Let’s say, hypothetically, you have a hundred-unit tower near downtown that’s ready to rock and roll — how do you find tenants? You could have a leasing center and promote yourself through your official Web site, I suppose. Or you could put your homes on the MLS. But why bother doing either when you can have someone post almost 100 nearly identical ads on Craigslist EVERY SINGLE DAY?
In case you’re still wondering which strategy RDM is using for Trio, read that paragraph again. For all I know, my search string could have filtered out more creative variations — I used the keywords “Trio,” “Wayman,” “never,” and “before” (all based on the first few ads I found), and came up with 780 separate ads, all posted between the 7th and today. (My favorites so far: Seven ads insisting, “It’s not a typo, the deal is just THAT good,” scattered amidst seven more that scream, “DEFINATELY worth checking out!” They’ve called in the A-Team for this one, kids.)
The good news is that you will “feel like a rockstar” after taking advantage of Trio’s “ROCK BOTTOM PRICING,” which is somewhere in the range of $1,400 for a one-bedroom to $2,400 a month for a two-bedroom, assuming my visual noise filter is working properly. I’m guessing heated indoor parking is included in the price, given that every ad says, “INDOOR HEATED PARKING INCLUDED!!!”
So what is wrong with placing all 100 units on craigslist? After all if you have 100 units to rent, then you do make up a large chunk of the market. I did a blanket search on keyword Chicago in the apartments section and on the first page about 10 (give or take) of the ads were for Trio. If you need to move the units cheap, this is the way to go.
Dan,
Some people think you should look at this from the consumer’s perspective rather than your own.
The spammers posting redundant ads have virtually destroyed the utility of Craigslist.
Keep in mind that craigslist is not just for consumers. It is an online service that brings together sellers and buyers. Because craigslist is largely free (some post do require a fee) it does invite itself to misuse, however posting all the rentals that a building has available is not a misuse. If the community at large does feel that a specific poster is overdoing it then they may flag that post as spam/overpost. The link to do so is located in the upper right hand corner. That is what is great about open applications, they allow the community to self police it.
With that being said, you should not think of craigslist as a pure clean listing, such as the MLS (Multiple Listing Service). Instead think of craigslist as a rummage sale, as a ‘consumer’ you are going to have to go through some of the clutter to find the real gems.
Dan:
To be clear, I never suggested that posting every rental in a building was a misuse. I do think REposting every one of those rentals on a daily basis is a form of spamming. It’s not that each of Trio’s approximately 100 units has its own post — it’s that each of its units has seven or eight posts.
I do commend them for cramming more information into their posts than most (they’re image-heavy, have floor plans, give plenty of details about the building itself, and actually mention the address — good luck finding that combination in many other ads), and I’m sure their defense of their approach — one I’m guessing you’d second — is that they’re just doing what it takes to get their message across in a competitive market. If it fills units, then good for them.
Any notion of “community” in Craigslist housing ads is laughable.
I think it’s a clear abuse to post every listing. in the building. It’s repetitive and uninformative and wastes everybody’s time.
“Everybody’s doing it” is the worst justification imaginable.
Joe Z.,
The notion of community is a concept that spans all online open applications, it is not specific to craigslist. Now whether craigslist apartments has a strong community or not it another story, however the tools are in place for it to be self policed which is a core principle of Web 2.0 applications.
So, Joe Z. if you really are committed to assist in cleaning up the apartment section of craigslist, then it looks like you found a new hobby.
I leave you with great quote that developers like to use, “The chicken was involved in creating your breakfast; the pig was committed.”
Craigslist has become a joke when looking for a place to rent. I started looking there and about a half hour into my search I gave up because of all the spam posters. I agree. It really does destroy the utility of it from a consumers stand point. I don’t understand why they can’t limit the number of posts from specific ip addresses on a daily post. you don’t need 100 post for 100 units when most of the units are the same.
Just my two cents!
Dan,
We all know you know how to spout Web 2.0 and Agile cliches and such. The point is that even though it is possible to flag posts on CL, when you take advantage of the system to overwhelm it, knowing that not enough people are invested to actively police it, you are being a douchebag.
You come across as a cubicle jockey just trying to mix things up by applying your career experience (probably some sort of tech consulting; am I right?) to a subject area that is clearly not your expertise.
CL should charge for housing posts in Chicago, as they eventually had to do for their NYC listings. The spam is out of control. Another frustrating thing I find about searching CL for housing is that an agent will put “specialize in Lakeview, Lincoln Park, River North, Gold Coast, Wicker Park” etc in every ad, making it impossible to filter ads by neighborhood. NYC’s listings (in Manhattan anyway) have a drop down feature to search by neighborhood, for listings only in the neighborhood designated in the individual posting, and I think that would be a great addition to the Chicago listings as well.
Wow you guys have a lot of hate in your love tank. Just looking up some information on my new apartment and this came up. I found the ad on Craigslist and these guys were great. Answered on the first ring and met me at my availability. Maybe they just have their stuff together…the market’s terrible, kudos to the company for finding something to use to their advantage. You have to get what you can in this economy. Hope you find something else to put your effort toward.
I’ve written often about Craig Newmark’s perverted, albeit successful, monetization strategy.
Step 1: screw the brains out of the end-users in your community by encouraging and facilitating spammers and scammers.
Step 2: Respond to “community demands” that you clean things up by charging.
The notion of “Saint Craig” looking after his community’s interests is one of the great psychotic disconnects of the last 20 years.
Dan,
It appears that the 1000s of hours I’ve spent building and reading about online communities were wasted. I could have just waited for your explanation.
Valerie,
Those guys need to give you a more credible script to cut and paste from.
Joe Z.,
I don’t want this to come across harsh, YoChicago.com is run more like a dictatorship than a community. I applaud the effort, time and care given to your content, but you do rule the comment board with a heavy hand and tend to come down hard on those with thoughts or practices that differ from yours.
Dan,
Your take is largely accurate, and not at all harsh.
The one quibble I’d have is on my response to people with whom I disagree. I disagree with many commenters, but only respond with heavy-handed negativity to the mindless bashers. When you’ve spent as much time here as i have you get to know who those people are and what their agenda is. If the participants are unfamiliar to you my responses to them may seem unduly – even weirdly – punitive.
I don’t view YoChicago as a community but as a conversation focused on a limited range of topis. Some people contribute to the conversation; others just want to shout insults and trash the subjects of the conversation from a base of zero knowledge. I want those folks to shut up or go away and I think most of our readers do also.
If you want to view this as a community, you’ll recognize that a community can only exist when it sanctions or locks up or expels disruptive members.
It’s a sad fact that people who’ve been successful in real estate or acquired a lot of knowledge of the subject inspire envy, resentment and outright hatred on the part of the ignorant and the unsuccessful. Haters and hurlers of dumb insults will continue to be very unwelcome here.
Fact is, a rental broker can make a comfortable $100-$200k per year using ONLY craig’s list to advertise so why NOT charge?