BiggerPockets

Not to sound lame but the best thing is to play around with it and see what works in your area.

I have used CL in different states and areas and have found different strategies to work in different areas.

Also - depends on what kind of buyers - cash investors - retail buyers - mortgage buyers - lease to own buyers etc...

I have found that simple straight forward titles work best - not the creative fancy ones.

List out the details of the properties - if you know HTML then use bullet points.

If you don't have a house use a fake house - just make up the specs and people will call and you can build a list.

Look in the city your going to work in and see what others are doing - look for "broker" ads and see what they are doing - they have experience.

Always use photos.

It is free - try it - just put an ad up and see what happens......test test test,

This is what I use and it typically works beautifully every time:

HEADLINE: Cheap House For Sale, Must Sell Fast!

AD BODY: 3 br, 2 ba, 1300 sq ft. house for sale. Must move fast. Great cash flow opportunity. CASH BUYERS ONLY!!! E-mail me for details.

Then I just sit back and wait for the e-mails to roll in (ok so I only get like, two a day from each ad but still, two buyers a day ads up quick!) And then when they e-mail me about the house I just let them know that the house has already sold but that I should have a few more similar to it in the next week or two and I ask if they would like to be notified when I have the details.

That's it. Easy way to find buyers.

Scott,

That is a great point. I am in Southern California so I could easily post this everyday and find a few new buyers and no one would notice due to the high amount of traffic that my local craigslist receives.

Hey Joe - you can't really post "the same" ad everyday without your ad getting "ghostted" or doing things that are against their TOS - best to create a new ad everyday and post that.

Also - if you use the same contact info - email / phone / website etc....those will eventually get "soft blocked" as well meaning you can't use them for a period of time.

Doing heavy CL posting is an art form :)

A "ghosted" ad is an ad that appears to you when you click the link in your email or your account but will not be seen by anyone when they go look for your ad naturally. The only way to know if your ad is "ghosted" or not is to go look up your ad like you are a user.

Joseph,

To be honest, I haven't bothered with Craigslist. I did write a brief message to my local REIA's yahoo message board and tried to address the concerns that they rightfully have with wholesalers. I was able to generate about ten responses from the group, all very interested and very experienced in buying investment real estate. When I get a deal, if I am unable to sell to one of these ten investors, I'm sure I'll give Craigslist a try. However, if one out of those ten don't take my deal, it probably wasn't a deal at all. I think I can circumvent that issue by only bringing a good deal, but that's another story.

There's no question that Craigslist is worth the time and money (free). In my mind, there is also no question that the open access is going to bring a less qualified buyer, or more tire kickers. That shouldn't be a big deal, since there are certainly serious and active investors using it as well, and you only need one. And, again, free. My only point is that the investors that I would prefer to work with are more interested in my service, which I hope is no nonsense, no fluff, just real deals. I can't personally deliver that message by introducing myself with a fake house that never existed. There is no question in my mind that if you write an honest, well written ad, and put it on Craigslist daily, you'll end up with no less than one good, qualified buyer.

That's interesting Dante. I'm finding the same thing. I have what I consider to be a pretty well written ad for someone with zero ad writing experience :) I posted twice on CL so far with different titles on each post. They weren't fake houses, just a title that says "Rehabbers, Landlords, 50-70% ARV sound good to you?" I got one call, which I returned and the guy was out of the office. Haven't heard back from him. Met one wholesaler in my area, which I guess is ok. Meeting up for lunch with him tomorrow. Otherwise, I've gotten 5 spam emails so far with things from twitter and cl systems, to printer cartridge ink. Anybody having the same experineces?

I've found the ads that get the most responses are the ads that do not look professionally written.

Also, I put all my prices with an odd number like $6,537.

I've noticed when i quickly scroll through CL all the 000 at the end blend together but when i see an odd number it catches my eye.

Alrighty, just posted the ad (thanks Joe P) and round and round we go...

Thanks Nick! I did put my number down at the end of all of them. Both in the body and the signature. I also included my website (which includes a buyers list application. Of course I would call those people to establish contact after they filled it out. But nothin yet. If you woudn't mind writing something about how to do CL ads the right way, that would be super, cause I don't think I've got it down just yet :) I don't anticipate getting any bites till sometime tomorrow, being that today is sunday, but I'll let everyone know how it goes. Until tomorrow... :)

From my experience with CraigList,
It seems there's alot more end-users online rather than full fledged investors.

I get the occasional investor lead here and there, but I mainly use Craiglist to build my list of end-user buyers.
Well at this is true for the South Florida area. Stick an "Owner Financing" tag in there and you will get hits like crazy.

- Tiger