I have two condos for sale here in Houston. Both have the sign in the window. One of the many responsibilities that MOST, if not all Home Owners Associations have is to help preserve the value of the neighborhood. They do this be enforcing their "rules."
I think one of the rules some HOA's have is not only counter productive, but quite stupid.
RING-RING:
HOA REP: Hi Greg, this is XXX from ABC HOA. I need you to take your signs down.
GREG: Why?
HOA REP: A couple here & there wouldn't bother us, but too many make the neighborhood look trashy.
Real Estate signs do many things:
1. Advertise the property - Many buyers on their initial search not only use the MLS, but drive around with or without their agent to find the property. Sign calls as we Realtors call them are a very important ingredient in getting any home sold. Many buyers will see the sign & tell a friend, relative, co-worker or anyone in the area.
2. Realtors are not born, nor or they hardwired with an internal compass. Real Estate signs make it easier for the Realtor to actually find the property. A complex that has hundreds of units located on multiple floors with special parking can be quite cumbersome, confusing and frustrating.
3. My signs display my website. I get anywhere from 200-300 clicks a day on my website. According to my sites statistics, 84% of people who visit the site VIEW MY LISTINGS. One of my MANY responsibilities is to ADVERTISE my property.
What many HOA's don't understand is that if they get in the way of me selling my property, they are basically asking to ----> lower their property values. <-----
Here's why:
Homes that don't sell (especially in today's market) will ultimately foreclose or go into a short sale status. If this happens, it's likely the price will DRASTICALLY be reduced, thus attracting INVESTORS-RENTERS and other low ball offers.
The only thing TRASHY about a real estate sign is what it might financially do to a community if it is not allowed to exist.
--------------> No sign = less chance to sell. Less chance to sell = lower property values. <-----------------
So go ahead and complain about my sign. In the end you'll win battle, but you'll lose the war. I'll remove the sign. When YOU decide your neighborhood "has gone down hill" don't expect YOUR property to sell quickly.
PSSST... Same thing for Open Houses!
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Greg, You gotta love it. Some of these HOA's need to have a plate glass window installed in their stomach so when they have their heads where the sun don't shine they will be able to see where they are going. In this case DOWNHILL, then talk trashy.......
They don't get that their neighborhood is what it is and if you can't help the owners sell it will get a lot worse overall. The problem with many HOA's is that there seems to be someone with a lot of time on their hands that wants to control their world. Hard to escape as everyone is joined at the hip. Keep up the good fight - your customers will appreciate your efforts.
Too bad they don't understand how they are hurting their own community.
They actually called you? Here they just take your sign/s and take it to their "sign dump" sometimes we find our sigs/s there sometimes not. It's frustrating - do they touch signs that are made by FSBO's or other home made ones - noooooope. ~Rita
Arizona passed a law stating that it is illegal for the HOA to not let you have 1 normal sized sign on a property that is for sale. Before that our home owners were getting all kinds of warnings in the mail telling us to take the signs down.
Your right on Greg. I never looked at it from that perspective but agree totally.
Greg the way I see it if it is not in the HOA rules/regs I would tell them tough. Did they make everyone take their signs down?
Hi Greg -- I couldn't agree more. I would think they would want homes sold and marketed more to help increase the exposure and as a by-product, perhaps increase the sales price.