Response From Craigslist Ad Says a Lot About the Real Estate Industry

This morning, Paul, Craig, and I were discussing our need for a new escrow coordinator/office person. The young lady currently occupying this position is moving out of state, so we have the need.

Though we're busy and growing, the real estate industry is still facing significant challenges. Business can be quite erratic from week to week and month to month. Gene Mackey from Countrywide Home Loans said he sees 2009 as a bipolar market – big swings – up then down. Interest rates, jobs, foreclosures, government programs, etc. each contributing part of the dynamic.

Here's the ad I ran on Craigslist:

HarperMees & Associates with Keller Williams Realty in Danville, CA

Part time position 4-6 hours 4-5 days a week – some flexibility

Must be self-motivated and able to multi-task.

This would be an excellent position for a college student wanting a career in real estate, someone who has prior experience in real estate or the mortgage industry.

Send email or resume with work experience, qualifications or desire to learn 

In less than 5 minutes the phone started ringing and email poured in. Within 15 minutes, I removed my phone number from the ad. The responses were all over the board with some very experienced and qualified professionals responding. I felt bad. Surely, the respondents didn't realize what a basic, part-time position we have to fill, so I sent out this response to over 30 people:

Thanks for your response to our need for an escrow coordinator

To say the least, I have been overwhelmed with responses.

To help you determine if this position might be of interest to you, I am providing more details

Currently, we have a college student helping us with escrows. She has her license from another state, but is familiar with real estate and the escrow process.

We pay her a minimum of $850 a month for 2 to 3 hours a day and she comes in 4 to 5 days a week depending on her schedule.

Monthly income can vary, because we pay her a bonus on each closed escrow over her set minimum.

As you can see, this is not a position for someone who needs an immediate full time income to support themselves. But, our business is growing and there is an opportunity for the right person to grow with us.

We also have two niche markets, we need licensed agents to help us exploit. If your current situation isn't feeding you enough leads, then you might be a good fit for one of these.

I received at least 15 responses which included things like: still interested -it sounds perfect for me – times are tough, I'll take anything.

Many of the respondents have been recently layed off from real estate teams, brokers or mortgage companies. Some are college students looking for part-time work. Some are licensed agents with years of experience. Some have up to 7 years of experience with coordinating escrows.

I knew things were tough in the industry, attendance at the local Realtor marketing meetings has fallen dramatically. But, we're busy and there are a lot of homes being sold because prices have fallen and there are a lot of investors and buyers looking for a good deal.

I thought filling this position was going to be impossible. In a way, it's sad to say that it looks like it is going to be very easy and we are going to find a very qualified person to do so. Hopefully, we can all work together to get the economy humming along again