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Hocus pocus… the great disappearing sign
Not long ago my team was in the process of selling a condo down in the Renton valley area in a pretty popular condo development. At the time, we were competing with about 3-5 similar condos plus there were other townhome style units for sale as well in the same complex. Since the community had a place for a single sales sign and a few flyer boxes at the entrance to the community we tried to use that first in our work to sell the client’s property. Because there were more units for sale than flyer boxes it turned into a battle over who could usurp another person’s flyers to get attention of buyers looking in the boxes including people taking out another person’s flyers and supplanting them with their own. We had to ask our client to regularly check the boxes to make sure his flyers were showing up and not taken out or covered up.
After a while I tried to get a little creative and I started thinking about how we could get a sign and a flyer box away from the competition. The result was that we put a sign closer out to the main road that passed by this development. That worked for a while, but lo and behold, at some point my assistant drove by the property one day to check our flyer box contents and the whole yard arm and sign was gone!!!! Where o’ where could it be? For now, we are stumped.
My first thought was that the City of Renton may have decided we couldn’t have the sign near or on the public R.O.W. and they took it down. But, in researching it they don’t have any (pardon the pun) sign of it in the place that they would put a confiscated sign. We also called the sign company (Sign Pros) to see if perhaps they had been called to take it down - no such luck, they hadn’t been called. So, now we’re wondering who would care to take a Team Reba sign? They are custom designed (and paid for) so perhaps the thief doesn’t realize the financial pain they inflict on a small business owner by stealing something such as this.
If anyone happens to see our sign around, please do let me know so we can reclaim it.
Posted: August 19th, 2007 under Community, Eastside, General Real Estate, Uncategorized.
About the Author: Rebecca Haas
- Author's website: http://www.TeamReba.com
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Comments
2.
Comment
from Reba Haas
Time August 19, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Yes, we’ve heard that kind of thing before too. At the SKCAR meetings they’ll tell us that it is our duty to self-police our industry but they don’t mean for us to be vigilante sign grabbers. Their way to enforce is to ask agents to notify the association of violators and they will send a notice to the agent and/or their broker.
We had checked the local sign ordinances for Renton, via the spreadsheet the NWMLS makes available to agents for all local cities, prior to posting our sign and didn’t see a conflict, which is what made the disappearance all the more confusing.
3.
Comment
from redmondjp
Time August 19, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Another realtor took it down. It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there.
I know it’s hard to believe that there are dishonest people in one’s own profession, but there are, no matter what one does.
If this had happened during the few weeks before high school graduation, I would have suggested a senior prank, as this used to happen at my high school. I would come to school one morning and the entire outdoor commons area would be covered with RE signs.
4.
Comment
from Jay Caldwell
Time August 20, 2007 at 8:26 am
I’ve had several for sale arrow signs taken, which is to be expected. But the most gutsy I’ve seen so far is taking 2 open house arrow signs while I was holding the house open. They just didn’t have the audacity to take the one in front of the house. Luckily, I got them at a hefty discount for buying them in bulk.
5.
Comment
from Reba Haas
Time August 20, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Depending on the city it may or may not be okay to use arrow signs (specifically the staked kind) so I’ve seen some areas where even the general public pulls those up, but for a yard-arm style of sign I was surprised a little (but not a lot). Considering when you drive around you can see how many of our signs get defaced regularly by taggers and such. Ahhh, the joys of the business. 
6.
Comment
from Magnolias
Time August 22, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Hi Reba,
The same thing happened to another Agent I work with over at a lot in Renton…we put another one up- lo and behold 3 days later it was gone.
I was assigned the task to walk around the neighborhood and ask people if they saw someone remove it as the sign (I like to call it a billboard) he had custom made was $$$
Well…mystery solved. On my visit to the 5th house, I found myself receiving the wrath of an older ‘gentle’man who was irate that the sign cast a shadow on his fence. I kid you not. Under Renton rules if the sign is on -and in some circumstances slightly on/near- private land its fair game for removal. I spoke with a higher-up with the CoRenton and apparently the ‘gentle’man wasnt so gentle…he called the city twice daily until the sign was removed. Even though our sign wasnt on the mans property it was close enough where the city just didnt want to put up with him anymore and although he won on a technicality it was worth it for them just so he wouldnt call.
Long story short…I bet Renton removed your sign :/
PS We solved our problem by simply going to the house on the other side of the sign and asking if we could move it 2 inches over so Mr. FussyPants would leave us alone. We still drive by daily out of paranoia but so far the sign remains…
7.
Comment
from Reba Haas
Time August 22, 2007 at 5:22 pm
Hi Magnolias, we spoke to CoR directly and they said they didn’t have it. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s in the garage of someone’s house right this moment after reading this hysterical post. Mr. FussyPants sounds like an “interesting” fellow!
8.
Comment
from R Duke
Time August 24, 2007 at 8:27 am
Life on the edge,Im taking notes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Duke
1. Comment from Sandy
Time August 19, 2007 at 2:46 pm
Around my neck of the woods, certain agents will make off with others’ signs if they are posted in violation of local ordinances. Our police department used to do it but I think in the end decided that they had better things to spend taxpayers’ money on. But I was talking to an agent one day who said that she removes the ones she sees because “well, we are supposed to self-police, so if they won’t police themselves, I will police it for them.”
That’s great except for the fact that the signs do cost money so taking it down and not giving it back to the person who owns it, is theft, not a public service. Besides which, it seems like a silly thing to waste one’s time doing but evidently some people get enjoyment from making life difficult for others.
Sorry you lost your sign.