A reader has a question:
I was looking at listings online recently and was surprised to find several homes in my neighborhood that I had thought had sold, still listed for sale. The reason I had thought they had sold was that the signs in front of them had come down some time ago. But the listings showed them as still on the market.
So I drove by a couple of them and nope, signs are still gone.
Was wondering if just “taking down the sign” was a common practice, maybe a way for houses that are bound to sit on the market for a long time to try to avoid the stigma of seeming to just sit there . . .
Some neighborhoods HOA’s actually don’t allow “For Sale” signs in front yards. It could easily be the HOA’s management company picking them up when they do their inspection.
I wonder how many homes these days are sold by having a “For Sale” sign out front? With the internet and utilizing a realtor, most of the time you can get a pretty good feeling of a home you like before you even see it. Ultimately you are going to physically look at it before you buy it, but you can refine your search to a few first online.
Interesting, I haven’t really noticed this.
The stigma of a home tacking up too many days on the MLS is much more powerful than the sign in the front yard (IMHO).
A lot of neighborhoods have this ban. They even ban putting signs saying “for rent”. Most people don’t know it because they don’t read their full HOA rules.
Some neighborhoods enforce it, others don’t.
It’s the same sort of rule that says you can’t have a boat or RV in your driveway or leave your trash can out for more than a day.
Sometimes the owner is concerned about security (preventing vandalism/breakins and tells the realtor : NO sign in the front yard…
the Heights deed restrictions make specific allowances for “for sale” signs and political signs.
I think when a developer has several homes in a cluster that are mostly all for sale, they take some for sale signs down so it looks like they are selling. It’s the theory of Social Proof.