By Derek Ramsay, KCRAR Senior VP of REALTOR® Advocacy
You probably don’t realize it, but you may be breaking a law right now, as you read this article. If you have a listing with more than one real estate sign posted in the yard, if you have an open house pointer on the corner of an intersection, or if you have any signs closer than ten feet from the street, then you might be guilty of violating a sign ordinance. Real estate signs are one of the more important marketing tools to our industry. They can also be one of the more troublesome if you don’t follow the rules.
KCRAR recently received notice that Warrensburg, Mo. had begun pulling illegally placed yard signs, including real estate signs, which are springing up this time of year not only with the Spring sales season, but election season as well. Former KCRAR President Tony Conant, with Keller Williams Platinum Partners, noticed several real estate signs were being pulled from listings and dropped off at the city Public Works office. Tony contacted KCRAR for assistance.
“I had a couple members of my REALTOR® family reach who were missing signs,” Conant said. “It’s not terribly uncommon, as we live in a college town and sometimes a few get taken for garage sale signs or on the way home from the bar to place in another’s yard as a prank on a friend. After speaking to an agent who had worked closely with the city in a previous capacity, I learned the city was actually behind the collection. I immediately reached out to Derek Ramsay for the association’s help… It was only after doing this that I learned of the collection point (next to a dumpster on city property) and realized that some of my own team’s signs had been collected too!”
Conant and Ramsay contacted Warrensburg City Hall in an attempt to stop the signs from being pulled and ensure the signs that had been pulled were not discarded. After meeting with a top city official, they were assured that real estate signs were not the target of the sweep and that none had been thrown away. Additionally, both sides agreed that this was an important educational opportunity to remind all businesses and individuals with business signage to follow the regulations.
“I can’t thank Derek and KCRAR enough for their quick response and willingness to come to Warrensburg and meet with our city officials to follow through on this issue so we could all turn our main focus back to providing the highest level of service possible to our clients!” Conant said.
Most REALTORS® know the basic rules, but some municipalities have their own unique laws pertaining to real estate signs, both yard signs and open house “pointer” signs. And just like getting a speeding ticket on a road with no posted speed limit signs, ignorance of the law is no excuse. It’s every agents responsibility to know and follow the local sign ordinances when placing their “For Sale” signs. If we don’t monitor ourselves in this practice, the cities will do the monitoring for us.
(No real estate signs were harmed in the writing of this article.)
