Useful Craigslist Tools for Real Estate

Whether you are a real estate agent or just in the market for real estate, even a rental, there are a number of cool tools to help you post and browse Craigslist real estate posts. Joseph Ferrara with Inman News came up with this handy list, which we are passing along.

8 cool Craigslist tools

Tech Tool Shed

By Joseph Ferrara, Friday, January 15, 2010.

Inman News

Craigslist.org is a very popular Web site for real estate classified ads — be it a home for sale, apartment for rent, or office to lease. And it’s a place where real estate agents and owners alike can advertise properties.

The following are some tools to reach Craigslist searchers:

Classified ad creation tools

GoGoPin lets you easily create eye-catching graphic ads. You can include photos, clipart, graphs, speech bubbles and much more. You can even add photos taken with your cell phone. (See some sample classified ads.)

What makes GoGoPin a favorite of mine is the ability to export the graphic ad to Craigslist. Simply copy and paste the HTML code in your ad. GoGoPin ads are free.

Tip: You can hyperlink your ad to any Web page by simply adding a URL when you save the ad. Now, if a Craigslist reader clicks your ad, they are sent to a more detailed page, or your Web site.

Postlets lets you create graphic classified ads that you can display on Craigslist simply by copying and pasting the HTML code. (See a sample Postlets ad.)

Viewing tool

CraigsToolbox is an amazing Firefox and Internet Explorer add-on that automatically reveals images and other features in your Craigslist search results. Beside images, you can see the map location and text preview without having to click each ad. You can also request notification, via text message, of all new ads.

The tool is available for a free trial and the annual cost is $9.99. CraigsToolbox also works for non-real estate ads. (View a video demo of CraigsToolbox.)

Mapping tools

PadMapper allows users to search for apartment and house rentals on Craigslist (as well as Oodle and Apartments.com) and displays the properties on a map with details, including the date the ad was placed. The mapped listings can be shared via e-mail, link or embeddable code.

PadMapper has good search filters, such as sliders for rental cost and number of bedrooms, listings less than seven days old, sublets, no-fee apartments (in New York City and Boston), pets, photos, and proximity to subways, etc.

Tip: Set up e-mail alerts on PadMapper to receive new listings that meet your search criteria.

MapThatPad is another rental search tool. When searching for apartments, use MapThatPad to map the properties you find, add notes, save the map and then send it to clients (or their parents). A “bookmarklet” (a small program contained in a bookmark) makes the tool easy to use. The tool currently only works for apartments but it may be expanded to include homes.

A great feature, and time saver, is the ability to contact all apartment listings with one e-mail.

Multi-location search tool

SearchTempest lets you do a proximity search of Craigslist, based on distance from a specified ZIP code area or in many selected states and cities, thereby saving you the time of searching each area separately.

What’s nice is that CraigsToolbox works on SearchTempest, allowing you to see images in the results. SearchTempest also has a forum to help you get advice and help.

You can get an RSS feed for any search you do on SearchTempest, to keep up to date on new listings.

New alert tool

CraigslistChecker is one of many ways to set up and receive alerts about new Craigslist ads, and its beauty is its simplicity. Just enter the URL of your search results and every hour you will be notified by e-mail about new listings that meet your search criteria. End the updates by simply clicking the cancel link in your e-mail. Simple.

Mobile app

Craigly is a mobile Craigslist app for iPhones. Among its neat features is a multiple-location search by city, state or distance from your location, image preview, and portrait/landscape views. You can also post ads with photos. The current cost of the Craigly app is 99 cents.

Hope one or more of these tools are useful to you. What Craigslist-related tools do you use?

Joseph Ferrara is publisher of the Sellsius Real Estate Blog and a partner in TheClozing.com, a real estate news aggregator site. He is an attorney with 25 years of experience in New York, and he also coaches agents on the use of blogging and social networking.

Did you know that your REVATS Virtual Assistant can help you manage all of your real estate listings? Getting them up and running on Craigslist is just one small part of a complete package!

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REVATS is a team of independent virtual assistants working together to bring comprehensive virtual services to real estate agents around the USA. Contact us today for more information!

12 Days of Virtual Assistance

This poem is from VANetworking’s site, written by YvonneW. Its adorable and I wanted to share it with our clients and future clients.

12 Days of Virtual Assistance

On the first day after the holiday my VA prepared for me:
an SEO ready website

On the second day after the holiday my VA prepared for me:
two ghostwritten articles
and an SEO ready website

On the third day after the holiday my VA prepared for me:
three personalized databases
two ghostwritten articles
and an SEO ready website

On the fourth day after the holiday my VA prepared for me:
four booked speaking gigs
three personalized databases
two ghostwritten articles
and an SEO ready website

On the fifth day after the holiday my VA prepared for me:
five social media campaigns
four booked speaking gigs
three personalized databases
two ghostwritten articles
and an SEO ready website

On the sixth day after the holiday my VA prepared for me:
six months of blog posts
five social media campaigns
four booked speaking gigs
three personalized databases
two ghostwritten articles
and an SEO ready website

On the seventh day after the holiday my VA prepared for me:
seven research projects
six months of blog posts
five social media campaigns
four booked speaking gigs
three personalized databases
two ghostwritten articles
and an SEO ready website

On the eighth day after the holiday my VA prepared for me:
eight formatted reports
seven research projects
six months of blog posts
five social media campaigns
four booked speaking gigs
three personalized databases
two ghostwritten articles
and an SEO ready website

On the ninth day after the holiday my VA prepared for me:
nine transcribed audios
eight formatted reports
seven research projects
six months of blog posts
five social media campaigns
four booked speaking gigs
three personalized databases
two ghostwritten articles
and an SEO ready website

On the tenth day after the holiday my VA prepared for me:
ten new client info packs
nine transcribed audios
eight formatted reports
seven research projects
six months of blog posts
five social media campaigns
four booked speaking gigs
three personalized databases
two ghostwritten articles
and an SEO ready website

On the eleventh day after the holiday my VA prepared for me:
eleven article submissions
ten new client info packs
nine transcribed audios
eight formatted reports
seven research projects
six months of blog posts
five social media campaigns
four booked speaking gigs
three personalized databases
two ghostwritten articles
and an SEO ready website

On the twelfth day after the holiday my VA prepared for me:
twelve months of bookkeeping
eleven article submissions
ten new client info packs
nine transcribed audios
eight formatted reports
seven research projects
six months of blog posts
five social media campaigns
four booked speaking gigs
three personalized databases
two ghostwritten articles
and an SEO ready website

Remember, the virtual assistants at REVATS can do all this and more for you! Add to it 13 listings, 14 new leads processed, and 15 updates to TopProducer 8i! What a way to get your real estate business rolling!!

TopProducer and Your Virtual Assistant: Managing Your Listings

Part 3 of TopProducer and Your Virtual Assistant

TopProducer is a good tool for tracking your leads and managing your mailing campaigns and to-do-lists, but did you know you can also use it to track your listings?

Once a seller lead turns into a seller-with-an-active-listing, be sure to add the listing info to TopProducer when you add it to all your listing locations.

The listing will be linked to the seller if set up correctly. It will be available to pull into flyers, post cards and letters. You can track showings and link them to other contacts.

You can also set up unique action plans specifically for current sellers. Tailor these to remind you or your assistant of all of the steps you typically take with a new listing and maintenance.

Be sure to set up emails or letters to send to your active sellers on a regular basis, just as you do with your leads. These emails are specific to individuals selling their home and preparing to move.

As you probably know, a virtual or in-house assistant can handle the posting of your listings to all of your websites, the tracking of your listings in TopProducer, etc.

Why spend your “spare” time uploading your listings when you can hand it off for an affordable fee? Wouldn’t you rather spend that time either pursuing more business or enjoying your life?

We have barely scratched the surface of what you can do with TopProducer. Just about every aspect of it can be customized to fit your needs. What do you do with TopProducer?

—Kim, virtual assistant with REVATS

REVATS is a team of independent virtual assistants working together to bring comprehensive virtual services to real estate agents around the USA. Contact us today for more information!