Bandit Signs
To use them, or not – that is the question!
Bandit signs are those small signs that are stuck up on telephone poles or staked into the ground. They say things like “we buy houses” or “stop foreclosure”. The plus side seems to be that people do call in response to them. The negative side is they are often illegal.
Tulsa, as well as other cities, have ordinances that restrict the use of signs. Bandit signs can bring you a fine of $100/day per sign.
The questions are:
* would you call in response to one of these signs?
*If you use them, have you been fined?
I use bandit signs but I take precautions. First the sign police are going to have to figure out who I am. My phone number is unlisted and unregistered. Even if they asked the phone company they couldn’t find out.
Second the operators that answer my calls don’t give out my name or the company name. They just tell the seller that a company representative will call them back.
Third I can see the number that called my bandit sign as well as the number that the caller leaves. If either one goes to City Hall then don’t return the call or call it from a Magic Jack or Skype phone number. If the sign police answer then just hang up.
Fourth If somehow you are forced to talk to the sign police then just tell them that you hired a teenager to put up your signs and you appologize. Ask him where the signs are and tell him that you will go remove them at once.
Fifth – If someone calls my operators and tell me that they have a $100,000 house that they want to sell for $50,000 and to call them back ASAP and I search the public records and find out the house has a mortgage for $98,000 that was taken out last year then I probably wouldn’t return the call.
Sixth – You could return the call and just tell the sign police that you buy leads from a company. You are not familar with how they get the leads that they sell to you.
The only way that I know that you could get caught is when you are putting out the sign or picking it up. Since I never pickup the signs then I have eliminated 1/2 of the risk of being caught. I know one investor that his son was caught on Sunday night picking up the sign. The Sign Cop told him that he had been staking out that sign for weeks trying to catch him.
The other way that you could be caught is in a sting operation where they bait you to come to a house and then get you. Since my local goverment has started having to layoff people and only work them 4 days a week I don’t believe they can spare the manpower for such a low level violation.