CHICAGO CRACKS DOWN ON ILLEGAL REAL ESTATE SIGNS!
AS OPEN HOUSE SIGNS DOT CITY SIDEWALKS AND PARKWAYS DURING SPRING HOUSING MARKET, MANY GET IRRITATED!
Any given Sunday, or Saturday . . . walk down Clark Street in Lincoln Park, or Sheffield in Wrigleyville, Damen Avenue in Wicker Park - all toni Neighborhoods in Chicago. These days, you will likely almost trip over all of those Real Estate Tent Signs - about 18 inches in height - touting Neighborhood Open Houses.
Drive through some of the outlying Chicago Neighborhoods of Edgebrook, Sauganash, Edison Park - and you'll see the same signs stuck in the city parkways or landscaped medians.
These signs are pervasive. They are also . . . illegal!
And now, according to a story by Chicago Tribune Reporter Mary Ellen Podmolik in today's Trib, the city is cracking down on Realtors, and Private, By-Owner Sellers, who display them improperly!
Chicago has long forbidden the display of most advertising signs on public property. It also restricts certain signage on private space, if it interrupts access to the facility, or creates a public safety issue. Fines have always been stiff - as much as $500 for certain violators.
Also, for Real Estate Professionals, post signs must be removed within 10 days of non-contingent contract acceptance. Violators face similar fines. Tattlers here - well, usually, other Real Estate Professionals!
Some condo or homeowners' associations further restrict signage on their condo property. For others, signage is just not practical - a for-sale sign on a 35th floor condo just would not have a strong marketing impact.
Signs cost Real Estate Professionals serious money! Plastic and metal Tent Signs advertising Open Houses cost about $45 each. Aluminum Post Signs - custom-created for the Realtor - about $110 a piece. Losing them to a City of Chicago Enforcement Pick Up can get costly - even without the fines!
Many agents here in Chicago, however, decry stepped up sign enforcement, in light of troubling times here in the Chicago Housing Market. But, as we know, signs alone don't sell houses.
It's the RIGHT PRICE, coupled with EFFECTIVE STAGING, and PROPER MARKETING that does.
But, as we all know, Real Estate Signage will never go away!
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
