Landlords-Brokers: is Craigslist still good to use

Yeah, because the only people posting on Craigslist are fraudsters. The reason it seems cheaper is because brokers post misleading ads for apartments they either don't have listings for or that just plain don't exist. Good luck actually translating a craigslist listing into an actual apartment you can live in.

If you're willing to wade through the garbage, occasionally you can find a lease-break/sublet/share, but it'll take you quite a lot of time.

I post on Craigslist regularly and I'm not a fraudster. All of my listings are real AND liveable. Problem is that people who contact agents on CL, despite every agent telling them he/she can show them everything available on the market, STACK AGENTS! This forces agents to resort to unprofessional tactics to get and keep a client. You should try being on the agent side, showing 10 apartments to a client one afternoon only to have them schedule a meeting with another agent while you're standing with them, having clients confirm with you and then stand you up. Eventually people kick into survival mode and this is what you get.

Read this and ask yourself how long you could go putting up with this before you lost it

http://theapplepeeled.com/renters/shady-clients-or-shady-brokers-which-came-first/

evnyc:

I'm a landlord/

NYCRE/evnyc:

Do you find that people who contact you from SE are more serious. more straightforward
and/or better qualified than those who respond to Craigslist ads.

Yes to all of the above. CL responders also don't believe in karma.

Where is your building located?

RB, it sort of sounds like you've answered your own question:
"My recent responses to my own ads have been [poor], both
in ## of responses and in proepect quality: people
literally looking to rent the cheapest apt on the market."

Kind of speaks to NYCREAgent's point that the kind of clients you're going to pull in from that source are not the kind you ultimately want to attract. So I would say no: craigslist is not a good resource for finding the kind of tenant you want.

NYCREAgent, nothing excuses the kind of broker behavior that people put up with in this town, not on craigslist and not anywhere else, either. In any given transaction, YOU are the professionals; if you can't act that way with clients and find a way to screen out the time-wasters, you do not belong in the business. The only one you can control in any given scenario is yourself, so take a little responsibility. I get it: real estate is hard and you have to actually work at it, but so are most things in life. It's not an excuse to turn into a scumbag.

The only real use for craigslist is to fill your contact database quickly. I will often post an ad for the least expensive one bedroom available in a given neighborhood. Its a real apartment always. The ads always get response. I only allow appointments for that day, at a certain time. I'd say 1 in 10 people who respond are legit clients.

Inside info from mr stupid

Oh good, the old coot is back to his stalking

EV/NYC:

1. thanks for your comments
2. CL seems to have lost credbility with both LL-brokers and serious tenants
3. in August 2008 three people on different apts asked me if I actually owned what I was adveetising
4. one, an attorney, after seeing an apt whose key was given me by the doorman in her presence, as its owner
5. I had an experience yesterday in Astoria which is consistent with what we've been discussing
6. showed a 700 ft elevator 1-bd to a couple who drooled over it and hagled lease terms
7. then went to see something else and failed to call as promised (the karma part)
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8. I have rentals on now in Astoria and Forest Hills (coops; the latter an Unsold Share)
9. and am about to put others on sale in Manhattan and Fort Greene

rb345, you should contact me. I would definitely be interested in rentin out your Manhattan properties for you.

scott (at) metropolitanpropertygroup (dot) com

renting, rather

And another thing about fake CL ads. I have posted wonderful apartments on CL that are no-fee. While most here complain about teaser ads, the fact is that nobody takes the first apartment you show them. And the ones that complain about apartments they loved being rented out so quickly are least likely to like anything you show them, no matter how great it is.

screw brokers. rent it out yourself via a listing on streeteasy.

I'm a real estate professional and a principal in a company that specializes in no fee apartments for rent. I've spoken to numerous landlords about why they do/do not advertise in craigslist. The feedback that I get is that craigslist is full of browsers and dreamers that waste the landlord's time. In my company's listings, http://www.RDNY.com, we always list the landlord's financial requirements to rent, the paperwork requirements, and whether the landlord accepts guarantors, and if so, will they only take a New York guarantor, a tri-state guarantor, or a guarantor anywhere in the US. We also list the financial requirements for the guarantor. In other words, people to respond to their ad on RDNY.com are already prepared with the bulk of the info that is needed. People coming from craigslist and not prepared that way, so they waste a lot of the landlord's time.

Aurence:

1. I used to list on RDNY but found the response so poor I basically gave up
2. on numerous occasions I got no traction on RDNY and promptly rented thru CL
3. and you did yourselves a tremendous disservice by embarrassing and pressuring LLS
4. with bright red "Price Reduced" flags and premium featuring
5. in fact I had a listing on RDNY in recent weeks that got no calls at all, even while
CL and brokers produced a staeady streem of viewers (and some offers)