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I use Craigslist to post listings… I use Craigslist to cruise listings, too. And I get annoyed almost every time I open the site… I expect that you do, too.
The real estate ads seem to be the worst. And real estate professionals are right in the thick of it. I think it gives a bad name to all of us when so many of our peers have a flagrant disregard of the terms of use for the service. If they don’t like the rules, don’t use the site. If they still think that the exposure is valuable, follow the rules.
There are a few things that my peers do that are over the edge…
- Spam/Overposting. Craigslist rules limit re-posting of an ad to once every 48 hours. Yet, when I log in, I see some ads re-posted as many as 20 times in a single day. Real estate agents aren’t the only people violating this rule… but we might be the biggest group.
- Mis-categorization. This comes in two flavors.
- Flavor one is posting service ads in real estate categories. It isn’t that hard to figure out… an ad promoting YOU as a real estate agent is NOT the same as an ad for a property. There is a place for you to advertise yourself.
- Flavor two is posting ads in the wrong category on purpose… to try to get renters to buy. And the worst type of this is where the poster doesn’t actually disclose that they are talking about a “rent-to-own” house rather than a rental. When someone calls, they put out the hard sell to get them into any property that they have available.
- Failure to Disclose. This one is an actual licensing law violation. Whenever a real estate agent or broker places an ad, they HAVE to disclose that they are licensed, and the name of the brokerage where the license is held. There also has to be a number to contact the brokerage.
- Blind Ads. These are a variation of the failure to disclose… but the agent (not always a licensed agent, though) will post a REALLY vague ad and then just use anyone that calls as a lead and see what they might be able to sell them. Often they don’t even know of a property that matches the ad they posted.
There are a few things that we (as real estate professionals) and you (as consumers) can do to turn the tide. We need to police ourselves so that we can all have a better experience.
When I talk with agents that use these tactics, they always give the same responses… they are doing it to get a leg up on the competition. So, we agents need to make a decision to NOT use these types of tactics. As brokers, we can stop our agents from using them. People post their ads over and over in order to keep them on page one. Well… if you post YOUR ad there 6-20 times a day, and everyone else does that too, you HAVE to post it over and over because there are now 6-20 times more ads.
As consumers… and agents… flag the rule breakers. When their ads go away, they don’t get ANY leg up. At some point, CL will start banning IPs from posting and killing accounts of spammers. Heck, maybe they already do. But, when these folks start having big issues with their “Craigslist Domination Strategy” and they get nothing because of their behavior, they will change.
And we all get a better experience…
Related articles
- FREE EBOOK: Cracking The CraigsListCode (yourmortgageandmarketingpartner.wordpress.com)
- 8 Signs You’re Being Scammed on Craigslist (nakedlaw.avvo.com)
