Is Craigslist Dead?

by Nick Johnson

I’ve always had great success Finding Buyers on Craigslist and even more so, finding Realtors and Wholesalers/Bird dogs who ultimately I use to bring me sellers. The more people you have on your team searching for deals the more deals will cross your table. I certainly don’t have a problem Cold Calling Buyers on Craigslist either.

The problems I always seem to run into when using Craigslist or as I like to say CL, is using it to ultimately find sellers. I know this is more of a local problem for me simply because the Phoenix CL is much more active than smaller towns so postings quickly get pushed down past the first area of visual searches.

When you go to your FSBO section of CL, you’ll find that most of it isn’t actually true sellers but rather a spammy attempt at someone trying to get your eyes on their ads. If you haven’t actually ever done this, go to craigslist -> your state -> your city -> housing -> real estate for sale and then lastly ‘For Sale By Owner’ which you’ll see towards the top of the screen a drop down box.

If you do that, scroll through some of the ads, just by the titles and descriptions, you can easily tell there so many BS ads it makes you wonder why you spend time there. Remember, this is more applicable if you’re in a large metropolitan city.

I know that there are certain things you can do to attract a seller to your ad, but you have to know where to post legitimately, really we’re stuck to Real Estate Wanted and Real Estate Services. I’ve done a few things in the past that have worked noticeably well which has been:

  • Add a ‘clickable’ image linking to a site/page
  • Offering a FREE REPORT
  • Posting at certain times of the day
  • Posting certain days of the week

With all the gimmicks out there promising a slew of motivated sellers using specific strategies, I’m not sure what used to work still does. I remember when a simple ‘We Buy Houses’ ad would work great but really, not so much more. Since I’m working much harder this year at outsourcing my life starting with email, I certainly want to get a successful automated system down for getting at least a small number of sellers from CL that I can have perfected and done by a Virtual Assistant that will be worth my paying them for.

I’ve seen recently where a few people are using YouTube screenshots to attract some attention on CL. I think that might be something I consider. Either way, I think personally, unless it becomes easier, I might just stick to marketing to those that will bring me deals instead of marketing for deals myself.

What are some of you guys and gals doing with success to obtain private seller leads on CL? Are you in a major city or smaller suburban area and lastly, do you have a lot of activity on CL or are you not competing with many others?

Leave a comment below and share whats worked and what hasn’t so that others can learn from your experiences.

Photo cred: yipe

  • Great write-up. As many have stated, I have way more luck finding buyers on CL than sellers. My county I am posting in has a population of about 400K.

    I have had multiple visits to my site where people filled out my form to get their "free report". And one seller that filled out my seller's form. I called him that evening, but the property was already listed and he wanted way too much for a 1978 manufactured home. I made him an offer that he quickly rejected.
  • Chris, I know you've seen this: http://subject2.com/7-craigslist-strategies-tim... but for others, its a great write up

    I'll be doing some cold calling buyers on CL here the next week. We'll see how that goes. I think ultimately, people will learn to understand why I like to outsource my lead generation so much.
  • Great thread Nick. I have created an add on Craigslits. Have received several calls but they typically are just feeling me out. Some never call back. What I have come up with is I need to have a sheet prepared at all times so I can do my due diligence and try to get as much information and assist them the best I can. If I do not know the answer, bigger pockets is where I direct my questions to.
    LeJonR
  • The best way is to get practice! I don't use a script or have a sheet prepared for any calls I receive or make from CL because I use the natural flow of the conversation and get my questions answered without having to ask most of the time. Have you seen the video of me cold calling buyers: http://subject2.com/cold-calling-buyers-on-crai... is an example of how I typically do it.

    again, could always use a secret method for sellers as it seems to be changing with the times.
  • Hey,

    Like the blog & the post caught my eye. I just did an interview with Craig on my website... If you want to get it check out my site or google Escaping the 9 to 5 interview with Craig. He shared a lot of interesting tid bits and maybe you can find some of your answers there.
  • You mean to tell me you interviewed Craig from Craigslist? that's pretty impressive, cheers to you for that.
  • Yeah it was rad, it was as simple as just asking. He is a really down to earth guy it seems, freaking nice of him to do it. Here is the link if your interested: http://www.escapingthe9to5.com/entrepreneur-int...
  • Thats great! Thanks for sharing. Maybe I might be able to persuade you into making an introduction sometime? Thanks again.
  • Nick, you da man brother! I love CL! In fact right before I read this, I got a call from a 31 yr. cash investor who is active and can close in a week. Right from good ole CL.

    I used the exact script that Steph used in her ebook.:)
  • that's great! as these comments are showing in all of our experiences, getting buyers isn't a hard thing to do at all using CL but I'd like to improve the ability to get sellers
  • First off, nice post as usual Nick!

    Talk about timing! The video I was going to post last night was about my success on Craigslist. I actually have been having some success with Craigslist My area has about 250k people that live within the counties I target, and the clutter doesn't get too crazy in the FSBO.

    The method I have been using is actually a method you've talked about in your BP blog. Using a Wufoo (Can't remember if that's it at the moment) as a squeeze page. This has helped eliminate any spammers that find my add. I've also started using it to market to sellers in the real estate service section, and that area gets a small amount of volume. Maybe 8 to 15 a day.
  • Ya, I still use Wufoo and I think I might start incorporating that with some video soon.

    Tell us more about your success, have you had actual seller contact?
  • I've only posted one ad targeting sellers so far. I did it to just test to the waters. It was really basic ad that basically said "Want to sell your house contact us". I received one call yesterday that I wasn't able to take but I will be calling back in a couple hours when I get home from the 9-5.
  • well certainly let us know how it goes and keep testing.
  • Hey Nick, I've done pretty well building a wholesale buyers list using daily ads on Craigslist (posted by a VA), but I've had no success finding seller leads. Greg Harris has had success with this in Kansas though..I remember him telling me about deals he found on CL.
  • Ya, finding buyers seems much easier to do. Greg, I think is targeting a smaller market to where he may be either the only one or one of very few targeting sellers. I hope Greg may shine some light on this so we can analyze what he's doing.
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