Post rental on Facebook Marketplace

[Hoang Nguen]

Dear All,

I want to post my rental on Facebook Marketplace. Can you please share any pros and cons to post rental on Facebook Marketplace? Can people see my personal profile?

Thanks,

Hoang

[Daniella Sanchez]

Hi Hoang, 

You can post on Facebook Marketplace, it's really become a place for more than just social networking. In college I subleased my apartment through Facebook 3 times and didn't have an issue. You can also change the setting on your facebook account that will make your account private to anyone you're not friends with (you don't have to be friends with your potential tenants). This way, they can respond to your for rent ad, but they will not be able to see your facebook profile and all that you post on there. 

[Dennis M.]

It’s the greatest screening tool ever created for landlords . I do all my rentals exclusively this way .

I can pick through the crap to get to the corn using their profiles I can know right away who’s a good fit and who is a loser . Love love love Facebook for real estate

[Luke Reninger]

I used it before. Millions of questions answered in the ad. So they didn’t read. Then lots of private message asking if eviction, no job, ten animals were okay. 

The reach is amazing but I prefer to provide a link to Zillow or cozy and let them apply there. All the reach and it typically weeds out the BS. 

[Brett Jones]

I had three turnovers this summer and I've found I'm getting a much larger response from Facebook than Craigslist, but 2 out of the three tenants came in via Craigslist. I do like the ability to peek into the life of prospective tenants that Facebook allows. If you're worried about listing under a personal account, setup an account for your rental business and post under that.

[Chris R.]

I agree with everyone’s comments here. I create a Zillow listing page but also duplicate it in FB...people put on a perfect face for an apartment walk through but you can see how they really live from their FB profile. VERY helpful free screening tool. 

[Hoang Nguen]

Thanks so much to all of you

[Daniel Haberkost]

@Hoang Nguen

Facebook marketplace is great as you can see the individual’s personal profile when they message you. I use it to fill all of my rooms!

[Jeff Brower]

Be ready for 90% of the messages to read 'is this available'? I put in the message that if they ask 'is this available' then I will not respond as I will delete the ad the minute it is rented. I also list my criteria right at the top and people ask questions that are already answered. I know if they are asking me these questions then they did not read the ad. 

A big one for me is putting 'please do not message after 10pm or before 8am'. You will get messages at 3am waking you up, I have to silence my phone at night for these reasons. 

[Jennifer T.]

This is probably obvious, but also be wary of scammers.  I had a rental ad up a few months ago and had three different people request information through IM.  And then, at some point in our back and forth when we were not actively chatting, posted a video link in my IM.  Maybe it was a virus.  Maybe it was merely an ad.  Whatever it was, never click on a video link that a rando sends you.

I also had some guy waste a few minutes of my time because I thought he was contacting me for my ad.  But quickly got wind it was the first feelers of a romance scam, ie "from Houston, but overseas", "so lonely", "looking for friends".  Command of the English language was "off".  It was just so funny and patheticly bad, I couldn't help but laugh instead of being annoyed.

[David Barnett]

I agree with what everyone said.  I wanted to throw in a new wrinkle for people that are looking for deals to take down.  When the landlords post it to their personal page, I love it.  It makes it easy to start a conversation with them via IM and see if they would be interested in selling their property.

[Heath M.]

I use FaceBook but send them to Cozy for the application process.  Like above, you will get the "Is this available" way too much.  I basically had a standard cut and paste response but next time I think I'll put in there that I will ignore the generic response.  It was comical to view some profiles of people asking me for info...  

FB Marketplace is the new CraigsList, everything is being sold on there.  Also join your local for sale groups, I was able to target market that way as well. 

[Cody L.]

Originally posted by @Jeff Brower:

Be ready for 90% of the messages to read 'is this available'? I put in the message that if they ask 'is this available' then I will not respond as I will delete the ad the minute it is rented. I also list my criteria right at the top and people ask questions that are already answered. I know if they are asking me these questions then they did not read the ad. 

A big one for me is putting 'please do not message after 10pm or before 8am'. You will get messages at 3am waking you up, I have to silence my phone at night for these reasons. 

So funny.  I finally posted a few units on FB marketplace.  I get a TON of "is it still available" (even though my listing says "If you're reading this then YES, it's still available".  But worse, of all the people I've replied to (I have a saved reply that says something like "Yes, it's available.  To setup a time to view call our office @ xxxxxxx M-F, 9-6".  I've had a grand total of zero leases from FB.  In fact, we've had ZERO calls from FB.  And worst yet, I think I've gotten maybe 2 or 3 replies back after I answered their question.

And our properties are in areas that you'd think would get lots of FB marketplace love. 

[Nathan Gesner]

Facebook is great exposure, especially because anyone that sees your add can tag friends or share it to another page.

The bad news? Just like a yard sign, you will end up getting a lot of inquiries from people that can't possibly qualify.

"Do you have more pictures?"

"Is this still available?"

"Will you accept five dogs and a miniature horse and let me pay the deposit in 17 installments of $52.94 and pay my rent every month on the 24th? Oh, and I'm not currently working but my uncle can pay my rent until I can get a job. By the way, I notice the walls are a light grey and that triggers my anxiety so would you allow me to paint?"

[Rob B.]

Definitely a good resource; I noted in a different post that I have several family members who actually found their most recent rentals via the FB marketplace. Having said that, there are still some great options out there which may be able to help you keep everything in one place (listing the property to 10+ major rental listing sites, managing listing responses + scheduling viewing times, tenant screening w/ a fully comprehensive application, digital lease creation, online rent collection, and maintenance request tracking). @Hoang Nguen

[Jim S.]

FB.....to many tire kickers. No leases.

[Kelly Clark]

@Brett Jones How do you post a rental from a business page? I can't seem to find that option.

[Mike R.]

@Brett Jones I have the same question. FB doesn't seem to give you the option of posting a rental to Marketplace from a FB business page.

[Dan Maciejewski]

@Mike R., @Kelly Clark,
AFAIK, business pages are for running paid ads (or wasting money boosting posts).  They do not have access to the marketplace. 
 
If you want the Marketplace, it has to be from a personal page.  You can either change your settings so only Friends can see your posts, or create a new personal page with no info.

[Sarah Brown]

All I get very time I post on FB is people complaining about rising rent prices.  Not worth it.  I get way better return on Craigslist and other sites my software syndicates to. 

[Kelly Clark]

Thanks @Dan Maciejewski. Thanks for letting me know that I should stop looking for a unicorn. I've had great success finding tenants on FB. It takes some time sifting through the weeds but copy and paste makes it easy to reply with "... Yes, it's still available. More details are on our website..." I love the ability to look at the profiles of potential tenants. 

[Dan Maciejewski]

Originally posted by @Kelly Clark:

Thanks @Dan Maciejewski. Thanks for letting me know that I should stop looking for a unicorn. I've had great success finding tenants on FB. It takes some time sifting through the weeds but copy and paste makes it easy to reply with "... Yes, it's still available. More details are on our website..." I love the ability to look at the profiles of potential tenants. 

 That's great -- most of my tenants have come from Zillow group.  Nothing but bad news from cragslist or yard signs.  

With Zillow charging, I may have to start to branch out to FB!

[Ben Jacobs]

Any of you check out syndications with turbotenant, zumper, avail?  Looking forward to the day Facebook MarketPlace allows to post as a business page.  Anyone look into that recently?  There's no way I'm posting on FB with my personal profile.  We specialize in taking on the calls/texts/emails/spam/solicitations so landlords don't need to.  I know all about the "is your property for rent?", "can you send me more pictures?", "I want to buy your property with all cash", and on and on.... As of now, no thanks FaceBook.

[Ronak Shah]

I am getting an error and now allowed to create a post on FB marketplace. Any idea why?