BiggerPockets

I had lunch with an investor recently who shared with me a brilliant idea she has for attracting buyers with bandit signs in a legal manner.

What she does is she'll knock on the door of a homeowner who lives in a busy intersection, introduce herself, and simply explain that she'd like to keep a bandit sign in their front yard for the weekend and she'll be back on Sunday afternoon to pick it up. She doesn't even offer any money or incentive for doing so, just simply asks their permission.

She has a surprisingly high success rate with this tactic (being an attractive female probably helps). Most homeowners appreciate someone asking their permission! I tried it this weekend in an area where I'm doing an open house and it worked for me (and I'm neither attractive or female!).

Sign was a simple For Sale By Owner sign. When the buyer calls in, I tell them the house at that location is not available but there is another home right down the street that is available and set up and appt.

Thought I'd share. Any other ideas, thoughts, comments, or Divine revelations?

Tom,
Thats a great idea. Thanks for sharing.

Jon, you're kidding! I thought Austin was bad. But not allowing you to have an advertisement on your own property?

Ah, the omission of the FOURTH possibility should not come as a surprise.

4. Law enforcement calls because the sign is considered illegal - we all should know that one.

Also, I'm pretty sure putting bandit signs in a yard in Austin is illegal, even with the homeowner's permission. This is from the city's web site:

Signs

You may not post a sign in the right of way or on public property.

In residential areas, you may post the following signs on private property temporarily:

* Contractors' signs
* Garage or yard sale signs
* Neighborhood meeting signs
* Political signs
* Real estate signs

Off-premise signs are prohibited. For example, a garage sale sign can only be placed where the sale is taking place or a house for sale sign can only be placed on the property where the house is being sold.

In non-residential areas, all signs must be on private property. A permit is required for a permanent sign such as a business sign. The City of Austin does not regulate the content of billboards.

sign violations

Notice that while real estate signs are allowed, "off premises signs" are not. So, even if you made the argument a "we buy houses" sign is a "real estate sign", it could only be posted in a yard if the person who lived there was the one doing the buying. I suspect there's a more specific definition of a "real estate sign" somewhere in their municipal code that defines these to be "for sale" and "for rent" signs.

They don't seem very vigilant here, either. I see some signs stay up a couple of weeks. The CAUSS folks, OTOH, do get after them pretty consistently.

They're pretty vigilant if you put signs out on street corners but if you have it in someone's yard, they're a little less likely to enforce.

Yeah...what is the fun if you can't dodge $25k fines and Barney Fife calling you about to blow a head gasket? That is half the fun.

Besides...Tom has a system set up that would rival any secondary world power in terms of people trying to track the calls down. The only trouble is that it doesn't beat the code enforcement folks posing as sellers!