1000 Bandit Signs put out in one night

Wholesaler · Corsicana, TX · Member since 2015 · 46 posts · 28 votes

We are gearing up to put out 1000 bandit signs out in one night. Will be doing this in a few weeks. Would love to hear from people with experience. What advice do yall have?

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Scott TrenchPro Member

Rental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 6k+ votes

10y

I think you are going to have several problems:

1) People will get annoyed with you and you will get angry calls from people who don't like you soliciting at such extraordinary lengths in their neighborhoods.

2) People may call the police - depending on where you are that activity may be illegal.

3) At best, you'll get so much interest that it will be overwhelming - have you built a system to handle that volume of leads?

4) That's going to be a miserable night...

5) Don't do that.

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Jean-francois Ndomb
Real Estate Investor · Kalamazoo, MI · Member since 2015 · 120 posts · 37 votes
10y
@Cameron Tope what is is the ratio sign posted to leads received? if you do not mind sharing.
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Cameron Tope
Property Manager · Katy, TX · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
10y
@Jean-francois Ndomb I've had anywhere from 0% to 16% response rate, with the average around 4%. The only problem I've found is bandit sign leads are a lot less motivated. I get a lot of calls about renting, people "curious about the process", people looking to buy a home, etc.
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Corey Thompson
OP
Wholesaler · Corsicana, TX · Member since 2015 · 46 posts · 28 votes
10y
My data is simple. I just wrote a 15k assignment fee. Before that was 20k. And the same wholesaler just got a 289k Arv property under contract for 125k. He does 100 bandit signs in 2.5 hours. He now has a team of bird dogs that his bandit signs have generated and now he only puts out signs once a month. As far as having 10 people @ 7.25 an hour? I have an army of people with little or no real estate knowledge that are wanting to get in. We have assigned them Google numbers and supplied the signs. Next weekend we will all ride together and put out a couple of hundred, so they will understand where to place them. Then will will map routes for them and turn them loose. If their sign generates a lead, we will split the assignment fee with them. If we buy the lead, we will split the entire deal with them. As for the cost vs direct mail and Facebook, we do that too. But direct mail doesn't grow my network. And this method will. I'm really curious too. And can't wait to share the results. This will be my first time. A year ago I had never bought a house. Went to one networking event and bought three the next week. And that worked out ok. So I'll go into bandit signs the only way I know how too. All in.
3 Reply
Jason Yarusi
Investor · Murfreesboro, TN · Member since 2013 · 430 posts · 178 votes
10y
Look forward to see the results!
1 Reply
Derrick S.
South Central Alaska · Member since 2016 · 57 posts · 10 votes
10y
Originally posted by @Corey Thompson:

... because I don't know 100 people to put out 100 signs.
Hahaha! That is so great. Tell 'em!
Pretty much I'm hearing "you really don't want to work that hard" but how else are you going to break out? Hard work.
I'm following so that I can hear all your success. I put out 50 signs a night with my dad, after school, years ago. That and wholesalers were his only marketing, he did like $5mm in three years.
I'm cheering for you
1 Reply
Michael Nakh
Investor · North Hollywood, CA · Member since 2016 · 3 posts · 1 vote
10y
Good stuff Corey! Can you guys recommend any specific locations to place these signs? (For example by a freeway entrance etc.)
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Jean-francois Ndomb
Real Estate Investor · Kalamazoo, MI · Member since 2015 · 120 posts · 37 votes
10y
@Cameron Tope thank you for the feedback.
0 Reply
Andy Cross
Wholesaler · Culver City, CA · Member since 2015 · 185 posts · 56 votes
10y
Originally posted by @Glenn Banks:

You may do better diversifying, like putting out 200 bandit signs, 200 adds on eBay, 200 on Craigslist, 200 inserts in a local newspaper, 200 pop up adds leading to a 1 page website. I've never done bandit signs so take it for what it's worth. Just seems like less running around. When you do get a call, ask them where they got your contact info, that way you know which portion of your marketing is paying you back effectively and which portions are not.
Hey Glenn...ebay, huh? Are you suggesting placing "we buy houses" ad on ebay? Have you done it before, and have an example? I just tried searching that...and got nothing. Thanks!
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Matt Geerts
Investor · St. Thomas, Ontario · Member since 2015 · 692 posts · 312 votes
10y
@Corey Thompson
I love this idea and love all the negative opinions you're generating! I can't wait to see you close ONE deal and make it all worthwhile.
Direct mail his exactly ONE person per letter. Each one of your thousand signs can hit a hundred people at a public location.
When's the day!?!?
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Corey Thompson
OP
Wholesaler · Corsicana, TX · Member since 2015 · 46 posts · 28 votes
10y
Update: 500 signs were put out in 10-12 cities. We did this Friday night and finished around 5am. Took 4 hours to get our first call. It's Sunday at 0100. Total stats at this point. 5 calls. 3 from people who want to buy houses. 2 from a 'wholesaler', although his deal is very shady to say the least. And one from a guy with 2 leads that he doesn't know how to work. I'm currently buying his lunch. And one of the guys looking to buy has bird dogged us one lead. Will look at three deals today.
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Account Closed
Investor · NOVA, VA · Member since 2014 · 99 posts · 101 votes
10y
Awesome...keep the updates coming.
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Jesse Chunn
Arlington, TX · Member since 2016 · 57 posts · 21 votes
10y
@Troy Fisher
Quick correction to your phone call math. One call every 2 minutes is 30 calls per hour, not 120. 325 hrs x 30 calls is still a lot of calls... 9,750... but 75% less than initially calculated.
People do bandit signs, for better or for worse. I am also interested to see how it goes. It would be a huge value to the BP community to get a detailed report back on the results produced. For those that have said they have never seen statistics, this would be a case study for the ages.
That said, I personally would avoid it where it is illegal, and I would certainly also plan for and factor in removal where ever I did do it (and re-use the signs if they survive and it produces results).
Looking forward to seeing how it turns out. Hear that? That is the sound of me following this thread.
1 Reply
Matt Geerts
Investor · St. Thomas, Ontario · Member since 2015 · 692 posts · 312 votes
10y
@Corey Thompson
I'm waiting eagerly, Corey!
If you still have signs out, could you post a picture of what you'd consider the perfect sign in the perfect location?
How did that lunch turn out?
What's the latest numbers?
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Corey Thompson
OP
Wholesaler · Corsicana, TX · Member since 2015 · 46 posts · 28 votes
10y
Update: 500 signs were put out in 10-12 cities. We did this Friday night and finished around 5am. Took 4 hours to get our first call. It's Sunday at 0100. Total stats at this point. 5 calls. 3 from people who want to buy houses. 2 from a 'wholesaler', although his deal is very shady to say the least. And one from a guy with 2 leads that he doesn't know how to work. I'm currently buying his lunch. And one of the guys looking to buy has bird dogged us one lead. Will look at three deals today. It's Tuesday at 9am. Yesterday we looked at a foreclosure on a hard money loan. Our lender is going to refi him out of his loan and split the points with us. While on the way back from that deal I drove a route we put signs on . All the signs at the intersections and shopping centers were still intact. Received a call from a lead that had just seen my sign. Very good margin on their house, we will execute the contract today. Stats from Sunday at one until Tuesday at 10am Sunday 1 call from a landlord to look at a property. It's a teardown. 1 call for the foreclosed hard money loan. 1 call to look at a lot. 1 angry caller because we put a sign in his yard. Monday 1 angry caller. 1 call that we have under contract. 1 contractor looking for work. 1 lady looking for 3-10 acres owner finance. 1 lead on a lake 100 miles away. 1 missed call at 1030 at night Quote of the day: my friend saw 16 of your signs at a shopping center and then saw them again at an intersection and took a picture and sent it to me. My mother-in-law wants to sell her lake house. Sorry this is butchered but I'm on my phone and trying to get my daughter to eat breakfast.
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Chris Grenier
Flipper/Rehabber · Orlando, FL · Member since 2016 · 311 posts · 150 votes
10y
What are you looking for?
Buyers or Sellers?
How about you target the exact audience you want a lot quicker and easier with precise metrics and results provided by this website called Facebook?
0 Reply
Corey Thompson
OP
Wholesaler · Corsicana, TX · Member since 2015 · 46 posts · 28 votes
10y
Chris Grenier we also use Facebook. It's a great tool to sell a property and we have been running darkhorse ads to generate leads. Nothing has compared to the bandit signs. And we haven't even played with locations yet. Ie going long by nailing them to post and putting them out on the interstate after they mow for the spring. This is something I will do every Friday night from now on.
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Corey Thompson
OP
Wholesaler · Corsicana, TX · Member since 2015 · 46 posts · 28 votes
10y
Update: We took a different approach this time and put signs on the feeder roads and intersections of busy highways. We also nailed between 30 and 40 11' high on telephone poles. We did this in a different area so we could track the data. Over the weekend we received between 4-5 phone calls a day and on Sunday we evaluated 3 properties. We made an offer on one, and introduced the other two to the possibility of sub to. One will most likely go with sub to in the coming weeks because they are paying two mortgages. Monday morning I received about 6 calls. 3 were deals, 3 were people looking for owner finance deals. We are putting 1 of those under contract today and taking it over sub to. The others are leads in east Texas. We will evaluate them on Sunday. That makes 3 leads total for that area off of signs. Also have received two calls from people wanting us to tear their house down. So far I love the signs. I will commit to doing 1000 a month from now on. We will move our carpet bomb strategy to Sunday nights and our nail them high and put them in rural areas will stay on Friday or Saturday.
2 Reply
Jean-francois Ndomb
Real Estate Investor · Kalamazoo, MI · Member since 2015 · 120 posts · 37 votes
10y
@Corey Thompson That is great news and feedback. What was the total number of signs? Did you end up going with the original 1K signs the first times? What was your total cost for the 1K sign order? Thank you for sharing. Keep it up.
Best,
JF
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Corey Thompson
OP
Wholesaler · Corsicana, TX · Member since 2015 · 46 posts · 28 votes
10y
Jean-francois Ndomb we only got out 500 the first run and 150 the second run. We are playing with the placement. The first 500 were placed at shopping centers. We think most of them were picked up in hours. Still generated very good results. Next time we do volume like that we will do feeder roads and intersections on Sunday night rather than Friday. Certain chain stores have left our signs up and even mowed around them. We will hit them once a month as well. Total cost of the 1000 with the H braces was around $1800 from dirt cheap signs .com
1 Reply
Bret Allen
CA · Member since 2016 · 71 posts · 48 votes
10y
@Corey Thompson I like the energy. Keep us posted.
0 Reply
JR T.
Financial services executive · Frederick, MD · Member since 2015 · 609 posts · 341 votes
10y
@Corey Thompson I think you've spent too much time listening to Grant Cardone. It's affecting your perception of reality.
0 Reply
Corey Thompson
OP
Wholesaler · Corsicana, TX · Member since 2015 · 46 posts · 28 votes
10y
JR T. He told me there would be guys like you. But in all reality Grant had nothing to do with this. I wrote a 21 year old wholesaler a 20k and 15k assignment fee. He's doing a double close on a 40k lick on Friday. I asked him where he gets his leads and his answer was bandit signs. He explained to me his process and I brought it here. I've worked my entire life in agriculture and oil. Nailing signs on a pole doesn't even register as work. And it's been the best form of marketing we've done yet. We are about to do a 10000 letter mailer too. I know, I know, Grant Cardone has me wasting my money and all that jazz. But the truth is we did 400 mailers and didn't get to buy one property. So this time we will mix it up and use different Google numbers and email addresses so we can track the data 10 different lists provide. So we can narrow our marketing budget down.
1 Reply
Bill Gulley
Investor, Entrepreneur, Educator · Springfield, MO · Member since 2009 · 21k+ posts · 12k+ votes
10y
LOL, congrats on your thinking to violate city ordinances a 1,000 times.
What bandit signs tell me is that the people posting them don't have any regard for rules or laws, they simply choose what they want to follow. Now, is that someone I really want to get into a business relationship with? Would you really want to do business with someone who intentionally breaks laws and rules, who doesn't conduct themselves in an ethical manner? Really and you think you're advertising.
Well, you are advertising, probably not the real message you need to be sending to the community!
It may cost you very little to put these signs out, it costs the city much more to pick them up, a judge may well have you pay that cost, plus a fine and for 1,000, might get some free room and board! :)
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Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
10y
@Bill Gulley what I like is all the folks that think they are getting RE training being this guys bird dog. LOL.. reminds me of the guy working for Kramer in Kraamerica... :)
talk about starting at the bottom.. this is one thing I see on BP where people that are new think they are being mentored when they are being used and abused and really not learning diddly about a real estate career... bandit signs not withstanding..
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Bill Gulley
Investor, Entrepreneur, Educator · Springfield, MO · Member since 2009 · 21k+ posts · 12k+ votes
10y
@Jay
@Jay Hinrichsundefined
Are you speaking of the naive and uniformed, those who swallow the greed pill and dream beyond common sense Jay?
I think we've all been there to some degree in our immaturity and especially in our youth, simply lacking wisdom of how predators in the jungle seek and snag their prey.
Like that old song goes, "that pat on the back may be holding you back"!
The "Leach" is not unique to real estate and can be found in most sales industries. A "leach" is one who better understands what goes on, offers to "help" and give instruction to the newbie. They convince the warm blooded victim of several things playing in simple psychology, feeding self worth, greed, ego and aspirations of success.
Two ways to work with the leach, pay them now and they will feed you what you want to hear along with a lot of BS or, by leaching deals, you get turned into a birddog and bring back the deal for them to guide them to the pot which they split.
Now, why would any leach really teach newbies all they know or enough quickly for them to advance and really succeed on their own? What is in that for the leach? Teach enough to keep the slave working.
I'd say that the leach is more prevalent in real estate than other industries, but they also are hard at work in insurance, auto sales, time shares, and the internet site development arenas. Anywhere we have sales and marketing you'll find the leach to teach.
It's really good to see some of our younger newbies recognize that breaking laws is not the way to success, that the true intentions of gurus may not be in their best interest.
Jay, we just need to accept the fact that we can't save them all from themselves, folks not willing to listen will never learn. Even predators need to eat to survive, it's just the natural order of the jungle. :)
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