This biz oppty that I am considering.

First a little about me: my husband & I have owned & operated a very successful lawn business for the past 19 years & still going strong. 2 years ago I received my real estate license (I actually went on to get my brokers license), and it is the absolute worse time to get into that career, but, I am not getting out of it, I studied & worked waay to hard to get my license & have put out alot of money for it too and I will continue to do so as I am determined. The market was up, has gone down & I just know in my heart it will come back up & I will be here when it does, but in the meantime, I have run across a business online, although it is not an online business, it is one where I will have to go out & physically drum up business.

Ok, enough babble.

The business can be seen at http://www.addressamerica.net/index.asp.
They sell reflective address numbers that are placed on short decorative posts. Alot of address numbers cannot be seen from the house, this would be placed at the front of the property near the curb or somewhere that when headlights shine on it, the numbers are easily seen. Now I know police, ambulance & fire trucks have GPS these days to help them find the address, but how many times have you tried to find an address with no luck due to the poorly visible address?
Let the tossing begin & let me know or give me a different perspective on this idea.

Thanks

I think this is a great idea. Especially given your experience as a relator. I would give it a try. Why not? I only wonder how many people will share your opinion and there are also companies out there who paint the numbers on the curve. The big question I would ask if I were you, is how many other people are selling these are something similar in your area?

The reasoning behind having the signs is great and I bet you can sell many on the concept. I would market your pitch to homeowner associations b/c I'm sure there are covenants regarding uniformity in neighborhoods. I know ours has one.

In our area, the City has put blue posts with reflective numbers on the properties as part of the Emergency Response Program. I know that if we put up any sort of sign on our lawns, we have to get a permit. Might want to check into that, too.


Opportunity's Knocking, Open the Door!

DeBorah Beatty
DEBORAHBEATTY.COM

Personally, I shy away from selling onesies and twosies. If you aren't going to be selling things in volume, than selling homes that go for $100K to $1 Million makes a lot of sense. Or at least sell a product or service that has the potential for repeat business.

Downsizing to sell one time purchases that bring you less than $50 profit means you have to go for volume. I hope you can sell the neighbors on either side and across the street from every sign you sell.

The number of homes being sold in your market may be down, but if you have two of those homes under contract that sold each of the last 2 months, your commission would probably be more than you can make in six month of full-time effort selling the lighted address signs.

If you can get quality homes at various price levels and in different A, B, and C neighborhoods (in terms of desirability), you don't have to sell them to earn your commission. Capture enough of the new homes listed in your market in August and you'll likely receive commission checks in September, October, November and December even if they were sold by other agents.

Sell 20 address signs in August and you'll have to do the same every month to have any income each month. And there's no comparing the commissions, even if you only sell one house per month. And you don't even have to sell the properties if you get the listings and others sell them.

Good luck with the address signs if that is what you choose to do, but the more effort you put into that business, the more you take away from your professional career.

Dennis