Is Craigslist the best place to advertise a home for rent?

Amethyst

Amethyst

Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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We are getting ready to advertise our rental townhouse (3 BR, 3.5 BA, finished basement, 1300 square feet, decent neighborhood). In years past, we always advertised in the local paper, but now we notice there are hardly any rentals advertised in the paper any more. Plenty are advertised on Craigslist, though.

We are asking $1650, which is mid-range for the area. We were thinking of advertising on Craigslist, but a friend (who generally knows what she's talking about) warned me that we will be wading hip-deep through wackos. She advised tacking up those ads that have the tear-off phone numbers all over community bulletin boards - but do those really work?

Is there a "best" way to advertise on-line, perhaps for a fee?

Amethyst
 
I always found Craig's List to be really a good way to go.... I think no matter what is done, you sometimes have to wade through wackos !
... my best luck has always been to offer the departing tenant a $500 finders' fee... and have them show it to the prospective new tenants (and do some pre-wading, as it were!)
Good luck no matter how you go about it!
 
craigslist is good but be careful that you have a male around when showing. ;lots of cooks there
 
When we were looking for a place to rent the only place we bothered looking was Craigslist. Make sure you have photos attached as well as an address as the ads without that information included I immediately discarded.

As to those tear-offs I never take those. I would figure the landlord was some type of tight-arse wack job.
 
I am not a fan of notes on the grocery store bb, BUT prepare a bunch of hand outs and give them to your friends. Tell them to give it to someone who they think would be a good tenant to bring along at a showing. If they rent your place offer the friend a finders fee so encourage them to write their name on the hand out.

Be sure to have application forms on hand and do a background check on anyone you don't know really well.
 
We advertise in the local weekly and in the annual off campus housing flyer, but have given up on the daily paper and get almost all our tenants from Craigslist ads like this one:
Tiny Monastic Cell
 
Amethyst said:
We are asking $1650, which is mid-range for the area. We were thinking of advertising on Craigslist, but a friend (who generally knows what she's talking about) warned me that we will be wading hip-deep through wackos. She advised tacking up those ads that have the tear-off phone numbers all over community bulletin boards - but do those really work?
Is there a "best" way to advertise on-line, perhaps for a fee?
Click to expand...
Brat said:
I am not a fan of notes on the grocery store bb, BUT prepare a bunch of hand outs and give them to your friends. Tell them to give it to someone who they think would be a good tenant to bring along at a showing. If they rent your place offer the friend a finders fee so encourage them to write their name on the hand out.
Be sure to have application forms on hand and do a background check on anyone you don't know really well.
Click to expand...
You want to advertise as many ways as possible so that you can weed out the whackos via credit checks. Craigslist is probably most widely used these days, but you will hear from overseas scammers who try to get you to deposit their cashier's check-- from Nigeria or Russia.

In addition to the above, if you're within commuting distance of a military base you could try AHRN.com. It's not available at all bases yet but it lets you enter your rental into the military website version of an MLS database. If it's available at their base, it's the first place servicemembers check when they start their housing search.

calmloki said:
We advertise in the local weekly and in the annual off campus housing flyer, but have given up on the daily paper and get almost all our tenants from Craigslist ads like this one:
Tiny Monastic Cell
Click to expand...
"Perfect for ex-convicts and submariners!"
 
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We used to advertise in the newspaper, but it is now very pricey. Now we only do Craigslist. Less wacko's than the newspaper. We use a telephone number and say that we don't respond to email inquires. You likely will get some scammy email.
 
Our scammers tend to claim Britain as a home. Also degrees i don't think they hold.

Latest example - structure and language seem good clues, this is the second that has used the word modalities, which i just don't run into much:

> Date: Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 1:14 PM
> I will be willing to put 1 month
> rent plus the security deposit in order to secure this unit
> prior to our arrival.
> Could you be
> kind enough to let me know what the electricity/utility cost
> would be ?
>
> You
> can send me the lease form as i will wait until i arrive
> to fill out the application so as for me to enable a
> photocopy of my original identification on paper work.
> So you click on the link for my home
> page
> UCLH Internet - GPs & healthcare professionals - Clinical services - Cancer - Professor John Porter
>
> Everything shall
> be signed physically when i arrive. As of me and my wife
> opinions that appending signatories should be done
> properly.
>
> Please,send me more picture view of the living
> room and bed rooms.
> We can deal
> directly without no third party i.e rental/management
> company.
>
> Bee an
> international situation my financier in the states will be
> making provision of funds to you after we both agreed on
> other terms of the lease.
>
> I believe we can work together and ensure every
> arrangements that we shall both execute in line with us
> taking up the tenancy
> John & Nancy
> porter
>
> On 6/17/09, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> wrote:
> John & Nancy,
>
> The rent on the apartment is $390. There is a $100 non
> refundable fee and $150 refundable security deposit. The
> owner pays water, garbage, sewer and hot water. All other
> utilities are the renters responsibility. The contract is
> month to month. I have attached an application. I hope this
> clarifies things.
>
>
> Travis
>
> --- On Wed, 6/17/09, John porter <johnporter2000@googlemail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > From: John porter <johnporter2000@googlemail.com>
>
> > Subject: $390 Apartment for rent near WOU (Monmouth)
> > To: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Date: Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 4:47 AM
> > **
>
> > CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING
> LOCALLY
> > ** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border
> > deals, work-at-home
> > ** Beware: cashier checks, money orders,
> > escrow, shipping
> > ** More Info: craigslist | about > scams
>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I have
> > read through posting on the site and found your
> rental which
> > is for rent .
> > I would like to
> > know the modalities of the lease
> >
>
> > Please
> > have the requirements sent in these form :
> >
> > *Monthly rents
> > and deposit
> >
> > *Security
> > Deposit
> > *Electricity/Utility
> > Bills
> >
>
> >
> > I will be willing to sign a year lease for the
> > unit.
> >
> > A quick response from you is
> well
> > appreciated.
> >
> > Thank you
> > John& Nancy
>
> > porter
> > +447031959952
> >
> >
> > this message was remailed to you via:
xxx
 
If you do advertise on Craigslist, a good way of showing is to advertise on the Wednesday and tell all respondents the property will be available on Sat between 2-3. That way you are not doing multiple showings and if there is competition it may make someone commit.

I will admit I never responded to any email only ads, I always wanted a number to call to obtain all the info that was not included in the ad.
 
Interesting comments re the email only ads. I rarely put my phone number on the craigslist ads since I don't want to have to waste time dealing with scammers on the phone or them having my number six months from now still calling to see if my collector's item matchbox car set is still available. I figured anyone savvy enough to use the intarnets to find my ad would be savvy enough to send me an email saying "please call me at XXX-XXX-XXXX so I can ask you some questions about your matchbox car set". But I guess I am missing out on some sales by not having the ph number listed? Maybe I should give out my temp cell phone # or skype # and let the calls go to voicemail, then call back.

But to answer the OP, yes, craigslist is a great resource (assuming it is used in your community). Craigslist also gets indexed by google, so you might get hits from people searching the web for "collector's item matchbox car set [YOURTOWN]". I would skip the general newspaper since they are pretty pricey for only a few words about your place.
 
Thanks, everyone! Good to get both the renter's and landlord's point of view on what works and what doesn't.

We have an unusual situation in that I can't use e-mail at work, and my retired husband doesn't use e-mail at all. I plan to put our telephone # in the ad--that way, husband will be right there to pick up. I place a lot of store by his impressions of a caller - his intuition is pretty good. We use an answering machine to screen solicitation and wack-a-doo calls.

Nords, we are not far from a base; I'll look into the "military MLS" you mentioned. We would be happy to get a small military family, even though they are allowed to break the lease without penalty in case of a deployment. That is just how it is. Our townhouse is just right for a small family although the finished basement (with its own entrance) seems to appeal to roomies (this is, after all, the same townhouse that sprouted a whole gaggle of subletters while being "professionally managed" when we were overseas).

Thanks again,

Amethyst
 
FUEGO said:
I figured anyone savvy enough to use the intarnets to find my ad would be savvy enough to send me an email saying "please call me at XXX-XXX-XXXX so I can ask you some questions about your matchbox car set". But I guess I am missing out on some sales by not having the ph number listed? Maybe I should give out my temp cell phone # or skype # and let the calls go to voicemail, then call back.
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Our tenants are the kind of people who are actually driving around searching for a place to live when they find your ad at the WiFi hotspot on their cell phone's web browser. If you're home to answer the call then you get the application.
 
FUEGO said:
Interesting comments re the email only ads. I rarely put my phone number on the craigslist ads since I don't want to have to waste time dealing with scammers on the phone or them having my number six months from now still calling to see if my collector's item matchbox car set is still available. I figured anyone savvy enough to use the intarnets to find my ad would be savvy enough to send me an email saying "please call me at XXX-XXX-XXXX so I can ask you some questions about your matchbox car set". But I guess I am missing out on some sales by not having the ph number listed? Maybe I should give out my temp cell phone # or skype # and let the calls go to voicemail, then call back.

But to answer the OP, yes, craigslist is a great resource (assuming it is used in your community). Craigslist also gets indexed by google, so you might get hits from people searching the web for "collector's item matchbox car set [YOURTOWN]". I would skip the general newspaper since they are pretty pricey for only a few words about your place.
Click to expand...


Email just adds a pita step for me. So far the calls have not been problematic at all. As soon as an item is sold or an apartment rented I ditch the ad. Once in a while a few straggler calls come in but not to big of a problem.
 
There are a number of great things you can do...

For starters, yes, there are a number of 'wackos' that could come your way through CList, HOWEVER, nowadays it seems to be the number 1 way to find SUITABLE tenants.

I live in Hollywood and would challenge anyone to find a place with a larger percentage of 'wackos'! :LOL:

But, it is up to you to determine the quality of a great prospective tenant. Everyone I have rented from in the last ten years has been someone that saw the property driving by or CList.

And, regardless of the rent you are charging, you can still find some pretty interesting characters in this world! Money sure doesn't buy one class or ethics or good behavior.

Just make sure you know the proper ways to screen your tenants, what to look out for and what to have in your lease agreement to make sure it complies with state laws.

[Moderator Edit]
 
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When we were looking for a place to rent the only place we bothered looking was Craigslist. Make sure you have photos attached as well as an address as the ads without that information included I immediately discarded.
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Same here.

One of the landlords even had an open house listed on Craiglist from noon to 2PM on a weekday and 3 couples showed up.
 
I get way too many calls as it is - don't post my number in the ads but do show the location and lots of over sized pictures. When people email me back I respond with requested information and my phone number in most cases.

Just had a call from a nice sounding lady who was interested in the monastic cell but didn't have an email address - a current tenant gave her my number but i rented the place last night! So maybe I'm missing some opportunities. One can screen, to a great extent, based on the email that is recieved. Ditto voice and diction on phone calls. Good way of assuring one is not discriminating based on race, creed, or color.

Good thing stupid mean mouth breathers are not a protected class - 'cause i do discriminate against them.
 
Hollywood Landlord said:
...

I live in Hollywood and would challenge anyone to find a place with a larger percentage of 'wackos'! :LOL:

But, it is up to you to determine the quality of a great prospective tenant....
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Is that you, Mr. Furley? :cool:

Welcome to the forum. :greetings10:

When you get a chance, start a thread in the "Hi, I Am" section and introduce yourself.
 

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Nords said:
Only the ones without 800+ FICO scores...
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FICO schmico - If i don't like them to begin with i'm unlikely to enjoy the landlord/tenant relationship. Bad enough clearing the drain of someone you don't mind, awful clearing a drain for someone you plain don't like. And if you don't check credit reports....

But really, assuming Donald Trump (don't think he's stupid, but i don't like him at all) has a high FICO score and applied for an apartment with me, even if i checked his credit i don't think there is any legal requirement that I rent to him - white guy with bad comb over isn't a protected class. IMO. (puts fingers in ears and rolls legal dice)
 
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