Chicago-Flat-Fee-MLS.com

This is a great question. In the old days people who were considering buying a home would go out on Sunday afternoons and drive around the areas they were interested in. This was a time in which most people moved locally rather than “relocating” to a new state or city. Yard signs were the primary advertising tool to let people know a house was for sale. Almost always, the sign was from one of the large local brokerage firms. Agents would rely heavily on yard signs to develop their business by having their names on as many signs as possible. For an agent, the real value of the sign was to advertise their brokerage services.


What about people selling for sale by owner or using a flat fee mls service? Do they need a yard sign, and, if so, is it more important to have a website URL where prospective buyers can go to get more information or should a phone number also be used?

Today the vast majority of buyers start their home search online through one, or several, of the large websites where they know they will be able to see a large proportion of the available listings in a given area. Realtor.com remains very popular nationwide and has strong brand name recognition. Large brokers which have strong ties to a community will draw vistors from the local area to their website and search component. It seems that newspapers, and even newspaper websites, continue to play less of a role in real estate marketing and are no longer thought of as a primary resource for home listings. Some for sale by owner websites are getting more and more traffic, like forsalebyowner.com, owners.com, as well as some general interest real estate websites like zillow.com and trulia.com.

So, back to the yard sign issue. With most buyers simply looking online to do their searching, does it matter if you have a yard sign?
The answer, like the answer to so many questions, is maybe. I think if you are selling by owner it pays to have a nice professional sign out in front. An attactive sign with useful information like a web address for the listing, can go a long way toward creating a good first impression and may make it easier for a buyer to approach the seller. One major issue with homes that are “for sale by owner” if the natural caution a potential buyer may feel about contacting a home seller directly to see or make an offer on their house. A nice sign and least gives the impression that you are serious about your sale and that you have some common sense (always a good thing). However, no sign is much better than a home made or otherwise unattractive sign. Recently I saw a beautiful large home in suburban Chicago with small hardware store sign stapled onto a wooden stake and stuck in the front yard. It did not look right and potential buyers may question whether they want to approach a seller who has priced their house at $1.5 million but only spent $2 on their “marketing”. Its a poor first impression that may work against the seller.