Billboard Insider is frequently asked how to find billboards for sale. You have three options. Contact an out of home industry broker. Look in the Billboard Insider Classifieds. Or do it yourself.
Out of Home Advertising Brokers
Here’s an alphabetical list of experienced, reliable brokers who have an inventory of billboards for sale.
Brokers will be able to provide you with detailed information about the companies which are for sale. They will also be diligent at responding to your requests for information. When you deal with a property listed with a broker you know that you have a motivated seller so there is a good chance a transaction will happen. It’s also good to talk with brokers to let them know what kind of assets you may be interested in. That way they’ll know to contact you if something turns up. But don’t expect to get a fire sale on brokered assets. Brokers typically represent sellers and are there to get the maximum price for the seller.
The Billboard Insider Classifieds
From time to time out of home companies list in the Billboard Insider Billboards For Sale classifieds. There is currently a 10 face Alabama billboard plant listed along with a mobile billboard platform.
Compile a list yourself.
To do it yourself drive around and write down billboard nameplates. Then you can search for the company on the internet. If you know what state a company is active in you can find out about it by doing a search with the Secretary of State. An AI search or a google search can help as well although it’s not perfect. Let’s use Florida for example. When Billboard Insider asked CoPilot for a list of independent out of home companies in Florida we received 6 names. When we asked ChatGPT we received 9 names. When we googled “Florida Billboards” we found 15 independent billboard companies scattered in the first 10 pages of the search results along with billboard agencies and billboard news articles. Lots and lots of names are missing because we know for a fact that there are more than 900 Billboard Licensees registered with the State of Florida.
The problem with the do it yourself approach is that it takes lots of time which you might be able to use better finding locations or selling ads. It’s taken Billboard Insider years to compile a list of 603 North American Out of Home Advertising Companies. Most independent out of home companies aren’t for sale. They won’t trust you when you initially call or will brush you off as a distraction. The payoff, however, can be significant. Billboard Insider knew an out of home exec in the upper Midwest who spent a good portion of his time courting small out of home companies and off-premise sign companies. Many of the off-premise sign companies had a portfolio of billboards. He would buy the sign company, sell of the off-premise sign equipment and keep the billboards. It was hard work but eventually he sold the billboards for an 8 figure sum, kept easements under the billboards in order to have ready income, and now he dabbles in real estate.
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