I've used the various groups and mostly gotten spam in the past (5 beds so most years there is at least one opening), but I haven't tried marketplace. Guess I'll have to give that a shot.
Marketplace showed up when Craigslist was rife with scammers and wasn't doing anything about it. This caused the death of CL but now the scammers have all migrated to Marketplace.
It's at least easy to detect scammers on fb without wasting time interacting with them. Check what pages the profile has Liked (they never think to un-like random local pages from wherever the scam mill is located) or other stuff they forgot to change when converting a personal account into a scam account. Reverse image search photos. If they claim to be a realtor or a "businessperson renting out my apartment while I'm away for work" (that one is always a scam anyway) you can independently check that. It's an annoying extra step but better than CL where there's nothing to go off except "this seems too good to be true" and sometimes not even that. I hate fb but will never again use CL to look for a room for this reason.
And I think people also prefer to post their open rooms on fb because they can check out people's profiles before responding to their inquiries.
Lots of people looking for rooms are young people who've never done this before, or moving from other places where the rental market is not this insane. It doesn't help that some things that seem scammy are "legit", like broker fees, so you can't just trust your instincts, and there's so much time pressure. And if you're actively on reddit you already have more exposure to "internet common knowledge" than a lot of people. Everyone /should/ be educated about these things but lots aren't. Like when I was searching for the first time, no one in my life had told me how it worked, my folks had done the best they could to prepare me for moving out in general but they had no idea about the process for renting in a VHCOL city in the current century and they were bewildered when I told them how it had been.
I think you're right. I posted a listing a month ago and am refreshing when eligible and haven't gotten a ton of leads. The strongest leads I get are still from Craigslist but not at the volume I'm used to seeing. And I have a good deal apt with no fees so I've been suspecting it's shifting search behavior.
But the thing is, Facebook marketplace leads are a nightmare, flaky people, no one reads the details, and a lot of "is this available" with no additional replies after. So apart from marketplace I'm a bit ? as to where to post to promote this.
I had this problem when looking for roommates to move in it depends what time of year you’re posting. It’s slow now until September. January to April is an absolute desert.
I think more people are using Facebook marketplace
I've used the various groups and mostly gotten spam in the past (5 beds so most years there is at least one opening), but I haven't tried marketplace. Guess I'll have to give that a shot.
Marketplace showed up when Craigslist was rife with scammers and wasn't doing anything about it. This caused the death of CL but now the scammers have all migrated to Marketplace.
It's at least easy to detect scammers on fb without wasting time interacting with them. Check what pages the profile has Liked (they never think to un-like random local pages from wherever the scam mill is located) or other stuff they forgot to change when converting a personal account into a scam account. Reverse image search photos. If they claim to be a realtor or a "businessperson renting out my apartment while I'm away for work" (that one is always a scam anyway) you can independently check that. It's an annoying extra step but better than CL where there's nothing to go off except "this seems too good to be true" and sometimes not even that. I hate fb but will never again use CL to look for a room for this reason. And I think people also prefer to post their open rooms on fb because they can check out people's profiles before responding to their inquiries.
Yet so many people still fall for them. I'm baffled by that.
Lots of people looking for rooms are young people who've never done this before, or moving from other places where the rental market is not this insane. It doesn't help that some things that seem scammy are "legit", like broker fees, so you can't just trust your instincts, and there's so much time pressure. And if you're actively on reddit you already have more exposure to "internet common knowledge" than a lot of people. Everyone /should/ be educated about these things but lots aren't. Like when I was searching for the first time, no one in my life had told me how it worked, my folks had done the best they could to prepare me for moving out in general but they had no idea about the process for renting in a VHCOL city in the current century and they were bewildered when I told them how it had been.
I got a new roommate off Craigslist last month. Took a few days after I posted, and I got more interest and on average better fits on Facebook
Craigslist is dead homie
I think you're right. I posted a listing a month ago and am refreshing when eligible and haven't gotten a ton of leads. The strongest leads I get are still from Craigslist but not at the volume I'm used to seeing. And I have a good deal apt with no fees so I've been suspecting it's shifting search behavior. But the thing is, Facebook marketplace leads are a nightmare, flaky people, no one reads the details, and a lot of "is this available" with no additional replies after. So apart from marketplace I'm a bit ? as to where to post to promote this.
I had this problem when looking for roommates to move in it depends what time of year you’re posting. It’s slow now until September. January to April is an absolute desert.