Most people today have used, or at least heard of Craigslist. Craigslist is a website devoted to classified advertisements. Users can find ads ranging from CDs for sale to job listings. What people may or may not know is that Craigslist Ventura is becoming more and more popular for the purchase and sale of real estate. Investors, homeowners, and families looking to purchase a home should consider using the website as one of the resources in their endeavors. Craigslist Ventura can be full of spam and other junk, so users need to be able to navigate the site wisely to avoid wasting their time. Fortunately, there is a whole category devoted to purchasing, selling, and renting real estate. Below we will discuss each of the subcategories under the “housing” category and how residents of Ventura County can use this as a resource.
Craigslist Ventura Subcategories
Apts Wanted
This subcategory is mainly for people who are looking to rent a living space. Although it may seem that this subcategory is for apartments, you will see people looking for rooms, guest houses, single family homes, and even RV space. Occasionally you will see an ad or two from investors looking to buy a duplex or other small multifamily unit, but that is definitely not the norm. If you have an extra room or other living space that you are looking to rent out, this may be the subcategory that you search through to look for someone seeking what you have to offer. But for those who have never rented out a room before, always make sure you screen any potential roommates and that they are a fit with your personality and lifestyle. And with most things when it comes to real estate, it is usually beneficial to have some sort of contract in place in case of a dispute.
Apts/Housing for Rent
This subcategory is the polar opposite of the previous one, as this one is used for people looking to rent out real estate. You will see everything from rooms for rent, to apartments, condos, townhomes, and single family homes. If you are looking to rent out real estate that you own, you want to post in this subcategory. Conversely, if you are looking to rent a place, it will probably be a lot easier to look for suitable housing in this subcategory as opposed to posting that you need housing in the “apts wanted” subcategory of Craigslist Ventura.
Housing Swap
This subcategory is used for people looking to swap their home for a small time period with a person or family in another part of the state or country. For example, someone with a beach house in Oxnard may want to swap with someone with a home in the snow in Lake Tahoe for a week in the winter. This subcategory is also used for people looking to exchange room and board for some service, such as a nanny or caregiver. “Housing Swap” is not a heavily used subcategory in Ventura County, so you will normally see that most of the posts are from other areas in Southern California.
Office & Commercial
As the name implies, this subcategory is used for the leasing of office space and other commercial opportunities. The bulk of the posts are for buildings that are looking for customers to lease a space, but you will also find posts from people that are looking for an office or commercial space to lease. You will also occasionally see posts from people looking for investors to partner in the purchase of commercial assets, or some other type of venture.
Parking & Storage
Like “Office & Commercial,” this subcategory is pretty self-explanatory. You will find posts for many different self-storage companies, as well as boat and RV storage facilities. If you are looking to move and are in need of a storage unit, this may be a great resource to use as you can check what companies are having move-in specials. It is also nice that Craigslist Ventura has one webpage where you can compare prices on many of the available storage companies.
Real Estate for Sale
If you use the dropdown box at the top of any of the subcategory pages on Craigslist Ventura, you will see that this subcategory can be further broken down into “real estate – by broker” and “real estate – by owner.” “Real Estate – by broker” features traditional sales that are listed with a real estate agent. Realtors use Craigslist Ventura as an additional platform to market their listings to potential buyers. “Real estate – by owner” is meant to be a subcategory for owners looking to do a For Sale By Owner (FSBO). In reality, you will also find quite a few posts from investors either looking for homes to purchase or looking for people who are interested in joining their team. It is also not uncommon to see posts from people selling homes outside of Ventura County, or even in other states, on Craigslist Ventura.
Real Estate Wanted
This subcategory is very similar to “apts wanted” and you will find plenty of posts for people looking to rent living space or RV space. There seems to be more posts for people looking to buy a home in this subcategory though, and posts by investors looking to buy and sell properties are more prevalent as well. It will definitely not hurt to look through this subcategory, but you might find it a better use of time to look through one of the Craigslist Ventura subcategories that is more focused on what you are actually looking for.
Rooms & Shares
If you are looking to rent a room in a home or apartment or you currently have an extra room that you want to rent out, this is the subcategory for you. There are hundreds of posts in this subcategory and it is easily one of the most popular real estate subcategories in Craigslist Ventura. The main difference between this one and “apts/housing for rent” is that “rooms & shares” is focused on single bedrooms for rent and makes it easier for those who are not looking to rent multiple bedrooms.
Rooms Wanted
This is yet another subcategory that is very similar to “apts wanted,” except the vast majority of the posts are actually by people looking to rent a single room. If you are interested in renting out one of your rooms, this may be the first subcategory of Craigslist Ventura that you want to visit as you will find plenty of people looking to rent a room.
Sublet/Temp Wanted
This subcategory has about a 50/50 mix of posts by people looking for housing to rent and by people looking to rent housing. There are not a whole lot of posts from Ventura County in this subcategory, so you will see that about half of the posts are from other areas in Southern California. I would recommend using one of the more popular Craigslist Ventura subcategories to post in that should offer your post more visibility.
Sublets & Temporary
Similar to “sublet/temp wanted” except the majority of posts are by people looking to rent out or sublet their properties. This subcategory also does not have many posts from Ventura County, so be aware that posting here may not draw the attention that you are looking for.
Vacation Rentals
As the name implies, this subcategory is used by people looking to rent out their home as a vacation rental on Craigslist Ventura. The rental terms are usually defined in the individual posts, and can be anything from a set time period to the renter choosing how many days/weeks they are looking to rent for and what time of year. This is another subcategory where there are very few posts from within Ventura County. You will find vacation rentals in this subcategory that are throughout the United States, and even other parts of the world. If you have a beach house in Oxnard or Ventura, or even a getaway in Ojai that you are looking to use as a vacation rental, this would be the place to post it.
Conclusion
As you can see, Craigslist Ventura offers many options to help residents buy, sell, and rent real estate. As mentioned, some of the subcategories are more highly used than others, but you should be able to find at least one or two that will have posts that pertain to what you are looking for. As with anything on Craigslist, there will always be scammers and posts that are inaccurate or downright deceitful. It is advised that anyone looking for real estate on Craigslist Ventura take the necessary precautions that they would when conducting any other transaction with a stranger. However, if you do your due diligence, Craigslist Ventura can offer plenty of options for your real estate search.