Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Home Improvemnent Flops

Real Estate Investing SC: Using Craigslist To Find Business

Real Estate Investing SC: Using Craigslist To Find Business: Using Craigslist to increase business. I am always looking for ways to advertise for people to business with. Craigslist popped to the...

Using Craigslist To Find Business

Using Craigslist to increase business.


I am always looking for ways to advertise for people to business with. Craigslist popped to the top because in my local market listings are free.  You can post an advertisement and get in front of people that want to do business with you.
The Craigslist site has changed. They use to allow a hyperlink to send the customer directly to your website. 2014,  that all came to a screeching hault. Now you have to type out your website and they have to copy and paste into the browser. You get what you pay for.


Examples of where you would go from an add




The idea of free advertising is  good but competition can flag your posting. You spend time making a good advertisement. Make it long and describe who you are and what you can do for that person. All to have if taken down 2 seconds after you post it.
When your ad gets “flagged” it is taken down and you can not repost it. I am trying to figure out what Craigslist looks for on a flagged post to learn what you can repost. For example: If you have a phrase or phone number and website, can you make a new post that has your same phone number? Can you use your website address in all of your ads? How many flags do you need to have your account ghosted?

All of theses questions mean more typing and writing new copy. Post that are unique. If I knew what the rules were it would make following them a lot easier. I have read on the website about how an ad is flagged. It seems that the youtube videos are all spammy “pay” me to learn the secrets on posting. The information seems to be outdated because of improvements to the website in general. If you have any insight or where to read useful information on how craigslist operates please leave a comment below.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Stories on Real Estate Investing in SC

Real Estate Investing in South Carolina.

This blog is to tell stories about investing. I started looking at we buy houses investment companies a few years ago. It seemed like a good idea. People always need to sell a house. Life happens and people just need to sell whether you are in a good or bad market. Divorces happen, people die and people lose jobs no matter what. So there is an endless supply of potential clients. Regardless of economy or market conditions.  All I needed to do was find them. A simple bandit sign or an occasional letter mailed out should do so, I thought.  

I purchased a hundred signs and found a phone number to put on it. We Buy Houses any price, condition or situation, yellow 12 by 24 are the ones I used. That's easy right? I put some out and started getting phone calls. Man, that was easy.  I drove around late night and put them out. I found that after 11pm the traffic is low and you can park and put signs out on heavy intersections. The name of the game  is to get as many people to see the sign and call. Well, the sign police other citizens and competition pulled up my signs so the phone quit ringing. This way works but in extremely time heavy on staying on top of the signs you have out.  Some signs will stay up a day some a month.

Looking at cost saving methods. Using wood stakes or nailing straight to a telephone pole. This method of guerrilla marketing is a way to get some phone calls but is not the best for a long term business plan.

I tried explaining the concept of marketing to house sellers to a friend and he did not get it. I found some examples of a website that help gather information. If you need to sell your house fast in Columbia SC check out this We Buy Houses Columbia SC