Real Estate Investor · Dallas, TX · Member since 2013 · 388 posts · 174 votes
Hi everyone hope all is well. I just tried to list a property on Zillow and it is no longer free. What are some alternatives to Zillow that are free of charge? craigslist.
1. Any listing on Zillow has a credit card behind it, which reduces the risk of scammers. Look at what happened to Craigslist in most markets. Overrun by scammers and Craigslist has no revenue for moderators. Zillow can maintain higher quality listings which is good for their customers.
2. Landlords used to advertise properties 30-60 days before they were even available or leave the listings up after they were rented. This resulted in lots of extra properties that were really not available. With the pay model, landlords will be careful to only advertise active properties. That means a better user (tenant/customer) experience.
3. For landlords who choose to use Zillow, there will be less competition. Some landlords are too cheap to spend $10 to get their place listed. That means there will be the same number of customers (tenants) but less landlords, so better chance of finding a tenant.
Bottom line is this is a business. My properties cost over $50 a day when they are vacant. If I can advertise on Zillow and get a tenant in the property even one day sooner, it saves me $40. I will continue to use Zillow, but also Apartments, Realtor, Zumper, Facebook and Craigslist. If I find over time that Zillow doesn't produce, I will drop it. My point is in a business it is not about expense, but rather return on investment.
I do think Zillow pushed the cost way too high. Going from $0 to $9.99 per week is crazy. They could have done $2 a week to get people used to paying, then moved it up a dollar every year. I expect other platforms will move to pay models over time.
Bottom line, nothing is free. Any service offering free listings right now falls in one of these buckets:
1. They are pre-revenue, so their free model is just to attract users.
2. They are collecting and selling user data.
3. They place advertisements on their site.
4. They have a step-up option that costs money.
5. They are non profit
My point is monetization is happening everywhere. Make your decision based on what is best for your business.
@Luke H. My recommendation...maybe use Zillow for now if you have to but start building your own website in the mean time. You could start finding free ways to advertise your website; posting flyers in laundromats, etc.
Not really unfortunately. I think my area is just swamped with people looking and not many rentals available. And the prices we’ve gotten since covid hit are great, and so far so are the new tenants. Think I’ve filled 6 since April of last year, and so far so good!
I use craigslist (almost exclusively) to list my rentals. and have receive great results. Being in the same market as @Matt M. it's true, rentals go rather quickly. No shortage of inquiries.
Recently I ran my listing with zillow and craigslist at the same time. I got a few bites through zillow. but still got a boatload more response from craigslist.
Strangely i got a few ppl from craigslist that said they were happy that i was not a scammer. I suppose craigslist is currently flooded with bogus listings. Which is frustrating on my end because it throws off research for local rental comps.
Personally when I was living in rentals, I used craigslist all the time. I found that other (more official) sites like zillow & appartments.com, everyone expected me to cover the realtor fee (one month rent). Honestly if the landlord was too busy to list it him/herself, they should cough up the cash to cover realtor fee IMHO.
Bless craigslist for offering such an awesome *free* tool to the public. Fu*k all the a$$holes trying to ruin it with scams.
I do not list the address. I only give out the address once they've passed a few basic standards of communication. i get the occasional "still available?!?!?" or "I'm Interested" . also I don't give out my personal cell #. only email. If they can compose a simple professional email, they pass the first test.
Craigslist gives you the option to select a location radius. i center it to a nearby highway (about 2 minutes drive from the house) to give them a good idea of general area.
I do include an outside picture of the house. i have not had any issues. You're right to approach with caution. Craigslist has a fair number of weirdos. Just have to weed them out.
Can you provide some tips for posting on CL? I have had to pay $5 for my rental listing and am not able to renew it, though with a general listing it's free and I can renew every 48 hours. I'm wondering what kind of views I am even getting with the rental listing as I know they most likely get pushed down quickly, and reposting at $5 can quickly add up!
I'm sorry I can't really help there. It sounds like it may be area specific? Some areas charge s and some don't? I'm just guessing here ... I've never been charged to post a rental on CL in my area.
Follow up and results on marketing a rental. 1) Craigslist AD (free) = Zero inquires. Useful for posting description and pictures. 2)
Street signs ($10.00. 2 Small arrows with address placed at major intersection
and 1 big sign with phone number at front of property) = 30 calls. Zero
applications. Note: I used the Craigslist AD link to show them
pictures. 3) Facebook Market place (Free) = 2 inquires. No applications. 4)
Zillow ($10.00/week) = 9 inquires. 1 application. The 1st person to
inquire, applied and has put the deposit and we are scheduled to meet
later today for the 1st month's rent.
Though Zillow cost $10.00 a
week, it got the job done, in 1 week, and in my opinion provides better
quality leads than other options. FYI -I'm not endorsing them or
getting paid by them.
Thanks for reading and feel free to ask
questions.
I use Facebook and Zillow. I do like Zillow's integrated features like the built in reusable application. Lots and Lots of tire kickers on facebook. Most of them wont even respond back to you if you respond to their request. However one thing I like alot of about Facebook is the ability to go to the applicants page and basically pre screen them. People should be careful about what they are posting if they are trying to move to a new rental or trying to get a new job....just saying!
@Jamie Bergstrom I no longer use Craigslist but I did successfully in the past. To overcome the reposting limitations and to keep your add from falling down you should try to post up every single day. I used multiple email addresses and just kept cycling them so I could repost every day. Not sure it that would still work but it did a few years ago still. There were no charges to do that a few years ago.