Posted by Marty (MO) on June 04, 2007 at 05:51:07:
I just had a guy contact me offering landscaping and ‘any other work’
we need done! The ‘what we don’t want’ stuff is definitely going in to
the next ad!
I’m working on a generic response to cut and paste- spelling out what
we need. I’ll let you know how it works.
Marty
Bartering your MH’s on Craigslist - Posted by JeffB (MI)
Posted by JeffB (MI) on June 02, 2007 at 18:28:21:
I sell probably 30% of my homes through Craiglist ads that I run
occasionally. I should post these ads more often, but keep forgetting.
A few weeks ago I had seven homes in inventory and it seemed nothing
was selling. I posted a Craiglist ad in the barter section which had
a list of our mobile homes, and that we’d accept any item of value
towards the purchase price or even payment in full on a mobile home,
depending on value. Gave some examples like boats, cars, trucks,
snowmobiles, tractors, etc.
I sold three homes from that one ad. Most importantly, I got rid of
my “problem” home, a 1990 3/2 d/w that I had completely remodeled, top
to bottom. For some reason, nobody would buy this home, I sat on it
for 3 months and had $8k invested, which is waaay to much. I think
because I was telling everyone I needed minimum $2500 down on the home
(plus park costs of $1000+) most people didn’t have that kind of cash.
A lady wrote me who has three special needs/handicapped children and ended up wanting
to buy the home. She has only the $1000 the park needs, but had three
vehicles she would trade as down payment. I ended up taking two of
the vehicles, giving her FMV for both. A Chevy Caprice and a newer
Chevy Venture minivan. (I need a minivan having two kids now!)
So the deal worked out to be, two Chevy’s down, $352.11 per month for
8 years. The cars have a quick wholesale value of about $5k so I’ll
be left with a maximum of $3k in the deal and will receive $33k in
payments over the next 8 years if it pays out. Unfortunately (for
her) her grandfather just passed away so she’ll be paying off about
50% of the home next week (we’ll see) but in any case this was a great
deal for me.
I have never tried a barter ad like this with Lonnie deals before and
the results have been very encouraging. I’ll gladly accept anything
of value that has a wholesale cash value (since mobile homes do NOT)
if it can make the numbers work. I know many of us have done deals like
this but I’m just surprised at the effectiveness of advertising it
this way on CL. Sometimes I forget to do the things I that I know are effective,
and then wonder why I don’t get good results. This is not a new idea at all,
but for some reason I find myself forgetting the things I already know, only
to end up learning the lesson a second time. Here’s to hoping I am the only
one who does this!
Jeff
Re: Bartering your MH’s on Craigslist - Posted by Kevin - WA
Posted by Kevin - WA on June 06, 2007 at 18:50:03:
Jeff,
Are you coming to Boot Camp?
I have a problem unit myself, and I am going to try your technique. I’ll owe you a beverage in Asheville if it works.
K
already had a few calls since last night… - Posted by Marty (MO)
Posted by Marty (MO) on June 03, 2007 at 09:21:38:
I guess because there’s fewer postings in ‘barter’ and ‘general’ I’ve had a number of calls since last night.
I sold one home a few months ago using craigslist, but otherwise have just had a lot of tire kickers. Do you have a link to one of your ads so I can see how you’re reeling them in?
This is good stuff, Jeff- thanks for posting.
Marty
Re: Bartering your MH’s on Craigslist - Posted by jb(IN)
Posted by jb(IN) on June 02, 2007 at 19:48:28:
Excellent idea!!! I’m going to try an ad here in Indy and see what happens. I like the idea. Thanks for the tip!!!
John
Brilliant! - Posted by Marty (MO)
Posted by Marty (MO) on June 02, 2007 at 18:35:38:
you now have an imitator in St. Louis!
good job,
Marty
Re: already had a few calls since last night… - Posted by JeffB (MI)
Posted by JeffB (MI) on June 03, 2007 at 09:45:22:
Here’s one of the barter ads, I’m sure it could have been worded better or more thorough but it got the emails coming in:
http://detroit.craigslist.org/bar/328851325.html
Here is one of the more successful ads I have run in the regular “Real Estate for Sale” section. I have found that if you do not fully disclose the terms of the sale (ie down payment required, community move-in costs, and total monthly payment) you spend a WHOLE LOT of time on the phone with people who have no cash whatsoever and would not make it through my screening process.
Re: already had a few calls since last night… - Posted by Marty (MO)
Posted by Marty (MO) on June 03, 2007 at 13:16:23:
Hiya Jeff,
your ad with the photo looks really good and I like how you spell out what you DON’T need in the barter ad.
I stopped putting my phone number on the ads to cut down on the clutter. What I’ve been doing is spelling out the terms when they email me. If I continue doing this, I’ll just have a generic, cut and paste thing I’ll send. If this doesn’t get the results I’m looking for, I’ll put a little more effort into the ad and post pictures and terms like you did.
I posted one ad in the barter section and one in the general section. I’ll polish the next ones up more!
http://stlouis.craigslist.org/bar/343692064.html
http://stlouis.craigslist.org/for/343694319.html
Thanks for the response- it’s helped a lot!
Marty
Re: already had a few calls since last night… - Posted by JeffB (MI)
Posted by JeffB (MI) on June 03, 2007 at 16:59:55:
Marty,
I like the mention of the referral fee, I had not thought of that!
I started listing things I did NOT want to barter for because I was getting an aweful lot of service offers to trade for MH’s (ie “I can do lanscapiing or cemnt work if u need it or whatever”).
I’d love to hear other ideas of how to improve this technique…
Jeff