About 3 months ago I noticed a big For Sale sign go up in the yard of the building shown above (before it was painted pink). It was once a residential property but was rezoned for commercial. It sits on a relatively busy intersection with lots of shopping across the street (grocery stores, UPS, fast food, etc.).

As a real estate guy I spent some time thinking about what I would do with this property if I were to buy it. What kind of business would I create and how would it stand out? It looked nearly identical to the residential property sitting next to it and down the street. Simply putting a sign in the front yard wasn’t good enough to draw attention. People pass this “house” going 45 miles per hour and there are a lot more interesting stuff to look at on the other side of the street.

About 2 weeks ago one of those “We go to court for you” traffic ticket companies bought it and the For Sale sign came down shortly after. Not long after it was painted as you see in the picture above they also painted a huge mural of a police officer on the wall.

  • Does it stand out? - yes
  • Do people hate the color? - yes
  • Does it annoy the neighbors? - probably
  • Do people remember it? - Absolutely!

I started to describe the building to a friend the other day. All I mentioned was the location of this horrible colored house and guess what? They knew what property I was talking about before I even mentioned the color!

Lesson: Don’t be afraid to annoy some people or attract criticism. Many times, it is the company or “guru” that annoys people that attracts the most business.

Share And Enjoy
    del.icio.us Digg StumbleUpon Technorati Subscribe