Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
craigslist
You can sell real estate on Craigslist.org. It is completely legal and it can be a better way of selling a property than using a real estate agent. Even if you have an agent, you can still use the power of Craigslist to promote the sale, just be sure to list your agents contact information in the ad instead of your own. This way your agent will get all of the inquiries and be able to screen out the ones with the least potential for buying.
What follows are a few simple ideas to help you sell your home on Craigslist more effectively:
Make the house look great to get that curb appeal feeling buyers love. Take really great pictures of the inside and outside of your home or property. Lighting and picture quality are everything. You are trying to attract a buyer.
Write a spectacular ad. Get help if you need to and be sure that the ad is spell checked. Also if you can do a video and post it on Youtube you will get a much better response rate to your add. Talk about the property in your ad and point out things that may not seem obvious like brand new flooring, a new roof, etc.
Discuss your options. Describe what types of deals you are willing to make on the property such as a lease-option, property swap or other concessions like paying the buyer's closing costs as well as any special financing that might be offered such as owner financing. Owner financing, if you are in a position to do it always attracts a lot of buyers. .
You should start to get responses from the ad very quickly if it is done right. If your realtor's contact information is in the ad, call them daily and ask if anyone has contacted them and mentioned Craigslist. After 3 days, you may want to cancel your ad and re-list it. This will keep your ad towards the top of the first page. Although any ad you place is good for 45 days, as the ad ages it drops to the bottom of the list. You want everyone to see your ad first.
With the real estate market being what it is these days, you can expect to wait 3 months or more for a buyer. This is where Craigslist can add features to your sales pitch that your real estate agent cannot offer you.
Swapping real estate is becoming popular. This is where you need to move to another location and you are having a difficult time selling your home. You can post an ad in the city that you are looking to move to. Place the ad in the real estate section and have the headline read “Looking to swap home in Anytown, North State, USA for a like value home in Someplace, East State, USA" Be sure that your ad has a all of the things in it described above to help it sell. Then wait. This is a great way to unload properties in markets that you purchased to flip before the market turned. It might be easier for you to sell in a different market.
Overall even though there is a slump in the real estate market in many regions of the US, there are still areas where property values are holding or starting to increase. It might be possible for you to swap out a difficult to sell property for one in another location that is easier to sell.
Use Craigslist to help your real estate agent sell your home quickly. It is another place to put free ads. If your real estate agent will not do it for you, then do it yourself. And finally, if you are selling your home as for sale by owner, listing on Craigslist is a must. There are very few places to list your real estate for sale that is free. On craigslist your ad will be seen by millions. Why not take a chance and use these ideas for selling real estate on craigslist. It may be just the thing to get your property sold.
