How To Find For Sale By Owner Leads on Craigslist

One way new real estate agents can get business quickly is by prospecting for sale by owner leads. FSBO leads make a great real estate niche for a number of reasons:

1. Easy to find - Search online, look in your local newspaper or drive around your neighborhood and you are sure to find someone looking to sell FSBO.
2. Constant supply - Regardless of if the real estate market is good or bad, there will always be people who want to try to sell FSBO.
3. Expressed desire to sell - By listing their home, FSBOs have already expressed their intent to sell their home.
4. 80-90% eventually work with a real estate agent - NAR statistics say that eventually 80-90% of FSBOs hire a real estate agent to help them sell.

In this article, I will focus on finding for sale by owner leads on Craigslist.

1. Create a prospecting habit each morning - The first step to any marketing campaign is to commit time each morning to taking action. Schedule 30 minutes each morning to prospect for FSBOs.
2. Search Craigslist - Choose your city and filter the "real estate for sale" ads to the "by owner" category. Look for anyone who posted a new ad in the last day and pick at least 3 FSBO listings to target.
3. Reply to ads - For each FSBO you target, send a short email that focuses on the seller. There are two approaches you could take:
   
   
   • Determining their motivation: "I'm not emailing to ask you for a listing, and I respect your decision to sell by owner. If I had a buyer who was interested in your home, would you be willing to pay a buyer's commission?"
   • Offering free advice: "I'm not emailing to ask you for a listing, and I respect your decision to sell by owner. I've put together a free For Sale By Owner Toolkit for people welling on their own that includes < describe benefits >. If you would be interested in this free kit, < tell them how to get it such as visiting your website >."
While not everyone will respond to your email, some will.
4. Preview their home - For those who do respond, try to schedule an appointment to preview their home. The point is to start building rapport, not listing their home that day, so be helpful and friendly. You can also bring along a CMA analysis or anything else that might be helpful.
5. Follow up - Keep in touch with prospects each week to see if they have questions and stay informed of their home search process.

Real estate prospecting doesn't have to be difficult or complicated, but it does take persistence to find and follow up with for sale by owner leads.