BANDITS If you AREN'T using them and aren't moving, that's your problem!

I've edited my original so you can see the main points I was trying to make. I am not the type of person to kick them when they are down.

I hope you can understand that

Elix, I think, at least I hope she understands now that you were not attacking her. I didn't feel that you were. Esteenna, I too had a tough childhood, and also had to work from the age of 15. I know what you are saying. I have no family support to this day either and at times it is really tough, because people cannot understand what you are going through.

Sometimes I try to comfort myself saying that there are people that have it tougher than I,which is true, and that there are orphan children. Still sometimes this does not help as then I see they were not abandoned intentionally. You, like Elix said, have to be tougher, and keep your head up. Wishing you the best! Believe me I have my really bad days, but for the most part I choose to be happy and enjoy my life. My tough childhood and being essentially abandon is the fault of my parents, and it is their sicknesses, not mine. It fractured the siblings as well, but you can't keep beating your head against a wall forever, or you will be the one to suffer.

I sometimes think that people like us would be hard nosed and tough, but we tend to be very sensitive. I still worry about what people think of me all the time even my family, but I wonder why I should when they are not there in any kind of way for me, whether I am sick, in financial ruin, you name it. This has been proven to me too many times, but I have to make my own way. So Chin up, someone does understand, even though I myself don't always think so. Tammy

Thank you, Jen for giving me thumbs up on sqeeze page, I'm sure
gonna check it out. Have a wonderful day.

Dennis

I did my first posting of signs did the 18x24 they were reversed from what I thought I was getting. Needed to order the 24x18 signs Helps to pay attention when ordering. I did write I BUY on the first line then HOUSES below it. I used the same script as everyone else below it, Just the sign was taller. No responses the first time. I did get all my signs back. I'm going to post again Friday night thru Sunday. Hope for some calls. I did see other signs in my area I think I will give them a call and see how well they did. If I'm persistent the calls will come.

Just got my first set of 100 (2 orders of 50) signs from signwarehouse.com
They were $14 cheaper than the victorystore.com ones I have been ordering. Because of your info posted here you were able to buy me lunch today!! Just wish I had made the change about 12 orders ago!

Michael Mangham
MD Home Acquisitions LLC

Thank you, for the great tips on where to put signs and how to make them attractive. I'll print and copy your way of putting them out, I believe they will work. Brinda

Hey Michael,

Awesome! Chech out www.signoutfitters.com also. If you 'Like' them of FaceBook you'll get coupon codes in their feeds that discount of offer free shipping etc. I've order several times through them also. Good quality as well.

Blessings,
Jen

Diane,

Keep pressing forward! Know who you are and Who's you are! Keeping moving out of the comfort zone, taking action, making it happen! That's where the 'stuff' happens! lol

Just a little note to let you know I am praying for you.

Many blessing,
Jen

Thank you Jen for another resource for signs! Tammy

Hello Jen,

I know I paid $36 shipping for 50 signs & sign holders from Signwarehouse.com, and you can only Like Signoutfitters.com one time on facebook. How often do you get the discount of free shipping from them when you do Like them? If the discount is only one time, and there are no other significant discounts, then it still may be cheaper to use Signwarehouse.com just based on price per sign and depending on your location.

Signwarehouse

Cor-Plast 24x18 Blank Yellow Signs (50qty) - $1.16/sign = $58.00
Endura Stake 10x30 Sign Stakes (50qty Box) - $36.00
Shipping from Denison, TX to Bremen, IN = $31.20 = Grand Total $125.20
Shipping from Denison, TX to SF, California = $40.34 = Grand Total $134.34
Shipping won't vary much because the company is relatively centralized.

Signoutfitters.com

Corrugated Plastic 24x18 Blank Yellow Signs (50qty) - $1.30/sign = $65.00
Corrugated Yard Sign Stakes 10x30 (50qty Box) - $49.00
Shipping from Wyandotte, MI to Bremen, IN = $19.05 = Grand Total $133.05
Shipping from Wyandotte, MI to SF, California = $45.18 = Grand Total $159.18

It is still much cheaper to buy from Signwarehouse.com, regardless of where you live, based on what I've provided here...especially the further away you live from Michigan. If you live in Michigan, then go with Signoutfitters.com. That would be your best bet. It's up to you, but the numbers are above for you to look at and decide. For those of you who don't know where Bremen is, it is about 30 min South of Notre Dame in the South Bend, IN area on the Indiana/Michigan border. The difference for me to use either place is about $8. I've not used Signoutfitters.com yet, so I don't know how quickly their ground shipping is or how long it takes for them to get them out of their warehouse. I received my signs up here from TX in about 3 days from making the order. I feel this is exceptionally fast for ground freight, and how quickly they moved the product out of their warehouse. As I previously mentioned in another post, I had used HH Sign Supply in the past and it took them 3 days just to process the order before shipping. It took a week to get it from them.

I am curious, still, about the discount from Signoutfitters.com and whether that is one time only...or if there are other kinds of discounts that would make them more worthwhile for myself or others.

Thanks for letting us know, Jen.

Happy Hunting!

The signoutfitters sporadically offer discounts/specials. I'm not affiliated with any other these guys. But example what I ordered through signwarehouse just last week - 150 signs/stakes.

Monday I see a thread on FB from signoutfitters offering "discount of the week" of 24x18 corrigated for a $1 each.

Have used a coupon code I got from their page that allowed free shipping.

So you just have to watch/shop around and go with what you find to be good quality and good discount.

Blessings,
Jen

Very welcome Tammy!

Been meaning to say. Great job! I see through your post you are a do'er!

You have a great perspective and think you will do very well in RE OR anything you put your hand to.

Make it happen!
Jen

Jen, Thank you so much for the kind words. You are so helpful to us all. Thanks so much! Tammy

Hi Jason,
I really love your message "Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed...every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle...when the sun comes up, you'd better be running." ~ The Essence of Survival

This is moving me out from a comfort zone again, it's time to stop thinking but doing right now.
Thanks
Chanchai

I have read your profile and very impressed that you served our country for 6 years, thank you very much. You are one of our brave men and women who serve the America.
I am a newbie like you are and I haven't done a deal because I am still in a comfort zone. You really inspire me to move forward. I need to take action now I wish you the best in real estate investment.
God bless you.

Thank you, Jen for such a great topic you have started. You are like a mentor for me and it makes me to take action now.

Not sure who you are referring to. Steve is the only one here in this forum topic, that I am aware of from their profile, that has served in armed services...specifically USMC. I've never served, though I did try to get into either the Air Force or Navy when I was finishing high school. They wouldn't take me due to heart problems and epilepsy, both specifically stated on their brochures as things that would disqualify someone. It was probably for the better. Your post never specified who you were talking about. Perhaps you could specify so we know who you are honoring for being in the military?

Thanks Chan,

Jason

chanchai wrote:

I have read your profile and very impressed that you served our country for 6 years, thank you very much. You are one of our brave men and women who serve the America.
I am a newbie like you are and I haven't done a deal because I am still in a comfort zone. You really inspire me to move forward. I need to take action now I wish you the best in real estate investment.
God bless you.

Thanks Chan,

I found a picture of that saying at work and really liked it, so I searched it on the internet. This is the best place I found that had it. There are many other good sayings on products here too, if you like motivational sayings.

http://www.successories.com/search/results/29a90dcd62

Enjoy!

Jason

Well, it took me about 3 hours (same as it did to put them out) to retrieve my signs. I left them out for 6 days from early Saturday morning to late Thursday night. I can't handle the amount of calls I've currently received, and just when I seem to be making progress on calling people back...I get more calls. That isn't a bad thing, but only if I was keeping up with the calls. I've received about 80 calls in 6 days, and it takes about 15 min per person per call to quickly get through the information I'm requesting. At a rate of 4 per hour, it's going to take me a while to catch up. I've been apologizing at the start of my conversation, letting them know how many calls I've received in the past few days. They never make a big deal about it, and some sound surprised, so I just proceed with the conversation.

Of the 75 signs I've put out, I lost 26 total (34% loss). Of the 3 areas I placed signs, I lost 12 in the nice/semi-nice neighborhood, 8 in the bad neighborhood, and 6 in the high-traffic non-residential intersections such as highway underpasses (light stop), Walmart, Meijer, a couple corners of major intersections heading to the country (a lot of traffic), etc. The nicer neighborhoods just didn't want the signs there, and actually have spoken to one homeowner in which I had placed a sign in his front yard (between the sidewalk and road, technically the city's...but you know). He had called because he is indeed selling his house, but hadn't spoken to anyone about it yet. So, you never know who is wanting to sell their house. I apologized to him, telling him "there really isn't a GOOD place to put a sign, so I just figured people would call me about the sign being in their yard or just throw it away". So, that is how you need to think about it. I never received one call, out of the 80 calls, from property owners or the city complaining. That isn't to say you won't have it, but perhaps I was just lucky on this round. I'm going to wait until next month to start another sign campaign, because I need to catch up on these calls first. I've found a few deals I possibly want to pursue, but need to investigate and look at the properties first.

One investor/landlord is willing to just hand over a fire damaged property. He's getting out of the game, needs more time, and is just burned out. Selling all his properties. This property has a Zestimate of $35,300, 2010 AV of $28,800 and 2009 TAV of $35,000. Obviously, none of these estimates reflect the fire damage. I'm going to have a fire restoration company give me an estimate before I say yes to taking it. Any advice on this, and possibly taking it? I don't know how I'd market it to an investor in the current condition, but it's free if I want it. Perhaps one of the seasoned investors has already crossed this bridge with a fire damaged property? I'd like to hear from you.

Thanks everyone. Hope this info gives you an idea of what kind of sign losses you might encounter. Don't be discouraged, just move forward and either take your chances with putting the signs in the same place or mix it up a bit into different locations. Of the signs that I didn't lose, I'll put those back in the same place next time. The signs I lost, I'll replace those signs and put them in new locations. Obviously the signs were lost from those previous locations for a reason, and losing them gets expensive after a while. Place them at your discretion.

Jason

I was referring to Melissa Matthews ( Mmatt73 ), she served our country as a brave woman for 6 years .

Chanchai

Somehow I missed it.

Oh, Jenn, you've done it again!

Thanks for the inspirations and motivations!

Theo T.
CogniWorld-LV

Hey Jason,

Got to say well done my friend! Had to literally laugh out loud, taking someone down to slow down the call volume! LOL That's what I'm talking about! SSWWWEEEETTTT!

On the fire damage property. Do your thorough due diligence, but know there IS a buyer for every property if there's money to be made! lol I've got one buyer that takes them off the city's demo list! lol

Great job! Way to MAKE it happen!

God bless,
Jen

Your posts are incredible!!! So thorough.

Thank you for putting so much time into giving us all this info.

I love how you are doing your program. I just received my new signs and will definitely incorporate some of your techniques!

Karen

Jim Kendrick (James L. Kendrick) would be a good one to PM about the fire damaged house. He has been rehabbing for 30 years. He's quite the expert!

Wouldn't you know that after I finally make it my business to put out Bandit Signs for this weekend, the forecast is for a lot of rain

I couldn't afford the 50 sign deal so I had to do the Greg Murphy cheapo signs. I went to the Dollar Store and got the yellow poster board the other day. After making 1 sign and seeing how flimsy it was, I was going to use someone's suggestion on this forum and use a cardboard backing. When I couldn't get cardboard the right size without buying it, I decided to go back to the Dollar store and get their foam board to use as backing. I got 2 signs out of each sheet just as I did the poster board.

So you know that the whole time I was preparing these signs, it was raining outside. Inspired by Jen (Bamagirl6730)to be a problem solver and determined to get my signs out TONIGHT, I decided to wrap my signs in clear saran wrap so at least they would be protected for as long as possible. As I put out my signs, I directed my headlights straight towards the sign to make sure there was no glare and the wording was visible. With the exception of 1 sign, I could read them all. I left the one alone because it is positioned where people only go during the daylight anyway.

As a side note: one of the places I put my signs was at the local Walmart. As I was hammering my sign into the ground (I used 36" Wooden Stakes to hold my signs up above the rest), the nighttime security guard for Walmart stopped me and said that I couldn't put my signs on the Walmart lot. I explained that I was putting it the swail that is technically the county. He didn't back down so I decided that I should take the higher road and place the sign in another location but still visible to people leaving Walmart. I also gave the guard my "I pay for leads" speech so hopefully that smoothed things over for tonight. Besides, how much would anyone like to bet that if I had left my sign there, the guard would have taken it down and tossed it once I left?

So now the waiting starts. Hopefully my little town will respond. I'll keep everyone informed.

Andy Sager
DG's AndyS

I'm using the double 'H' wire holders which seem to bend when I try to press them into the hard ground. I'm having some difficulty putting the wire holders into the ground. We haven't had rain in quite a while which is making this process difficult. Anyone have any strategies that work to either soften the ground or drive the holders in the ground?

The wire holders (or metal stakes) are not very durable and you have to be careful (as you obviously have noticed). They should be "hammered" into the ground; not "pressed"!

I use a rubber mallet and tap on each side of the bottom rung; going from side to side. You still need to be careful when doing this and not "hammer" too hard. Otherwise the "tack welds" will break, or the stakes will bend, as you noted.

Hope this helps!

You must be in a better location,because I put out bandit signs in the locations you mentioned,I went to look at them the next day and they was all taken down.And when they do call,and say they have some property for sell,what would you say to them if you dont have any money and bad credit?

You also need to be aware of rocks hidden under the dirt/grass, grass overgrown parking lots, getting too close to the sidewalks and curbs (hidden concrete lip), and other types of obstacles. In nice areas, I almost never had a problem with rocks. In the not so good side of town, they must not care too much about cleanup after building or tearing down buildings. I had a horrible time with rocks over there. We had about 6 days straight of rain before putting signs out. Seriously thought I was living in Seattle!