Yard Sign Pros & Cons

“For sale” signs are great for real estate agents as a marketing tool for themselves and their agency. For sale signs are less useful – and potentially even problematic – for homeowners.

The Alleged Benefits of For Sale Signs

Maybe the most obvious supposed benefit of a for sale sign is increased visibility. The problem with this rationale is the vast majority of buyers find houses to tour online or rely on their own buyer’s real estate agent to find homes. A sign’s usefulness as a tool to attract potential buyers who just happen to be driving through your neighborhood is questionable at best.

Its value in that context is based partially on the assumption that your home will be on the market long enough for many people looking for homes to drive by. Most home sellers don’t want their home to be on the market for weeks or months – they would rather it be on the market for days.

An argument can be made that theoretical future buyers who aren’t actively looking for homes but may be open to moving into the neighborhood might see the sign and become interested. These potential future buyers, if they exist, would essentially be above the top of the marketing funnel rather than in it, and most people don’t consider homes to be impulse buys.

A for sale sign could be useful for word-of-mouth marketing, like if a neighbor sees the sign and tells someone they know who is actively looking for homes to buy in the neighborhood. However, most modern house shoppers who are actively looking for homes to buy typically aren’t relying on word-of-mouth referrals to find houses.

Some real estate agents may suggest a sign is a highly cost-effective advertising tool since the only cost is the sign itself, but the fact is a yard sign is more of an advertisement for the real estate agent (and their other clients) rather than an effective way to tell home shoppers about your home. Do you really want to spend your own money to put up a billboard for someone else’s business in your yard?

The Many Problems of Putting a For Sale Sign in Your Yard

Most people value their privacy and don’t want their personal lives broadcasted to the world. Selling your home and moving is a big life event, and you might not be interested in talking to every neighbor about it.

Thieves, robbers, vandals and vagrants might also equate a for sale sign with an “open for business” sign. Many homes that are for sale are not being actively lived in. Even if you are living in it, a thief might assume there’s a chance it’s unoccupied and choose to break in, putting you and your family at risk of assault – not to mention the loss of personal property and damage to your home. The same thing can be said for vandals or vagrants who might be looking for a vacant building in which to sleep or do drugs.

There’s also a stigma attached to having a for sale sign in your yard for a prolonged period of time. The fact that your house isn’t selling may lead people to assume less than flattering things about you and your house:

• You’re asking too much for your home, marking you as a person with unrealistic expectations or a lack of expertise
• There’s something wrong with your home that is driving away potential buyers, suggesting your house is potentially in disrepair or has issues

There are also obvious aesthetic problems with sticking a big, garish sign in your front yard. A for sale sign certainly doesn’t enhance the curb appeal of your property – plus it will put a big hole in your lawn.

Some homeowners’ associations also don’t allow for sale signs, which is probably a good thing for the neighborhood and homeowners.

There Are Better Approaches to Marketing a House

Marketing your home for sale is an essential part of the home selling process. Yard signs are an antiquated tool that arguably do more harm than good. Modern online marketing tools, combined with the networks of experienced and established real estate professionals, often lead to a more focused and effective way to get your listing in front of qualified buyers who are actively looking for homes for sale.

Our real estate professionals at 72SOLD do not use yard signs, but we still manage to get our clients multiple above-average offers in eight days or less. We do this by leveraging our connections with buyer agents and using cutting-edge marketing tools to notify people who are actively searching for homes to buy.

Our agents are sparing in their use of open houses, which generates a sense of competition and urgency. It also spares our clients from the inconvenience and intrusiveness of frequent walkthroughs and weeks of open houses. 

We have studies to back up the effectiveness of our approach and are proud to say we consistently get our clients offers that are 8.4 to 12 percent higher than offers on other homes in their local MLS. If you want to learn more about our approach to selling homes, or you just want to get your home sold as soon as possible without a yard sign, Visit us at 72SOLD.com.