Hi,
I work fin Oakland Township sell Luxury New Construction Homes and out of the 50 people that visit our model home weekly, 85% of them are finding us from signage. It is just another way to advertise your home.
I would also recommend that you allow your agent to show your home -- even if it is at a moments notice, whenever they would like. There are several homes that have been sitting for long periods of time because the homeowners have stringent restrictions on showing appointments, meanwhile we have had 10 sales most likely because we are available to show them at their convenience.

I found on realtor.com a interesting house in an area I didn't really know, we visited the house and it was rather disapointing, but I liked the sub a lot and drove by afterwards to see what else is there and wrote down every phone nr, even the For Sale by Owner. I put an offer on the best house in the sub I a knew it is the best one because I asked my realtor to show me all of them. So yes, I definitely would put a sign in front of my yard...A buyer like me would allways do this! Hope this helped! I am not sure about the million price range and hidden homes though, I was looking in the $400.000 range in a normal sub.
S

Having a Realtor sign in front of your property indicates that you are represented by a knowledgeable professional, and that more information is only a phone call away. It also leads the potential buyer to visit the Realtor's website for more information and hopefully more pictures and a virtual tour. SALES is the name of the game.

ABSOLUTELY! In addition to all of the online and print marketing that is done, anything that draws attention to the property is helpful. Statistics prove that many moves are very local in nature so you want neighbors to spread the word about your house being for sale at work,church, etc.

It is always a good idea to have a sign vs not to have one as long as the sign is a clean, professional looking sign. Small, cheap signs are not a good idea. A nice clean post with a clean sign and ryders will help draw attention to the house and show prospective buyers you are proud of your home. A small, cheap dirty sign will only tell buyers your home is the same.

Ginger,

You bring up a good point and a reasonable perspective of placing a sign in the yard for multi-million dollar listings.
HOwever, you did say you "listed" a 2 million dollar home...not sold!
I can understand your thinking to a degree, but really a sign will still attract more attention to the property which is what the sellers obviously want. Again, it boils down to the point that if you want to sell ANY house, or ANY thing for that matter, why would you cut out one significant way to bring more exposure to the house?
Perhaps, you may need a much more elaborate and well designed sign than just the regular broker "for sale" sign, but it still boils down to the point that.... why cut out a proven useful marketing tool?

Again... Does a seller really know what a buyer looks like? Because the sign could be the first clue that a home is being offered for sale, it is important.

If you are affraid of the home having the impression of a stale unsaleable listing what will you do to prevent that from happening in the computer systems? The fact is that when a home goes up for sale most sellers want total market exposure if they are really serious about selling. And again, how does nayone know where the buyer will come from? (Sign, internet seeker, an advertisement, an open house, another Realtor)

Only the seller themself can really answer the question as to weather or not a sign is really important. Again only 10% of buyers or so may come from a sign, but if a home that did not have a sign did not sell will the seller just wonder why or blame the agent?

I have a listed home without a sign. The price is $2 million. The house is not visible from the road but down a very long driveway. I just don't believe that buyers in the $2 million range are driving around looking for houses. I believe these buyers are on the web and with an agent. I do feel that lookey loos driving down the driveway would be somehwat instrusive but I mostly feel that only nosy neighbors will take the flyers, Also, in my area, homes in this price range generally take a year to sell. I feel a sign out there for a year will create an impression of a stale, unsalable house.
Am I making a mistake? Pardon me for piggybacking on this question but some have asked why a seller would not want a sign. That is my reasons and I would really appreciate your feedback on this.

Not sure why you would NOT want a sign in the yard...... could we hear why you dont? Obviously you've got several reasons of why they're good, so I would like to hear why you think it's bad..

If you knew that a buyer was driving around the neighborhood looking for a home would you know what a buyer looked like? Generally speaking, this is the first clue that a home is available to those buyers who are beginning their search in neighborhoods they like.

There is a small percentage of buyers that actually come from the for sale sign. If you are located in Michigan, wouldn;t you want every possible sales advantage so that your home could successfully compete against the many other homes for sale in the area? While the percentage is approx onlyl 10% of buyers that come off a sign, only you can answer if that is a big enough difference in your home sale to make a difference, right? (If you had a crystal ball on where the buyer would be coming from this would be an easier question to answer I assume.)

I believe signs do make a difference, specially if they are from a trusted company in the community. I work for a Century 21 In Las Vegas, NV over the past few years I have had many callers advise me that they called my sign because they were familir with the brand. Everyone has given great answers. I believe not having a sign would cause more harm than having one.

Good Luck,
Ken Herrera
Century 21 Infinity

I am in the minority here, and will probably receive thumbs down for this. Regardless of the anticipated thumbs down, Midnights in Michigan is entitled to opinions when they do not run with the pack. Certainly Midnights can tally the responses and determine the consensus.

In my experience, the value of sign calls has drastically deteriorated. Before listing data was readily available online, a primary source of inquiries resulted from signs. It was a common way for neighbors to inquire about prices of new listings. Today, a large percentage simply look it up on the internet. (Keep in mind the look up on the internet may come as the result of noticing a sign.)

It is definitely true that neighbors can be a great source of referral for buyers in the area. So, alerting neighbors about the availability of your property for sale is important.

The actual inquiries that come from sign calls that are serious buyers is few. In my experience, most of the drive-bys that call in are curiosity seekers. Inquiries that come from the web usually represent, in my experience, a greater chance of a serious inquiry. Those on the web have already determined the property has some level of potential match for their needs and generate the email or phone inquiry to get even more data or to make an appt. I won't say that a qualified buyer will never call from a sign, as that is simply an unknown. More often, it is simply a passer-by who makes a quick curiosity call from their cell phone. Active buyers are on the internet and working w/ an agent. In my experience, direct calls from signs are rarely serious buyers. (Regardless if I get a thumbs down, my spreadsheet stats on where our leads come from totally backs this up for our company.)

Still, I do strongly support and suggest that you use a sign. As mentioned, neighbors may recommend your property to a friend or family. Neighbors are not active buyers searching the net or working w/ an agent. They may only come to know of the availability as a result of a sign. Their friend or family have an agent, or might be out of the area. The buyer may still come as a result of an agent setting an appt. That doesn't discount the role the sign played in generating the interest. A buyer may drive by and ask his or her agent about your property. Again, you won't ever know the role the sign played.

The sign also serves as an identification point for those who are trying to locate your property. This is what I discussed in my initial post. Buyers go to do drive bys and take a look at the outside and street. I have discussed feedback from buyers and have heard buyers say, "We couldn't find it" or "There wasn't a sign, so we thought it wasn't available any longer and didn't pay much attention. We just drove on."

Unless you are in community that prohibits signs, I suggest the use of a yard sign. (Yes, I run w/ the pack here and add to the consensus on usage of signs, just not the value of sign inquiries.)

We have communities here in Austin that specifically do not allow a sign. They sell all the time.

Frankly, I believe this is an "indirect sales strategy". In other words, no real focus on how or who you want to sell to. A direct strategy would be a focused action to drive business to the home. For example, sending an email to the top 5 people at every company in town. That's a specific action targeted to the top people who probably can afford your home.

On the whole and direct strategy can be measured but indirect can not. I tend to suggest going with realtors who use the most direct strategies in your marketing plan. Unfortunately, most of them stop at putting the listing on the MLS, and that remains to be the only one they deploy.

BTW-signs, flyiers or any other "takeaways" are all considered indirect. The MLS and web site listings barely qualify as a direct. Prospective realtors should be considered "minimally qualified" and not a stand out if they feature this in thier direct campaign. Look for more realtors with the most direct campaigns...

Even though buyers are looking at homes on the internet, I think it's important to have a sign for the drive-bys that aren't necessarily in the market but may know someone who is.

Hi Midnights,

You bet. Your neighbors will see it and so will people driving by. It will be easy for other agents to find the home and also for people to get information from the brochures your agent will place on the sign. Good luck.

A sign is a definate plus - but not the end all - be all...
I would rather hire a Realtor that exposed my property in such a way that if I "googled" my address there it was in the first hit. Virtual tour, Slide Shows, MLS, Homes Magazines -etc-etc-etc.
I have personally had several people list thier home without signs(for various reasons) and they SOLD.

Excuse me for not being able to find the reference I took this from but I will look for it and see if I can't find it. Basically what the survey of 3 million Realtors by NAR found was the following. It must be that "new" math that makes this add up to 100% but what is 1 percent anyway ;-)

"A survey of 3 million RE agents by the National Association of Licensed RE agents to find out the best thing that works for finding buyers said that 60% of the buyers came off YARD SIGNS. 30% came from the internet (MLS, For Sale by Owner, Craigs List, Zellow, etc.). That only 11% came from printed media (newspapers, fliers. door hangers, car window stuffers, etc.), now don't ask me how 60%, 30% and 11% make a 100%, but I think this survey tells us something. "

Eric West
No Down Payment, No Qualifying, No Credit Check - Real Estate Blog
allstatehousing.blogspot.com

Signs are still one of the best sources of phone calls. Our "Smartline" number tracks where the phone calls are coming from, and the yard sign is the number one source. In my area, I get many calls on Monday and Tuesday from people who drove around on the weekend and jotted down info from properties they liked, then made phone calls from the office on Monday, or looked up the homes online and emailed the agents. You don't want to keep your home a secret, do you?

Yes, signs work and sign calls are the best calls. They have already seen the house and neighborhood and they know it's somewhere that they want to live. I sell at least one home a year off a sign call. Like the internet, signs work 24/7. However some sellers don't want a sign because they don't want someone to know they're moving etc. I always respect that and we can sell the house without one. It just may take a little longer.

Absolutely! Sometimes neighbors are just looking for friends or family and they have called my signs in the yard and sales have happened. So, YES, signs do work!

Signs are very important. If you want to sell your home without a sign, my advice is to position your home correctly in your market and it will sell without it. Do you want to be in front of the line at a concert, ballgame, etc. or in back of the line. Do you want to sell or stay? So, position (or price) is the key...

Absolutely! Like you, I had sellers who lived on a cul de sac in a very nice area, not want a realtor sign.
After a month of busy Open Houses, I asked for a sign. Buyers LOVE to drive by and look and drive around the neighborhood. Without a sign, how will they know your house is for sale? AND you may live in a desireable neighborhood for a particular buyer - they may want your neighborhood-as in the sale
I completed AFTER putting up a sign. I know, signs are annoying for privacy BUT if you are trying to sell a house I believe they are a "must". Neighbors you don't even know may mention it to friends or families too
once they see the sign out. You never know!

Good questions. On my three and half years of working as a Realtor I had track the buyer traffic with and without, here ( Hudson County) whrere I do must of my marketing properties that I had putted a yard sign or just a sign has get a 34% increase on buyer traffic specially weekends, some weekends I'm doing open house and talking with potential buyers and I can't anwers those calls so I have a 1-800 line with a recorded message about the property and if the caller want to make an appointment just have to leave me a voice message. But going back to the question is the seller allow me and the Condominium by law I will put it. Good luck. Mike

There are sometimes obvious reasons for not wanting a sign in the yard. As the others have pointed out. If you are a serious seller. You need to evaluate your reasons for not wanting the sign. Weigh that with the disadvantages and decide what works best for you! If you decide not to put a sign up, make sure your listing agents notes that in the realtor notes so that agents bringing buyers understand what is going on before they get to your house! Good luck. Carrie

Hi Midnights. You better believe it can. My own house sold because of the sign in the front yard. The sign was up for only a week while we were still getting it ready to put it officially on the market (i.e., put it in the MLS). It turned out the buyer was interested in buying my house 6 years ealier when I bought it, but he could not get financing back then. He drove by my house every day on his way to work and when he saw the sign, he called right away. We went into contract and the house only went into the MLS to show it as a sold listing. You'd be surprised how many neighbors may know of someone who might be interested in living in the same neighborhood.

Since you don't mention why you would prefer not having a sign, I don't know if there are reasons for not having the sign that would outweigh the benefits of having a sign. What are your concerns? Maybe you just don't want your neighbors to know that you want to move or are you concerned about safety?

Just keep in mind, in this market you want to take advantage of any opportunity to get the word out about your property being available for purchase.

Yes.

There is a National Association of Realtors statistic that something like 20 percent of homes are sold to people who's first exposure to a home was the sign. I can't remember the exact figure but I know it is close to that.

Since we have less buyers than sellers in Metro Detroit, do you want to reduce you chances of selling by 20 percent?

A sign makes a difference, now especially.

This is a general question and like most general questions I rarely have a set answer lol. In general, a sign helps sell a home. There are times when even I suggest there be no sign. Is the home vacant ? Sometimes if a home is obviously vacant a sign can entice someone who needs money to come in and steal the copper pipes!
There are condo developments here in Cleveland where you are not allowed to place a sign, not even in the window!
So there is no set answer. All things being equal, a sign helps sell because it announces the house is available to everyone who walks or drives by. If you have a compelling reason, as someone else suggested, for not having a sign, then your agent will have to be a bit more creative in getting the word out.

When you put your home on the market, you can never be absolutely sure where your buyer will come from. In the current market, you want a Realtor that leaves NO stone unturned when marketing for a buyer. One of the first things your Realtor will do is put it on the MLS. That will notify other Realtors that the house is available for them to show their buyers, and tell them what their income will be if they assist the listing agent in selling it, by bringing their buyers..
The MLS is also accessed by several Real Estate sites and offers the general public information about your home. If someone sees it on the internet and is interested, they will either call their Realtor, or they will attempt to "drive by" to find out if they want to see the inside. Unlike most Realtors, who are used to finding addresses, your potential buyer may not know that a house is for sale without a sign in front.

A good percentage of buyers will drive areas that they want to live in and look for signs to follow up on. You will never show up to those buyers. In general, 10% of the buyers will come as a result of the sign. You will lose those potential buyers.

There are circumstances where a seller may not want a sign, and it is possible to sell without one. Your reason should be quite compelling, though. Not just a matter of aesthetics or shyness.

When you are on the market, it can be difficult for sellers to realize that their "home" is now a "product". Getting it out into the market place is critical. There is also a delicate balance between price, condition and accessability. Even if you don't have a sign, a lockbox, in this market, is essential. The reason is that your highest chances are that one of the thousands of Realtors that access the MLS will find your buyer. If they have the person who would buy your home, but the fact that an appointment must be pre-arranged or they must go somewhere else to access the key makes your home "too difficult" to show, you'll lose a lot of potential buyers. I always use the lockboxes that capture the time, date, Realtor's name, phone number and office and update me by email whenever your home has been shown by accessing the lockbox.

Please contact me if you have any more questions.
Elise Timpe, First Team
951-500-8969

I have had sellers decline to place a sign in their yard. Buyers frequently do 'drive-bys' B4 setting an appt. Upon follow up w/ buyers after their drive-bys, I ask for feedback an attempt to set appts. Buyers missed or dismissed the properties w/o signs with overwhelming consistency.

Moral of the story.....place sign if you are a serious seller.

Hey Gary,
Balloons sell houses, Buddy!
Don`t be bad mouth`n the balloons.
Just look at what the Real estate industry has done for balloons. Realtors buy more balloons than dentist and clowns, combined.

Just the other day at one of my Open Houses, this father is blowing up a balloon for his kid. He becomes light headed, stumbles and hit`s his head on the floor. We call an ambulance, and wouldn`t you know, one of the paramedics is interested in the Home.
How about that, makes you want to run out and buy some balloons.

When an Open house gets quite, nothing like suck`n some helium to live`n thing`s up. Young or Old, everyone loves that stuff.
How about 99 Red Balloons....everyone loves that song.
those shining Balloons that look like tin foil. You want to stop traffic, get yourself a few of those.

Now to answer your question, Midnights.
You don`t need no stinkin sign, you need Balloons.

Does it make a difference? Yes. Does it make a BIG difference? No. I agree with Jim that it may be confusing to some prospects, but it ultimately comes downs to Price, Product, or Pitch. If your home is properly priced and properly marketed, your home should still sell within 45-60 days.

L, Let's think about this logically. If a serious home buyer walked into my office today, would I search through the Sunday paper looking for homes? I doubt it. Neither would I memorize the hundreds of homes available in your price range. I certainly wouldn't just put the buyers into my car and drive around looking for signs with or without balloons (those really make me laugh).

Rather, I would login to the local Multiple Listing Service, find homes matching the buyers wants and needs, discuss these with the buyers and then view their top 5-6 homes.

I hope that answers your question.

In addition to the 20% who drive the neighborhood, many of the 80% that come from other sources, may become confused when they arrive at the listed address and see that the house does not appear to be for sale after all, and skip it. Is your reticence due to privacy concerns ? aesthetics?
You will be competing with sellers who with their agents guidance will be making all out efforts to sell.
You will be like a Nascar driver with snow chains racing against drivers with racing tires.

Statistics show that 20% of the buyers come from the sign in the yard. So I would say yes. The reason being is that when people are in the market, they drive around. If they are in a subdivision or area they like, and see your sign they get excited and call. Also, your neighbors have friends and family that might want to move into your area. It's up front and obvious by the sign that there is a home available.