I didn't know if it was the folks at CL flagging them or people using CL. Have a great day! JENNIFER

May 30, 2008 05:30 AM

Kat Bent

Keller Williams - Raynham, MA

I have been posting our team's listings using 2-4 photos and our description of the property from MLS. It allows us to do it quickly and cut and paste - and we have rotated the areas for more exposure. So far we are happy with the results, but we are looking to expand our efforts and increase our branding.

Oct 15, 2008 03:44 AM

Eileen Begley

Coldwell Banker, DelMonte - Carmel, CA

Monterey Real Estate

I agree with everything except using your own email address. Doing that exposes you to the spammers - big time as they harvest all visible addresses. Or you could use a graphics of your email so people could still see it but it would not be visible to the automated spam harvesters.

Oct 16, 2008 10:41 AM

Max Douge

Exit Realty Enterprises - Frederick, MD

Kat... Please keep us informed of your successes as you expand your branding, especially if you incorporate CL with your efforts.

Oct 20, 2008 04:34 AM

Max Douge

Exit Realty Enterprises - Frederick, MD

Eileen... I have also noticed that the spammers are using the CL postings to obtain our email address. It's definitely something that needs to be considered when posting on CL. Thanks.

Oct 20, 2008 04:39 AM

Sabrina Kelley

ERA Herman Group Real Estate - Woodland Park, CO

Woodland Park Colorado Mountain Homes and Land

It is good to take a break from ad.writing. If you do more than a few in the same day it all becomes the same and begins to go Gray.

Oct 20, 2008 01:55 PM

Sandy Gleason

North Pointe Realty - Buhl, ID

Realtor for Southern Idaho-Magic Valley

I like the 1-2 picture idea that would sent them to our sites more often.

Nov 06, 2008 02:53 AM

Anonymous

Craigslist is NOT designed to be an advertising space. If it were, then you'd pay for ads, no? It was built for individuals to sell to individuals, cutting out the muss and the commercialism.

I am hoping that Craigslist creates some ways to keep realtor spam off of the site automatically because it's making the site completely unusable. Many realtors are happy to lie about location, or bait-and-switch, hoping to get warm bodies to their clients to make the almighty commission. I'm not saying that any of the realtors here would do so, but I know it happens. Also, many realtors don't post locations because they're afraid of losing the commission and they know that badly-situated listings get better responses when they're not specific. This means that the ads become less and less useful to buyers.

Jan 29, 2011 06:59 PM

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