As I’ve mentioned before there are 2 keys to winning at Craigslist:
Patience
If you need something in less than a month, Craigslist isn’t for you. It’s not full of deals to be had. It’s mostly junk and usually overpriced. In order to snag the real deals that I love to find, you have to be willing to wait and wait and wait. Most of my house was furnished from Craigslist, but it was piece by piece and over a number of years.
Consistency
Because most things are junk, you have to look long and hard to find those real deals. If you don’t check the site regularly, they’ll be bought, sold and deleted so fast you will never even know it was there. I spent 4 months watching for a good patio furniture deal and just could not find one. Apparently it’s one of those purchases that last forever and you never sell.
The only way we were able to score a deal was because I checked Craigslist literally EVERY SINGLE MORNING for those 4 months. I would arrive to work in the morning, grab some coffee, and spend 5-10 minutes scrolling through the new patio furniture until I the top of the previous days posts. It was my ritual. The set I found was worth about 10,000 new and I managed to score it for about $1,800 from a very rich couple looking to upgrade and dump the stuff quick. I had to take the guy cash by noon in order to secure the furniture because 5 other people had already called. If you want to win the game, you have to check daily.
Now
That brings us to our latest coup. We have zero shade or protection from the weather in our backyard. Even with our massive patio, they didn’t build even the slightest overhang, let alone a full on covered deck. This led me to a long and fruitless search for a gazebo worth owning. I tried buying new, but anything with a sturdy metal frame and room costs around $1,500 (and as much as $3,000). A cheap one wouldn’t last long and still costs around $500.
After checking EVERY SINGLE DAY for the past 4-5 months, I finally got lucky. Another rich household (2 porches in the drive and 2 luxury SUV’s in a $1MM neighborhood) remodeled their backyard, put in the deck and patio I wish we had, but no longer had room for their very nice $1,500 gazebo. Now for $400, it will look great in ours.
That’s how you buy quality for bargain prices.
What’s the last score you got on Craigslist?
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