Yessssssssss... very important. Realtors should excercise all marketing tools made available, especially ones that are free. Like many other online sites, we are able to connect various buyers and sellers across the nation! Just be careful with guidelines on posting as a Real Estate Professional.

Hi Jeff,
Yes, I use Craiglist as CL Central Jersey is very popular on Craigslist. I wish they had a middlesex county subdivision...
Brings a lot of traffic to my property listings sites and main websites
Cathy C.

Hey All, take a look at http://www.PostandSend.com.. Its a company I created to assist agents with their Craigslist Postings. Take a quick look...

For areas that I dont have clients currently, I offer a 5 Day Free Trial. Email me for details or questions.

Yes. Absolutely. Craigslist is popular here in Kansas City and you know I want to give my sellers every possible edge in exposing their home to potential buyers.

I always use it because its free and its more exposure but honestly I have not generated a single sale that I can trace back to Craigslist. So far every sale has been through MLS exposure. But that is not enough of a reason to stop either. I also have never sold a house through an open house but I continue to host them.

I have generated all of my rental business through Craigslist. Every property I put up for sale or rent goes on craigslist but I have only had people contact me off the rentals.

Yes; not a lot, especially over the past few weeks. Due to economy I'm sure. Election time over and I am hopeful traffic will pick up.

Hi All.. Has anybody ever heard of RealBird? I stumbled on their site about a year ago and was blown away with all the free stuff you get. Its a Free Listing Presentation tool that utilizes google maps and more. Its all free.. very cool company too. They always respond to my emails no matter how nutty my questions are. The cool part is that they can your MLS with IDX to your online flyer.

Also free is the free property submission to major real estate directories like zillow and trulia..

I highly recommend a go see for this company. http://www.realbird.com

I post daily on Craigslist. I normally post at 11pm so I am at the top of the day. When people log in the morning my listing can be seen quicker than if I posted at 10am.

I've gotten good responses to Craigslist. I think it is because I don't just type it, I use Postlets and then copy the HTML in. I think it looks more professional than just text. I also use ALT codes on the subject line to make it stand out.

I know my listings get good hits, because of the virtual tour links I use. I can see where the virtual tour hits are coming from. 80% of my virtual tour viewings are coming from Craigslist, which is better than my company website or my personal website.

The only point I made and that you confirmed is that Craigslist works for those who are deligent and persistent as you so indicated in your email. All the extra that goes with is gravy.

@David Fresquez: I think you're missing the point. Link's value depends on a value of a particular page. Page value depends on it's content and other pages linking to it. If an ad page was staying on craigslist (CL) for good, it would probably have some PageRank, but since it doesn't live for a long time, it doesn't gain any PR. The CL links are only good to drive traffic, and if you're not making them as appealing as you can to convert traffic into leads - you're missing the boat hunting for the imaginary "gold". There is a lot of info online on links and PR - I suggest to read some.

To everyone: don't waste your time trying to get links from CraigsList hoping that they will push your site in rankings - take advantage of the traffic that CL is driving.

A food for thought:
Google counts links as votes (http://www.google.com/technology/) - would you count and article mentioning your professional opinion as vote? I think so. We can say that publication finds you as a trusted source, so it's a vote. Now, would your name count as a vote in a classified ad of the same paper?

I'll everyone to decide for themselves ;)

The trick with Craigs list is you DO have to post as often as possible so your listing stays on top of the list when people are looking. The list can be quite long now that houses are staying on market much longer so being able to refresh your listing is really important in getting exposure for the house. .

Quite a few people come to my open house because they saw it on Craigslist are interested and and wanted to see the house. Those are often times people without Realtors, so it works two ways - generate leads for the sellers as well as generate leads for agents.

Sylvia

you are correct, the ads to expire. However, that theory goes out the window if you post as frequently as possible. So if the add never expires than its more valuable than gold.. So if the ad never expires than it must have some value, right?

Great Question, thou!

@David Fresquez: CreaigsList's ads do expire, so links expire as well... there is no SEO value in those.

"I practiced to posting 10-15 listings every other day and I was averaging a few leads a day" - Max

I agree craigslist is a great place to get leads if you are consistent and persistent. For my agents we post everyday to keep the phone ringing! Some free advice would be that you can never put enough links back to your website!

Hip Hip Hooray!

David Fresquez, Founder
Renter2Buyer

In my own experience CraigsList works the best when you have tons of listings to post. Just a few years ago you could see 4-5 days of listings on one page (which is limited to 100 listings) - today, one day spans across multiple pages. 2 years ago I practiced to posting 10-15 listings every other day and I was averaging a few leads a day. This year, when I advertised my own house for rent in early spring, I was getting about 1-2 calls/emails a month. Newspapers worked much better in this case.

Yes, actually, I do and there are a lot of others in the No. Virginia area that do too!

Absolutely, especially if you are in the Bay Area - Craigslist is huge.

I just went a neighbor;s house today. He said they (from Denver) saw this house (in Marin) , fell in love and ended up buying it.

I personally have two leads from my Craigslist, one bought a different property from me.

Sylvia

I just posted one of my listings on Craigslist for the first time. I will let you know how it works for me!

I would make sure that along with Craigslist your actively persuing a SEO approach. I have been involved with SEO for about 15 years and have put several agents in the top lists, some have had mutiple pages in the top 5 of yahoo. I test each market I get into and don't sugar coat results. I will not take a job in a market unless I can gauantee top 10 placement. I also track stats to assure you pick the best keywords.
Contact me directly thru my website about your real estate marketing online goals, maybe I can help in the same way I have helped the rest of my clients.

I have just started using Craigslist. I have had immediate contacts with it.

Yes; it's another way to show the owner you're hustling to sell the property, even thought the effectivness of craigslist is open to question and varies from one area to another.

Hi Jeff,
I use Craigslist and have great response on my listings. A lot of people use craigslist and its a great tool for realtors. If you use vflyer they automatically post it with craigslist. I sold a home recently because someone seen it on craigslist and they wanted to know if any of the furniture was going to stay. I told the sellers this and they said tell the buyer to look at craigslist for the sale of their furniture (they posted all their furniture they did not want on craigslist and sold the lot.) Its a Good Thing.

Since I became a realtor 5 years ago, I started using craigslist to advertise open houses that I do for other agents (with their permission). And without fail, everytime I get a new listing, I post it at least twice a week. Being from the Bay area of CA where Craigslist originated, the awareness of this site is extremely high.

I've had the most and the best responses from people who turn to craigslist for everthing. I've had very good luck with craigslist from both buyers and sellers alike. Some of them say that they've clicked on properties that sound interesting and they see my name frequently --- and that's why they called. Their perception is that I must be very good at what I do. Make sure your title is catchy to get thme to click on the ad.

To spice up my postings so that they look different (and I don't get flagged for posting the same property), I post three different ways using: (1) http://www.postlets.com (which other people have already mentioned; (2) http://www.vflyer.com and (3) from my website which is on http://www.point2agent.com

After all, variety is the spice of life!

Have fun!

Yes, definately....I use as many free services to get my listings out there......whatever it takes

Hi Jeff!!

Craigslist is a great tool for agents to use to market their properties, in most cases, for free. As many below have mentioned, it does work. Give it a try and please let us know how you do.

Best,

Rudy
Social Media Guru at Trulia

I have used Craigslist and have had great sucess generating qualified leads. I find that when you add more photographs and html, the hits increase.

Craigslist is great---just be careful to follow the rules of your broker (name, address, broker name, etc.). Also, I've had agents from other areas contact me regarding the listings because they are not in their MLS system! It's a great tool!

Hi Jeff,
I use Craigs list always, anything that is free and can get your name and properties out there is wonderful in my book. I see everyone has told you about postlets. Great tool! Also, I see all the other sites you can post on. Takes a little time, but well worth it.

I put my first listing on Craigslist about two weeks ago...nothing yet but we'll see. With 84% of buyers starting their home search online though...you'll want to pursue every possible internet avenue. There is no reason not to use it...it's free. You can't beat a return like that.

Yes, I just recently started using the Craigslist and I believe it to be a valuable marketing tool for all. I have had several inquiries with regard to my current real estate listings.

Absolutely! Use postlets for a professional mini-website on Craigslist. It's called Postlets.com. Check it out. I love it!

In 2007 I literally lived off of Craigslist. It seemed like everything I posted would generate calls, emails, or other responces. Once the "downturn" approached in the fall every agent with a "marketing program" turned to over-posting or dumping their ads 2 -3 times a day. Now I would be lucky to get a response to 1 out of 40 property ads posted over a weeks time period, without overposting. I believe that the Craigslist viewer in the Dallas/Fort Worth market have given up on flagging the overposted ads. My time has been better spent with other prospecting methods, but still try to keep a steady supply of fresh postings.

I always put my listings on craigslist, but here's a tip. Go to http://postlets.com. It is free and it is a template for posting a nice-looking listing. Your listing will appear on postlets and link to various sites. You can also copy and paste your listing directly into CraigsList from here. Since CraigsList always lists the most recent posting first, with postlets you can repost weekly to keep your listing near the top. Just save the confirmation email that you receive when you post in craigslist, and go in and delete it. Then go to postlets and copy and past and repost onto craigslist.

I have been posting on Craigslist for awhile now. I do get responses on a regular basis. Plus, I put my Open Houses on Craigslist the day before & day of. Last weekend I had 2 couples show up at one of my open houses because they saw it on Craigslist- and ended up writing an offer on the house.
alot of people don't bother reading the paper anymore- they use the internet....

Have used Craigslist to market all of my listings for some time now. It is a great tool.... BECAUSE IT IS FREE... and it also creates a web presence for that inventory. That being said, ads posted without any photos or a link to additional info (virtual tour etc) are passed by. If you direct the ad to your website and are able to track the results you are getting (through your websites tracking device) you will be amazed at how much traffic Craigslist generates on your inventory. However, it is a good tool because it is FREE and is another "service" you can offer to your sellers for their home's exposure. But, I haven't had any listings sell, yet, as a result of Craigslist. Hope this helps!

I have enjoyed CL for about 4 months now and cannot believe the results. Most of the response I receive are through email correspondence, and have set up several showings this way. I am the only agent in my office that uses CL and my listing are showing more frequently. Could it be web presence, ie; trulia, CL, backpage... I think so. It is also a great way to drive traffic to your web sites.

Yes. I'm in Florence, Alabama and it has not caught on here but I post mostly my waterfront homes in Nashville, TN or Huntsville, AL and I do get good response.

Yes this is a great tool for advertising and I have had many sales from CL. You just have to maintain the ads as they expire frequently.

Give it a try!!

Yes. We post all of our listings twice per week and post all open houses on Friday or Saturday. Our Craigslist ads drive trafic to our other web sites (virtual tours, MLS search, blog).

Jeff,
I'm from New York and I have been using craigslist for the past 2 years. cut down my NYTIMES advertising by 60% due to the great respond I got thru Craigslist.org. One of the best thing for real estate.

Hi Jeff,

I've been using Craigslist for over a year in my marketing plan. In addition, I use Postlets.com to place a consistent ad on all of the free sites, including Trulia. As for generating business, I have seen an increase in my Open Houses ( buyer leads) as well as an increase in my showings a week or two after the ads are placed. A coincidence? Maybe.... It takes only a few minutes to place an ad and the price is right, it's free! LOL If we are going to survive in our business we have to have a strong web presence.