I was helping out a relative who moved into a new apartment last year. It was a ground floor apartment and I was doing a bit of painting for them while I had a few days off work. I was plagued by people knocking on the window who saw me painting when they walked past asking me when was it going for rent. Some of them even begging me could they rent it and not believing that I was just painting for a friend and it wasnt being rented.
So the second morning, after the first couple of people knocked on the window asking to rent it, I actually taped newspapers to the windows so nobody could see me. That worked until it got dark and people could see the light through the newspaper, and more people were ringing the bell (i assumed word had got around). The first couple (one even who had asked me the day before too) i answered because i wasnt sure if it was the guy delivering the washing machine, but I just stopped answering the door after that.