As part of our marketing plan when we sell New Orleans area real estate, we post all of our listings on Craigslist at the beginning and end of each week to keep them as close to the top of the search results as possible. It’s another free place to advertise and I promise our sellers that we will take advantage of every marketing opportunity that we learn about.
The Scammers Have Taken Over
Unfortunately, scammers all around the world have found yet another way to try to get money from uninformed people. They have taken to copying the listings of homes for sale and reposting them as rentals at very, very low rates for whatever area the house is listed in. And they are good at it.
The listings appear to be legitimate and even include multiple photos (that they have copied from the real listing) and a good description of the property (also copied from the real listing). The only contact information they provide is an email address and when they are contacted by an unsuspecting person, they give a song and dance about how they are out of the country and will be more than happy to send the keys to them upon receipt of the deposit.
Knocks on the Door
When a scammer grabs the information for a vacant house, I get a lot of phone calls from people questioning how they can see the house. It’s time consuming and frustrating to explain time and again how these scams work.
The real problem is when they grab the information for a home that is occupied. We have actually had people knock on the doors of these homes that are for sale and announce that they were there about renting the property. Needless to say, this doesn’t sit very well with the owners.
Is It Worth It?
Over the last 3 years, we have only had one real buyer contact us as a result of posting a property on Craigslist. So, my question to you is…is it worth it to have your home listed there when selling?
Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
