What Are The We Buy Houses Signs?

Everyone has seen them. In Metro Atlanta they are usually plastered on every street corner, every intersection and at the entrance and exits of shopping centers. We are talking about the “we buy houses” or “we buy houses cash” or “we buy houses as is” signs. So who is behind these signs and why do they put them up? Keep reading to find out.

We Buy Houses Fast Signs

In most parts of the country, including Metro Atlanta, these signs are illegal. That’s why you tend to see them mostly on the weekends, when code enforcement isn’t working. Occasionally you will see them during the week, but the individuals or companies that use them face heavy fines if caught.

So just who are these people that put these signs out? Usually it’s someone that has just attended some guru’s weekend seminar that tells them to put these signs out to get their first deal. It is an inexpensive way to start getting leads from people that need to sell their house.

Realty Acquisitions has this to say about it:

Once someone walks out the door of one of these weekend training sessions they are armed with step-by-step techniques on how to begin to make their millions. One of these techniques involves the posting of ‘bandit’ signs around town. (yes – the get rich gurus actually call these bandit signs!) These are the signs you see offering to buy your house. I it’s hard for me to believe anyone would call a phone number on one of the signs thinking it is a legitimate way to sell their house. A house is someone’s home — and one of the biggest investments anyone will ever make in life. I know it seems crazy that someone would try to sell their biggest investment to someone with a handwritten yard sign but it happens!

Read The Full Article “What’s the story with ‘We buy houses’ yard signs?” Here

There are a lot of people that attend these seminars. That’s why you see so many of those signs out with different phone numbers. In fact if you listen to talk radio, or late night infomercials and pay attention to the dates these guru’s are coming into town, you can almost bet that in the coming weeks there will be an influx of those signs.

Here is an interesting type of survey about those signs and the numbers on them:

On Tuesday, I dialed 59 numbers on so-called bandit signs collected by West Philadelphia resident Michael Froehlich, who offered a buck for each one ripped down and brought to his door. As for the numbers, he gave me those free.

Most of the numbers went directly to voicemail or Google Voice mailboxes. The messages requested a name, number, and address of the property I was interested in selling. Of the 16 humans I got on the phone, only four would give me their full names, and this was before I even told them I was a reporter.

Read The Full Article “I called 59 ‘We Buy Houses’ signs searching for humans. I got secrets” Here

We think the reason no one ever answered the phone was because more than likely these are people fresh out of the seminars and have full time jobs, or don’t know what to say when they answer the phone. To give you an example we have attended many REIA’s (Real Estate Investor Associations) and have run into many people that want to invest in real estate, however 90% of them will never buy a house, either because they over analyze or just don’t have the courage to put their neck on the line.

We can understand why the people called didn’t want to give their full name, they were worried that the caller was possibly code enforcement wanting to fine them, which may also be the reason they didn’t answer the phone and sent the calls directly to voicemail to get a sellers info.

Real Estate Investors Serve An Important Purpose

Because of these bandit signs, even good real estate investors get a bad rap. Realtors love to bash them and say that you always need to speak with an agent first. We actually think realtors are getting a little worried about the internet and all of the places online that you can sell and buy a house yourself these days, without using an agent.

But investors are extremely important to a healthy economy. Investors tend to buy homes that are in need of serious repairs, or properties that people just can’t afford.

In fact, if it hadn’t been for real estate investors it would have taken much longer for our economy to recover from the crash of ’07. Many of those foreclosed homes would still be vacant attracting vagrants, drugs and crime, not to mention falling down and continuing to lower home values.

Here is a good video that explains a little more about “we buy houses signs” and how important investors are to the economy and how not to get scammed:

He reiterates the fact that usually investors are buying properties that are in need of substantial repairs, allowing homeowners to sell their house as is (learn more about how to sell you property as is from our previous article “Should I sell my house as is?“). There are a lot of people out there that are still living pay check to pay check and don’t have the funds necessary to make repairs just to get a property ready to sell.

Summing It Up

So now you know what’s up with all of those “we buy houses” signs. Honestly, we don’t use them, we like using the web to find people that need to sell their house and can’t sell the conventional way with a realtor. It’s nice not having to worry about when the phone rings if the person on the other end is code enforcement or not 🙂 .

Still, real estate investors serve an important job in our economy. If you have a property that you need to sell in Cumming or anywhere in Metro Atlanta, WE BUY HOUSES in any condition, fast and for cash (there’s our bandit sign 🙂 ). You can learn more by visiting our website, or calling us at 770-756-8680.

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