Craigslist (CL) was THE WAY to find an apartment a few years ago.  Unfortunately, things have changed.  Since posting on Craig’s site is free and there is no active regulation of the validity of the listings, it has become, in my opinion, a sham of sorts.  You too may be able to identify with the growing distaste for this website.

It’s very challenging to digest the advertising found on Craigslist.   It seems so tangible and real, you read the rental price and then the description and then, at last, the photos.  Those gorgeous, bright, shiny photos shot with some fancy camera that makes mole hills appear mountainous and it’s the place you want.  The price is right, the pics are solid so it must exist, it MUST be real….but are all those listings posted on this site true representations of the actual available property?  In my experience doing rentals in Boston for several years now, the answer is probably not what you want to hear…not always.

We can’t blame Craig though, good guy that he is.  A site like this is only as good or as valid as its users. A few years back, this was one of the only vehicles, other than bostonapartments.com, where real estate agents could post their listings for rent.  There were also far fewer agents in the business and therefore less chance for misleading or downright false advertising, which is becoming more common on the site now.

I am very familiar with questionable advertising because my customers email me the web links of apartments advertised online that they find interesting and would like to see.  Since there are very few exclusive rental listings in the city; I often show properties advertised by other companies, through a co-broke arrangement.

[Side note: Many agents won’t show you any properties not listed with their company.  They hope that in time they take to show you only the few units they have that may actually fit your criteria and budget, you just pick one rather than showing you everything out there.  But if they provided you with this service in an efficient block of time in a professional manner, its much better service, inevitably you’d get a place you're happier with in less time…but the agent just makes half the money so many won't.  This is definitely not rocket science here folks.  I did more co broke rentals last month than direct listing rentals because those were the best apartments for my customers.  Even though I made less commission on those deals, I did twice as many.  You do the math.  Provide good service then happy customers and success follow.]

Back to the CL nightmare… I recommend to take CL with a grain of salt and if it seems too good to be true like that penthouse in the sky with the sleek, ultra modern, granite kitchen, in unit laundry and free month’s rent…prepare for the bubble bursting, here it comes….it is probably not true.   Once I give feedback to customers and they discover a listing ad isn’t all it seems they often become frustrated…..some borderline enraged – understandably so!  They get so angry and just want to know “why?”  They yell, they wonder why they have wasted their lunch time sifting though the myriad of seemingly ideal new homes only to have the sham reveal itself.  [Another note: I usually recommend searching sites like Boston.com instead of CL because their advertising is not free and more likely to be legitimate although not always, and there are numerous duplicate issues to sort through - I’ll get into that at a later date.]

Here are just a few ways Craigslist sham ads reveal themselves:

Bait and Switch

There are many challenges my past customers have had associated with this site.  People often use the term “bait and switch”, this refers to agents posting a listing that is ideal….a solid unit, great photos, very reasonable rent price for the location and modern amenities, it’s a steal that you’ve GOT to call on.  You, as the renter, call on this “perfect” unit and set up an appointment to see it only to arrive at the office excited to see THIS apartment (remember the one that seemed so tangible and real), you are then very disappointed to learn that it “has been rented”, but there are four other units they can show you.  They got you in the door…first step, check!  There are likely the same brokers that omit their office name in their advertising even though it is required.   And I’m not trying to bad mouth all other brokers, maybe some are forgetful and that’s why they only re-posted that same ad every morning (the one that gets them two calls/appointments each day) even though it was rented last month, but from the plethora of stories I’ve been told, there seem to be some bad ones out there and that’s why we try to do things differently at Charlesgate Realty.  As I said, I often make half the money per deal but do twice as many finding THE best apartment for the customer.

Misrepresentation

My customers will send me a posting for a property and, again after I’ve cleared up what the listing is and why it isn’t what it looks like, are annoyed that it has not been shown for what it really is…misrepresentation.  A recent email with links that a customer wanted to see included a one bedroom on Marlborough Street, a block from the Public Garden for $1600, heat and hot water included.   This unit was actually a 450 sq ft studio apartment with a partition (half wall) where most people would put their bed to keep it hidden from the living space but most definitely not a one bedroom apartment and most definitely not represented properly.  Imagine telling a customer that this seemingly real posting/apartment is not what it seems.  Sometimes a renter can only accept this is after viewing the apartment himself or herself, which I show them when necessary.  It’s actually fun (sorry, I get way into my job and dig all the psychology in this often emotional decision) to see them “get it”.  The expressions are priceless!

You may also experience confusion with advertising when you see an ad for a “split” (an apartment where the living space has a door and used as a bedroom instead (very economical solution common in college rentals) so that two bedroom unit you found on CL for $1400 downtown with heat and hot water included, perfect, perfect, perfect, only functions as a two bedroom if you forgo a living space.  Most of us actually have stuff…tv, couch, coffee table, you know basics besides a bedroom, hallway, bathroom and galley kitchen.  Hey, for some people, this is the apartment of their dreams and IS perfect for them, they spend no time at home, study at the library constantly, hang in the living room at a friend’s house and only use their place as a crash pad.  I think that for this is the right apartment for someone, just DON’T call it two bed…call it a split.

Garden level apartments, also knows as basements are, in my experience, the MOST misrepresented of properties advertised online.  They are sent to me as they seem like such a tremendous value.  They are indeed, a good value, if you are not opposed to living underground. You can often find more modern amenities and more square footage for less cost than an apartment on a higher floor in the very same building but most folks with whom I work do not prefer the depressing amount of light and the lovely clanging of the pipes which often line the ceiling.  When you call me on a garden level apartment, again here, I have NOT been trained to launch rockets, I ask first if you are open to that floor level so I do not waste your time.  Why do the CL ads try to hide this fact and agents not tell you until you’re at the apartment…hmm.  You may have been there….you arrive at that classic Victorian Beacon Street brownstone excited to see this steal you’ve found online.  You shake hands with the broker, make pleasantries and in you go.  Here is the foyer, what a lovely, well maintained common area, what a nice building, and then instead of climbing up that deep red, lush, carpeted grand staircase, the broker heads back around it and opens this quirky little door underneath it and says “watch your head” but WAIT…where’s he going?  I don’t want to go in the basement…is that where the laundry is?  Is that what he’s showing me?  WAIT, WAIT the apartment is IN the basement?  That ad looked so nice and so cheap and it’s so not what you wanted.  What a waste of time….

No Fee Listings

Lastly and just the absolute worst, no fee apartments.  Don’t even get me started…negotiable fees marked as no fee, half fees marked as no fee, rents slightly increased to be advertised as no fee.  I’ll elaborate on this and more in another post.

I consistently continue to find proof that CL is a sham.  Just pretty pictures and about a total waste of time for apartments seekers unless you have someone to help identify the shammers.  Then it can be fun!  I’ve had some serious laughs with customers as they are calling the brokers from my car trying to bust an agent that wouldn’t return my call!

How to avoid the sham?

I guess they keep doing it because occasionally it does work.  Is it most often, however, a huge waste of everyone’s time, including theirs…which I still try to wrap my head around…so my best advice is to ask lots of questions before stepping out in the increasingly cold, harsh Boston winter to see properties with just any broker.  Find someone you trust, someone invested in you, who cares (yes actually cares) and wants to talk to you again even after you move in and they have been paid and won’t tell you to “call your landlord’ when you reach out to them in the future for something simple.  Ok, find a good broker or get out your notebook, make a list.  Is the building student/pet friendly?  What floor?  Which way does it face?  Is heat included, if not, what is the heat type?  You can call the utility provider to get the previous tenant’s usage information.  What is important to you?  Do you need quiet, are you allergic to animals and there is carpet?  Know what will work for you and then ask about those things specific to you.  Confirm all details, not matter how straightforward they may seem.  Qualify your broker; ask them everything under the sun…ten minutes on the phone is better than an hour seeing the place that you’ll never get back.  If they get aggravated, call someone else.  If the listing is real and legitimate and is a good apartment, they should have no problem answering 20 quick questions about it.  It will save them time too so you’re actually doing them a favor.  Or, if you already have a full time job, call a broker like me, who will do all this for you.  I do the best I can to save you time and money and get you into your ideal home with less stress.