Bandit Signs for real estate marketing – Are they Illegal?

Bandit signs are those corrugated card / plastic signs up around in your neighbourhood with bold lettering with a few words like “WE BUY HOUSES” + a phone numbers that you might see stuck to a lamp post in a suburban area.

If you are a new real estate agent who has not built up their customer base yet and you are looking into different types of real estate marketing ideas, this might be a tempting way to get started.

These types of signs are actually illegal in many places and can result in fines from your local council. Whenever any signage is being planned, even for property for sale signs, you need to make sure they fit within local council standards. Different councils around Australia may have different rulings, so make sure you are familiar with the laws wherever you operate. Often a permit may be required.

Over the years there has been a lot of mistrust towards “We Buy Houses” bandit signs. Consumer advocates have labelled these as “risky” as they tend to encourage home owners who need to sell quickly to sell the property on lay-by to buyers with bad credit or low incomes.  These types of businesses are often start-ups and may not adhere to consume credit laws. You can find out more about the reputation of these businesses here.

You must be a licensed real estate agent or be employed by a licensed real estate agent to act on behalf of owners, buyers or tenants in the leasing or sale of property and many companies that use these signs do not have these credentials.

To find out more about sign laws in different regions you will have to do a bit of research. Most councils should have a page similar to this Brisbane advertising permits page.

An alternative real estate marketing idea to posting your phone number on a sign and risking a fine is to directly call potential real estate leads within your targeted geographic location.

This is a similar process but instead of relying on them calling you, you can call them directly.

Unlike the tired old signs, many of which people would ignore out of habit, you could directly call someone at their house, ask for them by name and deliver a personalised introduction and find out if they are thinking of selling. Because you have introduced yourself and demonstrated any knowledge about the housing market in their area, they will now be more likely to have you and your brand in mind when they eventually decide to sell their property.

Find out more about our real estate marketing tool here.

Our residential phone lists are checked against the Do Not Call register every 21 days, so our data is always as up to date as possible.