Get FREE Bandit signs after elections to advertise your tax delinquent propety! Part 2 Post 12

Coach Mitch’s REFLECTIONS™

After you have the signs, you can repaint the signs and reuse them as your own bandit signs

Instructions for repainting the plastic signs.

1. Just get a stain blocking paint and give the signs at least two and probably three coats. The paint will stick to any surface without sanding. You will have the most trouble covering the color red. That is why you need the stain blocking paint.

Just ask at any paint store for this type product. I suspect that any will do but two stain blocking primers that I have used successfully are KILZ Exterior by MasterChem Industries, http://www.kilz.com or Bulls Eye 1.2.3 by Zinsser, http://www.zinsser.com/

You will get tired of painting by hand so you might consider getting an inexpensive paint spray gun setup. I picked up a remanufactured major make compressor for $169. The “pro” spray gun was $40 and I was in business. You can go cheaper, but I do not do that with tools. With the money you saved by not purchasing the signs you can easily justify this expenditure, and this tool will come in very handy in other real estate related projects.

2. You can make the stain blocking paint any color you want – but you should pick your colors carefully. These are going to be the colors that will identify your company. I chose a light yellow background, versus a bright yellow. It is my opinion that strident, iridescent colors do not give off a pleasant, nor professional impression. My other colors are red and black. These three colors together make for very good contrast and look professional.

3. Create permanent stencils of the messages that you wish to convey. This should be done carefully and thoughtfully. You can purchase the stencil letter cut outs for only a few dollars a set. You should get several sets, as you will need them.

I began by using cardboard as the material to trace the stenciled message but it does not last very long and it creases easily. Elmer’s Foam Board is a good alternate choice because it is plastic, cuts easily, holds its shape, is the right dimension, 20″ x 30″, and is cheap, about $2. Get them at Walmart or any artist’s or hobby supply store.

You can also go to a professional sign maker, the type that creates banner signs. They will create the messages you want and in the style and size letters that will look good. It is much more costly, probably about $50 – $100, depending on the complexity, but you only need to do it once. The letters will be perfectly shaped and they will be perfectly spaced.

Tape the stenciled letters together to form the message on each line, then tape the lines onto the foam board. Do not put more than four lines on a sign and alternate the colors. Example: Line 1: I Buy, line 2: Houses, line 3: 888-555-1234, line 4: HomeOwnersHelper.com

The area code can be smaller than the rest of the number or it can be eliminated if it is a local number.

Think out the messages that you want on your bandit signs. Your phone and your website address should be included on each sign.

Signs can also be used to sell or rent your homes:”FSBO”, “For Sale By Owner”, “For Sale”, “Brokers Protected”, “Why Rent?”, “Owner Financing”, “No Down”, “I’m The Bank”, “No Banks”, “Rent To Own”, “For Rent”, “For Lease”, “This Could Be Yours”, etc.

4. Extreme care should be taken to place the letters correctly. They should be perfectly centered. Carefully trace the letters onto the foam board and then cut out the letters. Exacto knives and blades are useful for this part of the project.

5 Cut the foam board to size and place it over the sign to be lettered. Tape to keep in place.

OR

Instead of taping the foam board each time, make a permanent placement jig by taking thin wooden molding and making a frame the size of the outside dimension of the sign. The total thickness of the frame should be just a bit less than the thickness of the sign plus the foam board. Paste this frame to the outside edges of the foam board. You do this so that when you place the foam board over the sign, it will be centered. Be sure that the molding is not thicker than the sign or paint will go out of the borders of the letters.

I like this method better because it creates a faster process and allows you to no longer need to tape the foam board and the sign together each time.

6. Paint with spray cans or with a brush. A foam brush will not streak.

7. Place your bandit signs.

8. Make money.

Let me know how you did.

See Coach Mitch’s “Ridiculously Simple System…” ™ for details.

Happy hunting.