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Use Craigslist? To sell a HOUSE? Well, why not? After all, it's free! And that is a huge reason to incorporate this into your marketing plan. The number of people who search Craigslist for anything and everything, including houses, is the other great reason. Whether you are a homeowner trying to sell your home on your own, or a licensed real estate agent working for a number of property owners, you'll want to add Craigslist to your choices of advertising venues.

Now more than ever, more and more people are doing a lot of their shopping online. It's often one of the first places people go when they are making any kind of purchase that requires more than a nominal outlay of cash. Why? Its probably the cheapest and quickest way to comparison shop for many items. It saves gasoline, wear and tear on the car, frustration at not finding what you want when you get where you're going, and potentially, lots of time.

As a homebuyer looking for the perfect house, you won't see everything on the market, but you'll definitely see some homes that you won't see on Realtor.com. While the percentage of homes available in a given marketplace that can be found on Craigslist is smaller than the sites dedicated solely to real estate, like Realtor.com and ForSaleByOwner.com, the sellers that advertise on Craigslist are usually pretty motivated. They're looking at every venue to advertise their homes. And because it is free advertising, you'll always find a number of homes to whet your homebuyer's appetite.

As a seller, who can resist Craigslist? It's free advertising. And Craigslist gets a phenomenal amount of web traffic each day; at last count, more than ten billion page views every month! And it's easy to use. Once you have an account set up - also very easy to do - its only a matter of following simple directions to get your property online and visible to potential buyers from anywhere in the country.

As a real estate agent, Craigslist provides one more level of service to your clients. Again, it's free advertising. It just takes a little bit of time to set up your ad. If you make it part of your standard listing set-up on your new listings, it's one of the quickest ads from submission to publication available. And it's also a great way to impress that new listing client.

Starting at the home page for www.craigslist.org, select the most appropriate location from the right side of the page. Click on "Post to Classifieds" and you are on your way. Craigslist provides instructions step-by-step to guide you through the process of posting your ad.

Once you've followed the step-by-step directions to publish or "post" your ad to the website, make sure you go back and see what it looks like, or if you need to make any changes. Also make sure you include pictures; several are better than just one. And make sure you check on how long the ad will run in your area. It could be as short as seven days, or perhaps as long as 45-60 days. You may have to re-post from time to time; and even if your original ad still shows up, you may want to re-post it so it shows up under a more recent date. It will be a reminder for those buyers who are looking regularly and will only look at recent postings.

After all this is said and done, get ready for the phone to ring. Craigslist buyers DO call! But remember, an ad is not all it takes to get a house sold. Pricing, marketing, location, buyer demand, and availability of financing all impact the process. Market knowledge, experience, and negotiating skills are a necessity. A good local Realtor can be one of the best investments you make in helping you get the best possible price for your home. But free advertising surely can't hurt, so try Craigslist!

Learn more about this author, Lisa Orme.
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