Every year, thousands of homeowners choose to avoid real estate commissions by listing their homes themselves without a Realtor®. Makes a lot of sense, why pay 6% of the sales price if you don’t have to (especially in a bear market like the current one)? There is nothing wrong with this thought process or the owner’s decision to sell for sale. However, the decision to go to a hardware store and buy a cheap white and red For Sale By Owner sign with a place to write the number on it with a black marker, is actually a mistake to be avoided.

Instead of using a For Sale By Owner sign, you should do one of two things. First, you can design a custom sign that doesn’t say For Sale By Owner and looks like a real estate company sign, but with your contact information. You don’t have to say Real Estate, Property, Real Estate or anything like that. It just shouldn’t say For Sale By Owner, By Owner, or anything like that. It should look like a real estate broker’s sign, even if the subdivision name or something else is in the place where you would normally have the real estate broker’s name. The second option is, if you’re using a flat fee listing company to gain MLS entry, use that broker’s sign with your contact information (as long as you don’t have the same sort of ‘for sale by owner’ taglines). or URL’s that have the cheap signs of the hardware store). You’ll benefit from looking professional with Realtor® logos, while getting all the phone calls any homeowner for sale with a cheap sign would get.

Almost any sign company, including several internet real estate sign companies, can help you design and print a For Sale sign. It can have a house, a snow scene if you live in the mountains, or just look professional with stylized fonts in 2 or more colors. You must place an Equal Housing Opportunity logo on it. Make sure it’s the standard size metal sign you see in your area, like 2′ by 3′, and if possible, install it on a wood stud or H-frame. Many major cities have sign installation companies that install and remove poles and signs for real estate agents; again, this adds to the professional appearance of the sign.

When your sign stops looking like a cheap For Sale By Owner sign, you’ll stop getting so many agents pestering you to list your property with them. They’re more likely to think you’re already on an agent’s list, since your sign looks like a professional sign. (It is an ethical violation to approach the seller unsolicited and try to get a seller to cancel their listing and change listing agents.) Unrepresented buyers are less likely to immediately realize that there are no agents involved and ask for a discount based on avoiding commissions. You are also less likely to be approached by scammers trying to take advantage of unrepresented sellers with various schemes, such as returning illegal payments to complicit third-party companies. Finally, the professional looking sign will tell prospective buyers that you are serious about selling; you didn’t just throw a cheap search at an overpriced property to see if anyone would pay your premium market price.