Recently Craigslist (CL) changed the rules for landlords posting ads. It seems like they did this to help cut down on spam listings. CL may also be ramping up their own listing service to compete with Trulia and Zillow.
Regardless of why they are doing it, the fact is that they are doing it.
The changes officially are described in the help section of CL like this…
Update: A, IMG, FONT, TABLE, DIV, SPAN, CENTER tags are no longer supported in for sale and housing. Please use CL image upload for images.
What it really means is that it will be impossible to create beautiful ads on sites like Postlets and vflyer for use on CL. Up until now, you could just check a bunch of boxes on these sites, add in some text, and upload photos. Then the site would give you the html code for your ad, which you could copy and paste into CL.
Now it looks like these ads are a thing of the past.
What’s A Poor Landlord To Do?
How do you make your ads stand out now? First – realize that posting your ads with those other services didn’t really make you stand out all that much when everyone else was doing it as well. Second – learn to write great Craigslist ads without all the bells and whistles.
CL has effectively removed the technology, and allowed landlords to show prospective tenants how much landlords really care about their business.
Let me show you what I mean.
There are many landlords who will write ads like:
“Great rental unit. 3BR/2Ba. Great area. Email me today for a showing.”
Those kinds of ads are from landlords who don’t care a whole lot. I would be more interested in those ads if I am a rehabber or wholesaler looking to pick up a great deal from a burnt out landlord. I would move on if I was a renter.
We here at REM would like to show you how to exploit the lack of technology aids on CL, and to rise above the rabble in writing old-fashioned advertising copy. The kind of copy Craigslist will love. In other words..
The Copy That Will Get Your Places Rented
At the bottom of this article, we have put an ad from a successful landlord who rented his property in 48 hours from putting the first ad up. It followed all the Craigslist guidelines and did not incorporate any new technology. All it did was appeal to prospective tenants.
Before you scroll down to the article, take a moment or two to go through this checklist of tips for writing your own ad. We would also like any comments for our other mogul members on what is working for landlords out there.
Without further ado, here are the basic tips for writing a great CL ad that gets your place rented:
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What kind of questions have you received from prospective tenants in the past? Did you answer them in your ad
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Are your sentences short and to the point?
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Are your paragraphs no longer than 2 or 3 sentences.
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Did you put spaces between your paragraphs?
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Do your words emphasize benefits over features? Here is an example of the difference:
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Feature: “The place has a dishwasher”
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Benefit: “A dishwasher that will make the cleanup from meals a snap”
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Emphasize anything you changed out in the last 6 months as NEW
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Talk about drawbacks of the place, but tell the tenants how you will mitigate the bad stuff, or turn the negative into a positive (“You guys will pay the utilities as part of the lease, but I will do everything I can to make the bills as low as possible. For instance, I installed a programmable thermostat to keep the heating bill low.”)
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Did you talk about the area, the attractions, convenience to shopping, easy transportation etc.?
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Did you screen out tenants you don’t want (Section 8, Pets, etc.) Note: DON’T even hint at screening out due to illegal discrimination (race, religion, family status etc.)
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Did you tell them about any extra charges up front like utilities, pets, association fees etc.? Tenants will be much happier knowing this up front than if you try to hide it.
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You can still use some html language in your ad, such as using word(s) to bold a word. The list of html you can use is here.
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Did you use testimonials? If you don’t have any, start collecting them. When you help out a tenant, waive a late fee or just take care of them when the tenant moves out, ask for one. Then keep them in a folder and recycle them through different ads. If you don’t have any, ask a coworker, other person you have done business with or a current tenant to write you one. Don’t EVER make these up!
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Did you explain why the current tenant is moving?
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Did you look at Postlets or VFlyer to see what all they have as options to put in their ads? Use them as a reminder of all the good things about your place that you can put in your ad.
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Put as many ways to contact you as possible. Email, text and phone are the big 3. Don’t screen out good tenants because they would rather text you or call you.
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Add Keywords at the bottom that include every way to spell your city, surrounding cities, zip codes, and any other way to refer to the area, like neighborhood names.
Putting all those elements together, here is a successful example ad:
“I have a huge unit in a triplex opening up September 1st. There are 3 bedrooms on the upper floor with a full bathroom, a very large living room, dining room and kitchen on the main floor, and another large bedroom on the lower floor with another bathroom and shower.
We just remodeled the unit about a year ago, and I think you will like the upgrades we added:
- Central air conditioning! No more sweating on the hot summer days with no relief in sight, or trying to lug those heavy window air conditioners all around your house. No matter where you go in this place, you will be cool.
- A new, high efficiency furnace to keep you warm in winter without large heating bills
- A dishwasher that will make the cleanup from meals a snap
- A brand new remodeled bathroom and shower in the lower level. No more dealing with nasty old bathrooms. We also remodeled the upstairs full bath for the same reason.
- New flooring in the lower level
- Your own, in-unit, washer and dryer. You don't have to share it with anyone else and you don't have to bring coins every time you use it. It's free.
- New paint throughout the whole house to give it a fresh look
In addition to all the upgrades, there was a lot of good things about this house to begin with. It is about 100 feet from XXX Park, which will be great if you have a pet. I do allow pets with a $100 fully refundable damage deposit and $50 for each additional pet.
The unit is also very close to all the great attractions of Generic City USA - the cool bars, restaurants, the XXX shopping center (almost within walking distance), the U, and downtown.
When it snows in winter there are off-street parking slots for you and a stall in the garage. There are no extra charges for any of this. The only charges with parking will be if you park on the street in a snow emergency and the city tows you - but that is between you and the city! My off-street parking should prevent that.
The unit is within walking distance to two bus stops at Street 1 and Street 2.
The other tenants will take care of any grass cutting and snow shoveling - you can just enjoy your new home.
I would like to have a year lease, but I am ok with less. Whatever works for you. I try to be flexible as a landlord and my tenants seem to like me. The only reason these tenants are moving out is that one is planning to study abroad. But two of the others asked me if they could move into one of the other places I manage.
Here are some comments I received from other tenants when they moved out of one of my places:
"XXX was a great landlord. The house was well taken care of and XXX was always available when we needed help with anything. We had a great renting experience!" – Tenant 1.
"XXX did everything he said he would do on the lease and went the extra mile several times for us. He was easy to reach when we had questions or problems and made sure we were comfortable in the house. That's more than one can ask for in a landlord. He even stocked the fridge with cold ones for us a few times!" – Tenant 2.
Here is what one of the current tenants told me:
"XXX has been a wonderful landlord. We have been with him for three years now and he is very friendly and relaxed, really just a nice guy. Every time there has been a problem he has quickly fixed it and has always done so effectively. Rent is reasonable and he makes every effort to ensure that his tenants are comfortable and taken care of. On top of all of this, he brought us beer because the renovations on one of his properties took longer than expected (though it was worth the wait; he did a great job fixing up our current place) XXX is the best landlord in town!" – Current Tenant.
I can provide other references upon request. I'm sorry but I don't accept Section 8. You guys will pay the utilities as part of the lease, but I will do everything I can to make the bills as low as possible. For instance, I installed a programmable thermostat to keep the heating bill low.
Please give me a call and we can schedule a showing. My name is XXX and my number is 651-278-6160 (I text also). No matter which place you choose, I wish you the best of luck in your new home!
Keywords: City spelling 1, City spelling 2, City Abbreviation, surrounding cities, address zip code, surrounding zip codes.
Learn Some Copywriting Basics – Writing good advertisements will not only help in renting your place out, but could also help in wholesaling, selling your place FSBO, or even just selling junk around your house.
Review the Ads You’ve Already Posted – If you were a renter, would you be interested in your place? Does it stand out compared to all the other ads?
Look At Other CL Ads – Is your competition including a benefit about your area that you missed?
Repost Often – You can write the best CL ad in the world, but if nobody sees it, what is the point? Make sure to go in and repost the ad every other day – if you don’t have your place rented quickly, that is.
JP Moses
is a real estate investor in Memphis, TN, with experience ranging from land lording to note buying, rehabbing, and wholesaling. However, wholesaling is the area that he enjoys most and where he bring the most experience and expertise to his students.