Fliperati

In an effort to boost the sad number of “flip tips” available here on Fliperati, I wanted to share the good experiences I’ve had using craigslist over the course of my first flip.  In addition to regularly scanning the real estate section of craigslist for a general sense of rental costs and home prices in my area, I’ve also used the classified section to get rid of some of the stuff that was in the house when I bought it.  So far I’ve unloaded the fridge, the stove, 190 square feet of brick paving stones and about 50 linear feet of chainlink fencing.  It only takes a few minutes to advertise these items on craigslist and, if you’ve priced them right, you can usually sell them in a day or two.  Although I certainly didn’t mind pocketing a couple hundred dollars in sale proceeds, the best part of using craigslist has been getting other people to come to the house and take away stuff that I would otherwise have to load into a dumpster.  The paving stones are a great example of this because it was exhausting to rip them all out of the ground and stack them by the driveway, so I was ecstatic when I found someone who was willing to pay me for the privilege of coming to my house and taking them away.

I of course also plan to advertise the finished property on craigslist when I’m ready to put it on the market, so hopefully my house will sell as quickly as the paving stones did…