Craigslist Ads for the Southwest Chicago Suburbs

I have a new vendor for the single property websites I provide for all of my listings, like the related living Orland Park home at 15536 Canterbury.  Although my prior provider allowed for Craisglist postings my new provider makes it super easy and allows a huge choice of templates to use, some using low html (that Craiglist prefers), medium and fancier ads with high html (risky as CL might ghost the post).  It is much easier to keep up posting once the original ad has expired.

Does Craigslist Work in My Area?

That's the question!  I have gotten two responses from Craigslist since I started using it for listings many years ago.  One lady came to an open house from a CL posting of mine and I got what sounded like a scam - a man from somewhere in Europe who wanted to buy my listing sight unseen and pay cash and when he had to come in to close on it I was expected to pick up this stranger at the airport.  I was nice to him but things started sounding weirder and weirder and I finally told him this all sounds fishy.  He acted like he was offended and I never heard from him again, and he is not the person who purchased my listing.  If he was that interested in the home (if he was a true buyer), and I offended him he could have found another local agent to work with him to purchase the house.  Never heard back from him.

Crazy Craiglist Happenings

We've all heard about murders that happened using CL to lure unsuspecting victims and how about the CL rental schemes.  That's where someone posts a home for rent, usually a vacant home or even one for sale, collects the rent and leaves the lessees without keys for a home that was never for rent and belongs to someone else.

So Why Do We Use It?

My husband is a musician and has sold some equipment via Craigslist.  We sold our prior living room couch to a very nice local lady.  However, we're on our toes when we have strangers coming over looking at our wares, and only the lady was allowed in our house.  For the other stuff my husband meets them outside or in the garage (and we're all on alert).

As far as real estate, I truly believe it's an area thing.  Maybe CL works for real estate in the city of Chicago or other large areas, but far less people use it (at least for real estate) in the outlying suburbs.  With that said, sellers want to see some type of advertising and marketing, and sending them the link to their CL ad is a tangible thing they can see that shows them we're working to get their home sold.

Personally, I can't imagine using CL to find anything.  The ads rotate so quickly I can't keep up with them.  I'd rather browse on any other kind of website for items to purchase.  If I'm looking for something used that I know I can't purchase new any longer, I go to ebay.

As far as real estate, there are so many better ways to find property, like using my Orland Park homes search, for example.  On this page, a general search is already started and you can go through the listings or create a more advanced search, adding different towns, putting in a more specific price range, number of bedrooms, baths, etc.  My search covers all of Northern IL including border towns of Indiana and Wisconsin.

My website is local and has local information, something that is lacking in many of the large real estate portals that span the entire country.  My data is up-to-date.  Those other big portals show homes for sale that were sold and closed years ago.

I will continue to post my listings to Craiglist, especially since my new vendor makes it so easy, and I will share those ads with my sellers, who feel I'm working hard for them (this is only one tiny facet to my marketing).  You never know when that ready, willing and able buyer will find one of my listings on CL, so I'll keep using it.