I’m thinking of telling my real estate agents not to post ads on Craigslist. I’m not sure why any informed renter or landlord would use Craigslist in Boston anymore, as it’s become a sewer of real estate scams and spammy garbage ads.
I’ll tell you a story: I received a call from young woman who told me that her mom was doing research in helping her find a Boston apartment. Her mom stumbled across my blog and enjoyed reading it. She went on to say: “My mom wants me to go through your office to find an apartment, because of our bad luck with Boston real estate Craigslist ads.” She forwarded me this Craigslist ad she wanted me to look into:
$250.00 per month Boston South End apartment
(Please note: this ad may be deleted by the time you read this blog post. If you read the ad, please leave a comment.)
I told her why don’t you place a call to this ad. If the $250 apartment is still available, I’ll pay the entire broker fee out my own pocket. She hasn’t called back yet, but I think we all know that the agent for this Boston South End apartment will say: “I’m Sorry, the studio apartments has been rented. But I have other apartments – blah, blah …”
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I have a question: If I were to place an ad in the Boston Globe for a $250 studio apartment which didn’t exist, would the Boston Globe and I be sued? I think so. Perhaps I’m slow, but why is it legal to post false ads on Craigslist? How many fake ads do you think are on the Boston apartments section of Craigslist? One, two, ten – perhaps all of them?
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You know what really bothers me, I may have to delete this post, for legal reasons. Craigslist has more powerful lawyers than I do.
