Well, sharks, we got rid of the HerbaLosers. Now, we've got RealLosers. These are the clowns who put up illegal signs saying "we buy houses", "house for sale, 0 down, no credit check". Real estate losers.

Speaking of which, a very good point was made today on a Colorado thread. If these are real estate agents who are advertising without advertising themselves as agents, then they should be reported to the Real Estate Commission. I suspect many of them are indeed agents, appraisers (I know of one appraiser who uses these signs), or mortgage loan type.

DenverShark

Agree. I just looked and it appears that Tx RealEstate Commission rules would classify these signs as deceptive advertisements. Here's a link:

http://makeashorterlink.com/?C1E923BF2

I've always assumed that the people who put up the "We Buy Houses" signs are completely unrelated to any real estate broker or sales agent representing a broker.

Does anyone have reason to believe that some significant fraction of these people are brokers or sales agents?

If my assumption is correct that these guys are just ordinary hucksters, then none of the broker or agent regulations apply.

Newbie

Newbie (not)

Newbie,

I never think twice about yanking these signs if they're illegal.

Even if DenverShark is right, no real estate agent worth listening to would ever step forward publically to defend this kind of spam (it's always anonymous crap, anyway), and I doubt the issue would be raised to a level that would threaten you.

If it's illegal, feel free to pull it with impunity.

--Art

Even if the guys are ordinary hucksters, they can still get in trouble for being unlicensed. In addition, most of these regulations effectively say that if you are a middleman, then you have to conspicuously identify the true agent/broker doing the final transactions.

Burbinator,

I'm sure you're right in the case of unlicensed middlemen. However, these kinds of purchases and sales rarely involve an intermediary. The sales commissions would bite too deeply into margins. Both the buying and selling transactions generally take place on a for-sale-by-owner basis.

A real estate agent dabbling in this kind of thing would be acting as a private speculator, not as a realtor. In that capacity, he or she doesn't need to be licensed and would not be tethered by whatever disclosures are required on real estate signs.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not supporting this business, and I've never had anything to do with real estate other than as a consumer of realtors' services. I own a one-man carpet-cleaning business, and I'm the One Man. I'm only pushing the point to clarify what I meant by "illegal" in my post, above.

I meant Illegally Placed. If I find WE BUY HOUSES signs and spam where they're not supposed to be, I yank 'em.

If I were to ever find them in a location where they're legal, I would leave them alone. I would not EVEN contemplate whether the person who put them there was licensed or unlicensed or otherwise in compliance or not in compliance with laws and rules I'm only vaguely familiar with.

I would just walk away and leave them hanging--and that's my counsel to anybody visiting this thread.

Thanks.

--Art

>A real estate agent dabbling in this kind of thing would be
>acting as a private speculator, not as a realtor. In that
>capacity, he or she doesn't need to be licensed and would
>not be tethered by whatever disclosures are required on real
>estate signs.

Hi, Art:

I don't know about the above. It might be worth checking with the Real Estate Commission to see what they say about those types of transactions.

>If I were to ever find them in a location where they're
>legal, I would leave them alone.

Right. Folks should check their local code to see if real estate signs are permitted in certain locations at certain times.

But let me also note that "we buy houses" and "house for sale, zero down, no credit check" are not real estate signs, in my opinion.

DenverShark

Denvershark pens:
"But let me also note that "we buy houses" and "house for sale, zero down, no credit check" are not real estate signs, in my opinion."

Don't' know about CO, however, most all of the North Texas Code Enforcemnt offices are in agreement these are not real estate signs. From what we get, a real estate sign must have the name of the broker and or real estate franchise plus a telephone contact number or salesperson.

There are strict limits on when and where they can be placed. Two places they are not allowed; nailed to telephone poles; and can't be made of coroplast type material and staked in the ROW's.




GreatWhite-BH (GW)
Texas Chapter

GW

>There are strict limits on when and where they can be
>placed. Two places they are not allowed; nailed to telephone
>poles; and can't be made of coroplast type material and
>staked in the ROW's.

There's a guy here in Philly posting these WE BUY HOUSES on trees! Seventy-year-old sycamores you couldn't get both arms around! Using 5 or 6 ring nails on each with those plastic grommets. I'm gonna get a gun!

Peace and love,
Ecology and tie-dye
Bolus

I've already taken down the ones in my neighborhood. As soon as the weather gets nice, these are gone, gone, gone over a wide area.

obviously have not been to this thread in a while. These are not real estate signs, however, many of the zero down signs are placed by realtors trying to find buyers. It is the bait and switch, in that capacity, THEY MUST DISCLOSE THEIR LICENSURE.

rent to own signs placed by a realtor looking to get buyers for a certain listing are acting as real estate agents and THEY MUST DISCLOSE THEIR LICENSURE.

many of the guys buying homes are licensed up here in CO, they can save part of the commissions when they sell, so THEY MUST DISCLOSE THEIR LICENSURE.

this also goes for agents trying to peddle lease options and sell your home in 9 days, and all of the other scams. Bottom line, if a person is licensed and they are posting spam that realates to real estate they must disclose that they are licensed as well as the all important phrase, "if your home is listed, this is not a solicitation for that listing." or something like that. Any way all of it is real sleazy. Legitimate businesses advertise legitamately.
We all know that. Trust me, up here in CO i've looked into nearly everyone of these guys and most of them are licensed. One of them even put the realtor logo on his spam without other disclosure. The commission loved that!

keep the faith and keep cutting. If your wife or family members don't think you're crazy you are not cutting enough spam!


thanks
dc