Anybody ever tried putting “we buy houses” bandit signs in front of vacant & abandoned houses?
I figure they’d be in the neighborhoods and less likely to be taken by code enforcement, if the owner drives by and sees it they may call you, if neighbors see it they may call you, if it’s a bank foreclosed house it would probably sit for a while if it’s not being maintained, or the lawn crew maintaining it for the bank will eventually mow the lawn and toss it…
What’cha think?
I think that’s a great idea! However, bandit signs get taken down by more than code administration as you probably know. Competitors will remove signs, neighbors will remove them, and the wind might remove them.
Another way to keep signs up for extended periods is to pay a “lawn owner,” on a corner lot in our farm area, $10 dollars a month for the right to post a sign on his property. It should be nice looking, not like the ones we post for buyers. When we think about it, the cost might be a wash when compared to the costs of having to post and retrieve signs on the weekends (gas, time, and materials all add up over a month’s time).
We’re talking 8 trips a month to post and retrieve/replace just ONE bandit sign in our farm. But for $10/mo ($2.50/week) we can leave a sign up in the exact area we want to farm with way fewer hiccups. So, for $200/mo ($25/week) we’ve got twenty signs posted in our farm that will (theoretically) stay up 24/7. Hmmm.
We also like posting for free in vacant lots, far enough away from the curb that code enforcement has no authority.
A really nice location is high on a pole inside a vacant lot, again far enough away from the curb where code enforcement can only be annoyed, but has no authority to remove. Why high on a pole? To discourage it’s removal.
That said, we squeezed a bandit sign between a fence post and chained link. The sign was nearly invisible from the street without squinting, but nobody attempted to remove it for nearly two years.
We got calls from pedestrians. Who knew that would happen?
:beer
Great tips! But sanchoman, you might also want to know that if you will go through the trouble of putting them up, they better be seen.