Does a For Sale Sign Help Sell a House?

Jul 12, 2018 · 14 comments
vacciniumovatum (Seattle)
"As of this June 30, 358 homes were listed for sale, the bulk in the $1 million to $2.5 million price range." Maybe homes would sell faster if more of them were under a million dollars. People wouldn't need those For Sale signs to entice buyers.
bp (nj)
I bought my house by answering a For Sale sign. It had curb appeal in an neighborhood I knew. How else would I have known but of course that was before apps and websites like Zillow.
Bello (western Mass)
There must be an app that identifies homes for sale on google maps?
Bob Robert (NYC)
If you want bad, look at London: instead of putting “for sale” signs, realtors put up “sold” or “rented” everywhere. I don’t know if it’s to create the illusion of strong demand, for cheap advertising, or just because they are just too lazy to put the signs down, but many actually stay for months on end (quite often there are obvious violations of the rules on advertising, but no one including councils seems to care).
Mon Ray (Cambridge)
Some people--I think many, in fact--want to live in certain neighborhoods or areas, and regularly drive through those neighborhoods to see if for-sale signs have popped up. The signs are also a way for people in the neighborhood to learn that a home is for sale that might be of interest to themselves or to friends.
Shaun Eli Breidbart (NY, NY)
Sure, people impulse-buy a house just like they buy a Twinkie. Brilliant logic. A few years ago I was driving in Rockland County and saw a lot of for-sale signs and my first thought was Why is everybody moving out of this place? I do think it cheapens the look of a neighborhood. An occasional open-house sign is one thing, but a few for-sale signs on one block give the impression that something is wrong.
B. (Brooklyn)
Yes, I feel the same way. We drive around and I keep saying, "Look! For sale, for sale, for sale. What's wrong? Why is everyone selling?" Without the "for sale" signs, people are gulled into thinking that everyone's staying put. And of course, it could just be that a generation has died out, and the children are selling the family home.
Matthew (New Jersey)
Well, maybe there is something wrong in New Canaan? Sales down 25% and a glut of inventory? Cuz that ain't a thing all over the Northeast.
KPet (Boston)
What the article fails to mention is the cause of the glut. Several large corporations have recently left that area—GE, Aetna, Pfizer. There aren't enough fat cat executives to buy these places.
Rick (NYC)
Brokers love For Sale signs, because they’re free. All of the other advertising they do costs them money. I suspect that the Zillow survey is right: Only 6 percent of sales are prompted by a For Sale sign. Even in those few cases, I suspect that some of those buyers would have found the property through other means. For me, it’s not worth the invasion of privacy. Even if the sign says “By appointment only”, inconsiderate jerks will still drive in and ask to look around.
James (Maryland)
If sales are down in New Canaan, during this hot market, it means homes there are vastly overpriced.
Karen (Massachusetts)
Perhaps this is a NYS thing, but in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, real estate for sale signs are common and expected.
Karen (Massachusetts)
I meant Connecticut. Crikey.
Mike (highway 61)
I don't buy the arguments for signage. I had an attempted break-in within 2 days of posting a For Sale sign in the front yard. I was living in the house. This was in a gated community with 24/7 active security that was considered extremely safe. Never again. With the proliferation of internet advertising there's no good reason to put yourself, your family or property at risk.