Craigslist Marketing

[Alanya Boyer]

This topic may have been beaten to death but I've heard differing opinions on it. How successful has Craigslist marketing been for you all? I will occasionally post an ad to join my buyer's list or that I buy houses and may get 1 or 2 hits off it. I've tried a couple times to reach out to FSBOs by directly emailing them through Craigslist, telling them I'm an investor and interested in their house. When they reply, I make a cash offer and a terms offer for them, but so far I've only succeeded in ticking homeowners off with "lowball" offers. I use other marketing methods, but craigslist just seems like such a goldmine of free leads that I'd really like to get a good system down. Any suggestions? Thank you!

[Kiril Stawrew]

The problem with Craigslist is that you have a lot of competition, which makes it very hard to get good deals. I´d look for properties that are not listed yet, that will reduce the competition. A few weeks ago I made a video on how to find such properties by working with attorneys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU_4A2LvxLY

As to Craigslist: When someone lists his home, I would immediately make an offer. At the beginning, he may not have that many offers so the competition isn´t that huge at this stage. Offer more than the competition at this stage would probably offer, but - and this is the important part - create some scarcity by saying that the offer is only valid several hours, or one day – try different time frames to see what works best. That way you´ll put some pressure on the seller to accept your offer - otherwise he is running the risk that it expires and he has to sell at a lower price.

However, this strategy might help sometimes but it won’t do miracles. That´s why, as I said, I would look for other ways to get profitable deals.