See the full blog post here: https://retipster.com/craigslisthacks
If you’re looking for low and no-cost ways to find great real estate deals from motivated sellers, there is an OCEAN of opportunity at your fingertips if you know how to use the multitude of free ad posting directories online.
I’m talking about Craigslist, Facebook, Zillow, and even some of the lesser-known websites that have less traffic and come and go with time, but still, offer access to deals you won’t find listed publicly on your local MLS system.
There are a few ways to put these free resources to work for you:
1. Search for Deals:
As obvious as it should be, many people don’t even realize there are deals to be found on these free, publicly available websites (some of which attract tens of millions of visitors each month).
If you have the luxury of time, you can start by searching these websites manually for motivated sellers and properties that show good potential for high equity.
Luckily, all of these platforms offer ways to narrow down your search.
For example, on Craigslist, you start by clicking on the “Housing” section (which will give you access to EVERYTHING related to housing), or if you want to get even more specific, click on the “real estate for sale” section and go from there.
On the next page, make liberal use of the filtering options available in the sidebar, and start searching for properties based on the keywords that reflect your desired outcome.
For example, I might start by specifying a price range, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms and locations I consider acceptable.
You can also take it one step further by typing in some of the keywords commonly referred to in property listings that actually end up being good deals.
In the example above, I used the word “Fixer”, because if a listing includes this word, the owner or listing agent is probably using the words “fixer upper” (or something to that effect) to describe the condition of the property – which means there’s a better chance I’d actually be able to get the property for a price that is far below market value (because obviously, it needs work, and it’s less appealing to the typical retail buyer).
There are a TON of these types of keywords that can help you zero-in on the properties that appeal to investors who are looking to buy at a lower price.
Want some other common keywords that tend to return a more concentrated number of good deals? Here are some other examples that will help you root out the best opportunities:
ARV
As Is
Bank
Bank Owned
Cash Only
Cash Sale
Cheap
Code
Condemned
Desperate
Discount
Divorce
Equity
Estate Sale
Financing Available
Fire Sale
Fix
Fix and Flip
Fix Up
Fixer
Flexible
Flip
Flipper
Foreclosure
Handyman
Investor
Investment
Land Contract
Lease Option
Motivated
Moving
Must Sell
OBO
Off Market
Offer
Owner Finance
Owner Financing
Owner Will Carry
Probate
Reduced
Rehab
REO
ROI
Seller Finance
Seller Financing
Special
TLC
Ugly
Violation
Wholesale
Remember, if you’re going this route, you’ll have to be smart about it. You can waste A LOT of time just looking line-by-line at every single listing (and the vast majority of these listings won’t be worth your while).
Use the search functionality to keep the fluff out of your searches and zero in on exactly what you’re looking for.