The truth about "We Buy Houses" ads on craigslist

I must be missing your point.

We all know that most wholesales put up ads like "we buy house cash" on craigslist and other sites. But the purpose is not to attract investors (buyers), the purpose is to fish for motivated home owners (sellers). Investors overlook these ads unless they want to be on the wholesaler's buyers list.

Yes, you are correct. Many of the people on CL etc. are other wholesalers looking for buyers. But there are some legitimate buyers on there also. There is no replacement for meeting buyers on a face to face basis. You will have a lot of success by meeting and talking to people in person. The thing to remember is not to limit yourself to just one strategy. Have 3-4 going at the same time. That allows you to optimize your time and efforts. In addition to meeting buyers in person, you’ll have great success with sellers if you meet them in person too.

In searching for REAL live cash buyers, I don't believe that there is any better place to look than the REIA's.
There are hundreds of Real Estate Investor Associations/Clubs around the country, populated by both seasoned and novice investors. The seasoned investors typically represent about 40% of the active membership. They have meetings at least a month. A person who is willing to speak up and meet people can easily meet 6 to 8 seasoned investors at one meeting and come home with their business cards.
I recommend not attempting to interview or qualify them as cash buyers at the meeting, it's more a place to meet and collect a business card. Let them know you are new to investing in the area and looking for a couple of experienced investors that you can call if you need a quick answer to a question, and would they be willing to be one of those people.
Contact them again in a few days and refresh them that you met at the REIA meeting, and find out if they have a few minutes for you. If they do, you can tell them that you have a special program for busy investors like them called "Properties to Order," where you will shop for and place properties under contract ONLY if they match what they are looking for. This focused and exclusive program simply requires that they tell you precisely what they are looking for.
I agree that the face to face meeting at the REIA strengthens the relationship, along with the multiple contacts approach. And, you can build a whole list of cash buyers from one or two visits to these meetings. Seems to be an economical use of time and a strong way to find cash buyers. I prefer this means over all other methods of finding cash buyers. Note: I also do the same thing with Apartment Owners Associations, as I maintain a list of landlord cash buyers as well as my list of rehab cash buyers.
To find REIA's in your area, go to reiclub.com or creonline.com. To find AOA's in your area, go to naahq.org. Call the contact person to verify that the info on future meetings is up to date, and find out if they will waive their attendance fee for a first time visitor. They most likely will.

it's all about balance... Craiglist can be a great tool to post a real property (I'm not talking about ghost ads) to find buyers; especially if you include a postlet in your ad.

Hi Guy's,

Great suggestions here. I have to say I have had great luck finding good buyers from CL. They are steady buyers but not Moguls for sure. Regardless the internet is a great place to find buyers and wholesalers to work with because you can never know who has access they can give you to the really big busy buyers. I also feel face time in your business by networking and meeting the big guys is helpful, so I would encourage everyone to use all the tools they can to find their buyers.

Good luck and happy investing.

Thanks,
Shah Ali

While my previous post was about REIA's, I also find Craigslist effective. Much of the failure of people to obtain results comes from either taking the passive approach where you are only looking for other people's posts, or from failure to post frequently enough.
If you are going to use Craigslist, Post, Post Often, and Post again! Did I say post often enough? I hope I said post alot because you need to Post at least two to three times per weekday, and three to 5 times per weekend day. Why? Because your posts move down with every new post and will soon be on page 2, 3, 5, 10, where no one is looking at them. Less than 10% of people on Craigslist do searches, the rest just look at the top of page 1, maybe the whole page, possibly page two, and that's it. Once your ads leave their radar, you're invisible. Also, repeat the same ad, AND run different ads.

So did I suggest that you post alot?

The Poster hit the nail on the head. I recently had an extremely great opportunity to work with some of the Biggest players in my area and the things I've seen and learned within the past two months have eclipsed past years.

Buyers make closings happen. Closings get you paid. It's like a restauraunt, buyers come to the table with money, they tell you what they want, then it's OUR job to bring it to them medium rare if they ask for it! They ain't gonna get up and cook it themselves!

The "Table" is networking or a club. Get off the computer, get out of the house, and stare someone in the eyes- Or don't bother.

I WISH "I knew then, what I know now" because I'd be a millionaire if I just followed my own advice. /kick self in the head!

P.S. I have lots of 8-10 cap(accounting for vacancy!), 3 unit +, cash flow props coming my way now. About 10-15 a month, drop me a line if you can get a mortgage and want to Buy & Hold.

Great info, I have have gotten my buyers here in So Cal from REIA's & clist & calling for rent ads. In KC where I cannot go to a REIA meeting where I have done 2 deals I have gotten my buyers from ghost ads and real ads for my 2 deals I have done there and calling 4 rent ads. So yea we have to be a rounded investor I think and have balance, either way, go get buyers whatever it takes.

I understand what your saying but I have found legit buyers on craigslist, but your right there are probably more wholesalers on CL than buyers. Doesn't mean we cross CL out of one of the strategies to find buyers. But I can tell you this, as the coach above explained, this real estate business is a numbers game and you need to have multiple strategies going at the same time if you want to close multiple deals.

i guess i did try to paint craigslist in a fraudulent way. I do firmly believe that its a good place to shake off some properties as I myself sold my very first wholesale deal using craigslist. Its just that this past year ive been seeing alot more "posers" in my areas (people who claim their the real buyers but really not). Whoplesaling isn't that much of a secret anymore so i would prefer for them to be honest. I cant speak for anyone else's experiences, but mines hasn't been so pleasant these past months.