fence
Sackett Street Fence. Photo by Alexis Robie
Has anyone else found Craigslist getting more and more useles for townhouse sales? Maybe free listings are not particulary useful when dealing in items that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. (It seems to work a lot better for apartment rentals, though Craig has publicly discussed the tough issues in that arena too). Clearly the end-user (buyer) benefits from the self-selection that occurs when the New York Times charges a fee to list a property. Less “noise”, more quality. Is there anyone out there who found their townhouse through Craigslist? Is there anything Craig could be doing to improve the property sales section?


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. I bought my house via craigs list directly from the owner and got a great deal. You have to sift through a lot of crap but there are some gems; And when they appear they disapear the next day so you have to be vigalent about checking everyday.

  2. I think the common thread here is the diligent broker. Those who feel they found a good deal through criagslist are happy with the broker, not the advertising medium. Those who were “driven into the arms” of the brokers were happy with there transactions and obviously needed the expertise of a broker (large or small) to make the process wok smoothly for them.

  3. I’ve had great luck as both a renter and rentee with the “by owners” rental section of cl. Maybe, though, when you start talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars, you simply can’t be so sanguine. Perhaps one little hoop to jump through (small fee) would make it more useful for serious parties and less attractive to scammers.

    Though I have to disagree with the poster who lamented the people you get through the Times listings that just do a “walk-through.” Of course you don’t want endless strangers traipsing through your house, but looking is legitimately part of the process.