Students use Craigslist to find housing

Thursday, January 15, 2009

John Meyers used Craigslist, a Web site that hosts community classifieds, to find a house that he and his girlfriend could move into. He also advertised for someone to take over the lease from his current residence.

Meyers, New Jersey graduate student, said that he was optimistic he would find someone for the old lease, but that he hadn’t received any responses yet.

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For the last month, individuals living in and around Lawrence posted approximately 800 advertisements to Craigslist for temporary roommates, new apartments and even trading houses.

“I’m hoping people browse before making a decision and they come across my ad to help me out,” Meyers said.

Meyers is not alone in his decision to use Craigslist. For the last month, individuals living in and around Lawrence posted approximately 800 advertisements to Craigslist for temporary roommates, new apartments and even trading houses.

Sean Williams, realtor at Realty Executives, said the Web site was equally popular among Lawrence real estate businesses and students. Williams said Craigslist was an important tool for realtors because 80 percent of home buyers started their searches online.

While Craigslist comes with benefits, Williams said its users could face problems they never signed up for. Williams said he routinely received advertisements from Web-based companies looking to capitalize on Craigslist’s success and its users’ ignorance. Such companies often promise to take care of the technical details for the user and maximize an individual listing’s exposure on the Internet. Williams said it was important for students to consult a real estate agent because these online businesses rarely delivered positive results.

“Realtors then play a crucial role in editorializing, explaining data, adding insights and getting people into the houses they wish to see,” Williams said.

Despite the presence of scams by outside Web-based companies on Craigslist, the Web site’s commonsense rules can help put unsuccessful home transactions in the minority, with or without a realtor.

Local property owner Nate Miller, a student at the University of Kansas from 2001 to 2003 said he joined Craigslist a couple of years ago to find tenants for the house he manages on Peterson Road.

By following the Web site’s rules, Miller said joining Craigslist proved to be profitable. He found two of his current tenants on the Web site. Although he had one bad experience involving a tenant he found on Craigslist fleeing to Wichita, Miller said he expected that the site would continue to deliver good results, as long as he followed the rules.

“It’s not Craigslist’s fault,” Miller said. “I think it’s a good turn on the investment.”

— — Grant Treaster

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