I have been telling people wanting to sell their home themselves about craigslist for the last three years. At that time it was unknown by most of the people who I talked with in the St Louis /  Jefferson County Area. I had lots of people thank me very much and go on to use it to buy and sell lots of things. I also advertised all of my listings on the St. Louis Housing section of Craigslist.

Now three years later almost everyone around here knows about craigslist, but when I advertise my listings they are quickly flagged down and removed. It seems that there is a group on Craigslist that has a great dislike for Real Estate Agents. I am sure that it is only a few people trolling the message boards, but they are very loud and vocal in their dislike. They spread lots of false information about how rich real estate agents are, and how useless we are.

Now I have nothing against people trying to sell their home themselves. Sure I would like to get the listing and sell their home, that is how I feed my family, but I have found that the best way to do business is to be helpful to people. As I stated earlier, I told FSBOs to post on Craigslist, I tell people that they might want to try putting a For Sale By Owner sign in their yard for a couple weeks and see what happens. If the home sells, good for them, maybe they will tell someone that I was helpful to them. If it does not sell, maybe they will remember my help and let me show them my listing presentation.

It seems that a vocal minority out there have nothing but bad things to say about realtors, and I am sure that there are a few that do give us a bad name. But most all of the agents I know will do anything they have to make their clients happy. If we do not provide good service to our clients we will not reap the referrals that keep us in business. Okay, I am sorry to use my blog to complain and defend my profession but I get a great satisfaction out of what I do, and I truly believe that I am helping people. Yes, I make some money in the process, but I guarantee you it is not a lot after I split it with my broker and pay for my advertising, my website, my 800#, my phone, my wireless data service, my online contact manager, my coaching/marketing group, the MLS, gas, etc.

I made a lot more in my previous professions, but I truly love what I do. I implore the public to please not listen to all of these hate filled trolls. We are Realtors, we follow a code of ethics and we try our best to help people fulfill the American dream of owning their own home. 

Please visit me at http://www.stlouisliving.net/