Any Craig''s list experts?

[MichelleCarmen]

I''ve started selling misc. items around the house that my husband and I aren''t using, yet would rather sell for a few bucks than send to the Thift store b/c either the item are too big (like a new Queen mattress & a glider) or the items could profit us a bit of cash.

I decided not to give out my phone number until the deal is confirmed. We''ve so far had good luck with two sales, but the third took forever. The person kept calling us and changing the dates he was going to pick up the mattress, which was very frustrating.

What I am wondering is when a person emails me with interest in a particular item and I reply back saying it''s still available, how long should I then wait for them to reply before going on to the next person? Am I stuck here waiting all weekend?

Also, has anyone ever had a strange/scary person contact them via Craig''s list? I''ve so far delt with one wacko via the newspaper. . .She called, said she''d be over so I gave her my address, but she never showed. I called her phone and her voice mail said, "GRANDMA IF THIS IS YOU, QUIT CALLING ME!!!" Yikes, and this woman knows where I live! Major negative energy and that woman was one who had an interest in adopting our kitty.

 

[neatfreak]

I use CL all the time, but mostly for buying (I buy a lot of Eames era furniture and redo it). If I am selling I tell people first come first served, and I won't "hold it" for someone usually. If I talk to someone and they sound super reliable and can't come for a few days, I might hold something. But only if they CALL and sound responsible. If I have only talked with someone over email I just say "won't hold it, but I will let you know if someone has purchased it before you come".

Unfortunately with craigslist not everyone is reliable...so it's really a guessing game. I don't hold anything for anyone unless I have a confirmed time they will pick up, and I don't take it off of CL OR tell people it is sold until someone actually comes and gets it.

If I am buying I always take hubby with me as there are some weirdos out there for sure. I also always make sure he's at the house if someone comes over to buy something.

 

[LegacyGirl]

I use it for selling and I haven''t had too many problems so far, mostly people lowballing, which I wouldn''t mind but for I had to drive all the way across town to meet the guy at my house because he had to see it then and right at that second

I won''t do that again. I sold my old track bike with no problems. I usually just have people contact me via my spam email and if they really want it I will call back. I only let people come to my house if it is something big (the bed) and my fiancee is there. Otherwise I''ll meet people at a business.

 

[LegacyGirl]

Oh and I forgot to add if they do come to my house the item is always moved to the foyer, and I don''t let them in my house any further.

 

[sumbride]

I''ve had a lot of luck getting rid of stuff with Craigslist, but I always say "first come, first served! No holds!" I usually do put my phone number on the ad, but not my address. I''ll usually keep in contact with a couple of people until the item is gone... i.e. have a 1st runner up and a 2nd runner up because I''ve had a lot of flakes that just never show. If somebody misses their appointment, I go to the 2nd person.

 

[VegasAngel]

I havent had any problems using CL. Usually I put you must be able to pick up on Saturday between 1-3 if you cant pick it up during that time please dont contact me, for example. That may come across mean but I''ll tell you what I havent had to play any games.

 

[chiapet]

Date: 4/12/2008 7:22:16 PM
Author: sumbride
I''ve had a lot of luck getting rid of stuff with Craigslist, but I always say ''first come, first served! No holds!'' I usually do put my phone number on the ad, but not my address. I''ll usually keep in contact with a couple of people until the item is gone... i.e. have a 1st runner up and a 2nd runner up because I''ve had a lot of flakes that just never show. If somebody misses their appointment, I go to the 2nd person.

I agree with sumbride. I don''t wait around for the person to show up. I just sell it to the first person to show up with the cash and then delete my CL post. Also a good idea not to let them into your house.

 

[butterfly 17]

My experience is a little different, but I just listed my basement apartment on Craigslist. I got about 8 replies since listing it about 4 days ago and 4 people who have come to see it (yesterday and today) and I was really nervous about the whole process of letting someone come and look at the apartment.

I showed the apartment by myself yesterday and today with my husband.

I originally did not plan to rent it out, but I can get a decent amount of money ($1000) and we don''t even use the basement at all and I figured why not since it would help out a lot now that the new baby is on it''s way.

The funny thing is that all four people want the apartment, I mean, were ready to leave me either a deposit or security the same day, but I told them my husband and I would have to discuss it who would best meet my needs.

Since I never rented before, I am a bit nervous.

So far, my choices are-

45 yr. old divorcee, who smokes and has a cat. She has two teenagers (who live with the father she says). It'' funny b/c I said no pets and non smoker, but she wanted to see it anyway wihout telling me that she had/did both.

22 yr. old woman graduating from Wagner in May and then she will work there three days a week, while earning her Masters. She said she would live there for one year and offered to help with baby sitting on her days off.

30 something year old divorced male, no kids, works 7 days a week, works in Security and showed us that his part time job would be able to pay for the rent itself.

lastly a 20 something year old couple, both work and go to school and the girl told me she could help me out with babysitting.

My husband likes the 22 yr. old woman and the 30 yr. old man and so do I . I just can''t figure out which one I want. It''s hard to decide really.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 4/13/2008 7:19:20 PM
Author: butterfly 17

22 yr. old woman graduating from Wagner in May and then she will work there three days a week, while earning her Masters. She said she would live there for one year and offered to help with baby sitting on her days off.

The 22 year old female sounds the best. She''ll be quiet, helpful, AND you''ll feel safe having her around when your husband is gone.

A relative of my DH rented out his little apt behind his house and he got 19 calls in one day! Now I''m contemplating putting my house up for sale by owner on CL! lol

Oh and just be sure to ask for first/last. We rented our second house out for a year before selling it and we rented it to a friend who ended up loosing his job so he never paid us part of one of the months'' rent. I think he still owes us $500!

 

[butterfly 17]

Date: 4/13/2008 9:20:48 PM
Author: MC

The 22 year old female sounds the best. She''ll be quiet, helpful, AND you''ll feel safe having her around when your husband is gone.

A relative of my DH rented out his little apt behind his house and he got 19 calls in one day! Now I''m contemplating putting my house up for sale by owner on CL! lol

Oh and just be sure to ask for first/last. We rented our second house out for a year before selling it and we rented it to a friend who ended up loosing his job so he never paid us part of one of the months'' rent. I think he still owes us $500!

Thanks MC! I did ask for one months security and first month''s rent. Should I ask for last month''s rent on top of this or just leave at that.

I am not too worried about safety issues from any of the people. For some reason, you know when you get a funny vibe, well no one gave me a funny vibe at all, except maybe the 45 yr. old. and only because she was way too enthusiastic about the place and was ready to give me the security yesterday.

I was like, whoa, hold your horses, I have to go over everything with my husbnad and he has to meet you. Then , she called and came by today as well and I had to sit there while she figured out where her things were going to go.

I don''t know what to do when I have to tell her that I don''t want to rent to her.

How did you turn down people you did not want to rent to?

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 4/13/2008 10:12:36 PM
Author: butterfly 17

Thanks MC! I did ask for one months security and first month's rent. Should I ask for last month's rent on top of this or just leave at that.

You should be ask for last month's rent OR say that the person can pay $1000 per month PLUS add $200 per month to end up paying the last month's rent over the period of the next five months. Be tough and do a credit check on the person. No matter the vibes, you don't want to be stuck with someone living who isn't paying the rent. My mom use to rent homes out and ended up with a squatter (the guy refused to pay the rent or move out!). It was a huge nightmare. (I think you'll be okay though since your husband works in the police force. People won't mess around with not paying the rent

)

Be careful and thoughtful who you rent to. You will be stuck with that person for the entire time they're there. (eta - the master's degree student does sound like your best bet!)

 

[neatfreak]

Butterfly, the best thing you can do for yourself is find out the laws for landlords and tenants in your state and follow them to a t. I volunteer at a tenant help center where we help people with tenant/landlord law issues. And first time landlords often get screwed if they don't know what they are doing as far as the laws go.

That being said, have you had the building inspector near you inspect it? Because everything needs to be up to code before you can legally rent it. It isn't as simple as it seems unfortunately, there are MANY laws that need to be followed. And whatever you do put EVERYTHING in writing in a legally binding lease. Otherwise you can also end up screwed.

 

[butterfly 17]

Date: 4/14/2008 12:08:31 AM
Author: neatfreak
Butterfly, the best thing you can do for yourself is find out the laws for landlords and tenants in your state and follow them to a t. I volunteer at a tenant help center where we help people with tenant/landlord law issues. And first time landlords often get screwed if they don''t know what they are doing as far as the laws go.

That being said, have you had the building inspector near you inspect it? Because everything needs to be up to code before you can legally rent it. It isn''t as simple as it seems unfortunately, there are MANY laws that need to be followed. And whatever you do put EVERYTHING in writing in a legally binding lease. Otherwise you can also end up screwed.

Thanks! I did have the home inspected and everything was in great condition, so no worries there. The house already had the seperate apartment when we moved in, but we just never planned to rent it.

I also did look up the tenant/landlord laws to see what I need to do, etc.

I am not sure if I am going to do a lease. I would prefer a month to month because when I looked up the laws, I found that I would only have to give one months notice and vice versa if I need them to move out. I don''t want to be obligated to someone for a year, especially if I have issues with them, etc.

 

[butterfly 17]

Date: 4/13/2008 11:19:09 PM
Author: MC

Date: 4/13/2008 10:12:36 PM
Author: butterfly 17

Thanks MC! I did ask for one months security and first month''s rent. Should I ask for last month''s rent on top of this or just leave at that.

You should be ask for last month''s rent OR say that the person can pay $1000 per month PLUS add $200 per month to end up paying the last month''s rent over the period of the next five months. Be tough and do a credit check on the person. No matter the vibes, you don''t want to be stuck with someone living who isn''t paying the rent. My mom use to rent homes out and ended up with a squatter (the guy refused to pay the rent or move out!). It was a huge nightmare. (I think you''ll be okay though since your husband works in the police force. People won''t mess around with not paying the rent

)

Be careful and thoughtful who you rent to. You will be stuck with that person for the entire time they''re there. (eta - the master''s degree student does sound like your best bet!)

Thanks MC, I think that those points are great! I kind of like the guy though, only because he seems really nice(ha, ha, yes I know) and the girl never called me back with her references and I figured if she really wanted it, she would have called back with them.

Also, he works in security at Lehman Brothers which is a pretty big investment bank here and has been there for 4 years, so I figure he is a bit more stable and has probably never been arrested, etc., since they do those kind of checks don''t they before you start a security job.

Plus he works 7 days a week, so he won''t be around much, I hope.

I don''t know, it''s hard to find the right person. I never had to a credit check or show pay stubs or give references for any of the apartments that we rented and I only gave one months rent and one months security and I always got it back when I move out.

 

[sunnyd]

The townhome I''m renting I found on CL. It was a house that was for sale, but they decided to rent it after being on the market for 6 months. The owners are working with a real estate/rental property manager, so we do all our dealings through them and not the owner directly, which might be something to look into for you.

But we had a credit check, references, and met the owners. They required first month''s rent plus a security deposit of the same amount. If you start asking for last month''s on top of that, you run the risk of not finding anyone able to rent! We were coming out of an apartment complex that only had a $150 refundable deposit, so were starting from scratch deposit wise.

I hope some of that is helpful, that is my CL apartment renting experience! As far as the smoker lady you don''t want to rent to, just tell her you''re going with someone else. She doesn''t need to know any more than that. Good luck!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 4/14/2008 10:19:30 AM
Author: butterfly 17
I don''t know, it''s hard to find the right person. I never had to a credit check or show pay stubs or give references for any of the apartments that we rented and I only gave one months rent and one months security and I always got it back when I move out.

It may be location too and things have changed over time. We''re looking to rent now after nearly nine years of owning three homes and most of the places expect first/last/damage, plus extra $300 deposit for animals (we have cats). We''re expecting it''ll cost us at least $4-5K to get into a rental! I guess that''s a lot cheaper than putting a down payment on another house. (I''m really sick of home ownership and so are a few friends/relatives of mine. We''re all selling and renting. We pretty much decided we''ll stay here or rent. We''re having agents look at the house today to give us an idea of sale price. Cross your fingers for me!)

The guy does sound good then, especially if he''s never there! lol You''re lucky that you have that apt. down there. We have our extra lot attached to our house and I want to build a mother-in-law, but on paper, it seems it''ll take years to break even.

 

[sumbride]

You may want to ask the guy who works 7 days a week what time he usually comes home. If he''s pulling up to the house with headlights shining at 2 am, it may be more of a problem then having him home in the afternoon/evening. I would personally go with the grad student.

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 4/14/2008 9:58:55 AM
Author: butterfly 17

Date: 4/14/2008 12:08:31 AM

Author: neatfreak

Butterfly, the best thing you can do for yourself is find out the laws for landlords and tenants in your state and follow them to a t. I volunteer at a tenant help center where we help people with tenant/landlord law issues. And first time landlords often get screwed if they don't know what they are doing as far as the laws go.


That being said, have you had the building inspector near you inspect it? Because everything needs to be up to code before you can legally rent it. It isn't as simple as it seems unfortunately, there are MANY laws that need to be followed. And whatever you do put EVERYTHING in writing in a legally binding lease. Otherwise you can also end up screwed.

Thanks! I did have the home inspected and everything was in great condition, so no worries there. The house already had the seperate apartment when we moved in, but we just never planned to rent it.


I also did look up the tenant/landlord laws to see what I need to do, etc.


I am not sure if I am going to do a lease. I would prefer a month to month because when I looked up the laws, I found that I would only have to give one months notice and vice versa if I need them to move out. I don't want to be obligated to someone for a year, especially if I have issues with them, etc.

Just an FYI a month to month IS a lease. It is just a shorter lease with different terms! A lease simply means that you basically write down all the things you are agreeing to and all the things they are agreeing to. You can specify any time period you like. So you REALLY REALLY want a lease, even if it is a month to month. Just in case something should come up in the future, you are much less likely to get screwed in court if you have a lease. Also much easier to ask someone to leave OR evict them if necessary with a lease.