realestate sign in my lawn pointing to an open house down the street (1 Viewer)

[Eric_L]

stick a sign or a post

Any permanent sign of course would be intolerable, however a tri-fold temporary sign is adequate. The operating word here is temporary - less than one day. If they have to dig, stick it in the ground or do anything else that would leave any evidence of it being there then they must be made to suffer. And I hope that lightning strikes the crotch area of anyone who would leave any sign longer than half a day.

 

[MarkHastings]

Any permanent sign of course would be intolerable, however a tri-fold temporary sign is adequate. The operating word here is temporary - less than one day. I hope that lightning strikes the crotch area of anyone who would leave a sign longer than that.

Yes, I probably wouldn't be so outraged (and do anything extreme) by a sign that didn't put a hole in the yard, but I'd still be upset about the fact that they never asked to put it there.

Most of my outrage is the fact that I've had TOO many people stick sings over and over again on my lawn and not take them down. I'm not the type to fly off the handle at every little thing, but when there starts to become a pattern of people constantly putting up signs and leaving them there, you bet I'll be quite vocal about it.

 

[Edwin-S]

If it is city owned property then it IS public property. It would be within a persons rights to place a temporary sign on city owned property, unless there is a specific by-law prohibiting the placing of signs.

 

[CapnSharpe]

Here in Houston (Harris county actually), that sign would be illegal and Mike would have every right to throw it in the trash. In fact, there are patrols, by volunteers and the county employees, that do nothing but take those signs down and throw them in the trash. Mike should check into the local ordinances. Austin usually does its best to prevent themselves from looking like Houston.

 

[MarkHastings]

I wonder how people would feel if my company put a billboard up on their lawn

If it is city owned property then it IS public property.

But can you put up advertisements on city property? I doubt you'd be able to put them in a park. I've seen signs in public areas, but I'm sure they had to get permission from the town to be able to put them there.

 

[Mark Fitzsimmons]

Remove the sign and keep it. It may make an interesting interior decoration for your HT

 

[Eric_L]

(g) Up to three (3) temporary real estate open house signs may be placed off premises at the closest
;intersections of a real estate open house and shall be placed not more than one hour before an open
house and removed within one hour after an open house.

Most cities have similar regulations on open home signs; so it is NOT a free-for-all. As far as 'making money' on your personal space, well - think of it as paying it forward to when it is your time to sell. It is about your only option other than just being pissed about it.

Cities also regulate garage sale signs etc. (in same link) There is nothing wrong with the people who stay within these regulations, but abusers deserve contempt. and a root canal. and a widescreen permenently stuck in 4:3 mode.

 

[MarkHastings]

and a widescreen permenently stuck in 4:3 mode.

Bite your tongue!!!! I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy

 

[Chris Lockwood]

Mike, you should've put a For Sale sign on your car & then parked it in the yard of the house where the open house was being held.

 

[MikeAlletto]

The state of the neighborhood being an upper class kind of neighborhood with nice lawns and nice houses also has something to do with not wanting gaudy signs everywhere. There are a few houses for sale, some brand new, some used, just on my block. The only signs advertising where they are located and that they are there are in front of the house in question and at the very beginning of the subdivision in the grass that is the responsibility of the HOA. No one else put signs further in on other peoples grass giving further directions so why did this woman think that she should be able to?

Whether I was right or wrong doesn't matter either, I asked, she complied, case closed. I'll do it again if I have to, but if its the same company next time I'll remove it myself and keep it as a souvenier.

 

[Henry Gale]

Mike,

Do you recall a situation in Austin a year or so ago with political signage? My vague recollection of this was that the city was going to require removal of said campaigning from right of ways, then a candidate took it to court and it became a First Amendment case and the signs stayed.
This may have affected ALL signs in the right of way.
Of course, I would have just pulled the sign up and chunked it.

 

[Wes]

I'm sorry I'm more with the group that is saying grow up! It was a "Open House" sign that would be there for just a few hours that day, not a Realtor sign that she planned to leave til the house sold!
If it had been something that was going to be left for days/weeks sure I could see removing it and being upset but get real it was a Open House sign!
She did'nt trample your grass, the free aeration probable helped if any thing. She did not open a Lemonade stand, had you not been home you would have never even known!

Next time take a chill pill!

Wes

 

[Chris Beveridge]

Say I was 9-10 years old with a few friends playing hide and seek. What would the common reaction be???

Brent,

I'd be telling them to get off my property ASAP (unless, of course, we're talking about that sidewalk portion itself again).

Why? All I need is for one kid to smack himself up somehow, be it running and falling, tripping in a bush, scraping himself on the driveway - whatever, and having that parent come out and sue me.

And they'd have a case if I was home at the time and knew about it too, because I didn't stop them from doing so. The accident they have on my property makes me liable for it.

 

[MarkHastings]

Next time take a chill pill!

:rolleyes

Yes, damn us all! How dare we let people put things on our lawn without permission.

 

[James Edward]

I was a real estate salesperson for 3 years, and always rang doorbells to ask the homeowners if it would be alright to place a sign on their property. Since most open houses don't start till at least noon, I did not encounter many bathrobes. My fellow partners always thought it was a waste of time to do so. They placed their signs without consultation, and who knows how many people they pissed off. I know I'd remember not to go to Century 21 or whichever company placed signs without my permission.

I have never lived in a corner property, but regardless of who owns that particular strip of land, my sense of fair play tells me that they bear the sign burden much more often. They should at least be consulted before placement.
Courtesy can go an awfully long way.

 

[Tony Whalen]

Courtesy can go an awfully long way.

Hear hear! Wish more folks thought like that nowadays!

 

[MarkHastings]

I have never lived in a corner property, but regardless of who owns that particular strip of land, my sense of fair play tells me that they bear the sign burden much more often.

In my past posts I mentioned my parents have a corner lot (near a main street) and we constantly get real estate signs, Tag sale signs, political signs, or any other sign people feel they can just shove into the lawn

Not to mention the small piece of property in front of our house that is owned by the city. People always use this to sell their cars, motorcycles, or whatever crap they want to get rid of.

It was such a nuisance looking out the window and seeing something stuck on your lawn or cluttering up the area next to us. We're not talking about occasionally, we're talking almost every day during the summer

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> I have never lived in a corner property, but regardless of who owns that particular strip of land, my sense of fair play tells me that they bear the sign burden much more often. They should at least be consulted before placement.

Yeah, and when asking for permission, the agent can also give the property owner a flyer about the house for sale. Maybe they know someone who might be interested in that house, or they might be interested in selling their own house. Alienating people, when you're in a sales job where people skills are key, is pretty dumb.

I sold my house a few months ago, and the way I found the realtor who eventually sold it for me was that he happened to stop by while I was putting up a For Sale sign in my yard. He gave me some flyers about himself & his company, but didn't try to talk me into hiring him right then. A couple months later when I was tired of trying to sell it on my own, he called back, & I ended up listing with him.

OK, not the same situation, but my point is that a smart realtor is always looking to form relationships with people that might lead to a sale.

 

[Tom Meyer]

It is also essential to protect your property rights because, unless permission was asked, continued use of that space by a realtor (or anyone else) could be construed as implied consent and thus put your property rights in jeopardy.

This is most certainly an exaggeration. Having just finished dealing with a property line/easement situation for the last 2-3 yrs, adverse possession is *extremely* difficult to assert and usually something to the effect of that given person A (the property owner) and person B (the property user), the use of A's property by B must be open, continuous & conspicuous and A's non-use must be open & continuous for a VERY long time (usually 20+ yrs) in order for a court to say that a person has abandoned the right to their property. In my case, my condo building was person "B" in a situation where we used averse possession as leverage to get permanent easements from two neighboring properties, but had they fought it, we might not have prevailed even though our property has had exclusive, open & conspicuous use of the land for upwards of 40,50,60 yrs.

The bottom line is that there is no way you are going to 'abandon' your property rights by allowing someone to put a sign on your property.

 

[Russell Osborne]

I would probably be upset also if signs had repeatedly been left on my property or property that I maintained. Perhaps I would have went to the open house and explained my concerns to the realtor and asked if he/she intended to remove it that day.But to insult the man by telling him to "grow up" or "be neighborly" is wrong .