I've gotta admit, living in Phoenix for so long, the sign pollution and dancing $10 an hour open house arrow guys were so annoying, when trying to enjoy a nice drive out in the desert.
Well, in bubble-central San Diego, the local authorities took it into their own hands. Bye bye realtors, we'll sure miss you. Thanks MM for the link...
Local real estate agents are incensed after code-enforcement officers collected more than 100 open-house signs and threw them in the trash behind City Hall.
City officials say the signs failed to comply with existing codes for temporary signage and that they were placed illegally in the public right of way.
The crackdown Sunday came as part of the city's nearly $1 million beautification program, which includes monthly code-compliance sweeps.
"About a month ago, we started doing some of these sweeps,” Councilman Ed Gallo said. "Work-at-home signs, telemarketing signs, garage-sale signs. We're not picking on the real estate people."
Real estate agents say that without the ability to post clear signs directing potential buyers to open houses, properties will languish unsold in an already tough real estate market.
"Even though there are ads in the paper, without signs, people don't know where to go to find the open houses," said Pamela Wilcoxson of Prudential California Realty.
August 30, 2006
Housing bubble burst effect #11093: Realtor sign pollution crackdown in San Diego
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24 comments:
I was just in SD two weeks ago (I love that town). On the way back to the OC, my wife and I stopped in Carlsbad to look at new homes, and the builders are making concessions and offering a lot of incentives.
if you're too stupid to find an address for a house you shouldn't OWN A HOUSE. consider just part of a weeding process.
Did anyone notice that it was alleged that the "missing signs" resulted in only a few people looking at the houses... and not the fact that the market is just plain TANKING!?!?!!?
For the record, I'm for NO signs, not on lawns, not for open houses, and not for your favorite politician. And while we're at it, those damn billboards have to go too. Awful!
-Osman
I was just in SD last week for a funeral. On the way back to PHX, a desperate house seller was offering her twin 13 y o sexy daughters for the right buyer! GO FIGURE!
The FED is prepping us for antoher rate hike !!!
Economy to weather housing storm: Fed officials
By Tim Ahmann
Wed Aug 30, 5:33 PM ET
Is attending open housing in San Diego a good way to get laid?
Which real estate companies hire the hottest women to work open houses and do they put out if you pretend to be interested in making an offer?
The suburban SD home I purchased for 450k in 2003, that was built for 300k in 2000, and was worth 700k in 2005, will soon be worth only 500k.
Nobody believed that would happen when I first predicted it last summer 2005.
Now everyone just nods their head in silent, albeit grudging, agreement.
..."will soon be worth only 500k."
Probably already is.
"Even though there are ads in the paper, without signs, people don't know where to go to find the open houses,"
What, are people still showing up!!!
Boo-hoo.
San Diego is in for some real hurting. Most of the people I know in the area have taken all and then some of the "money" out of their houses. Then the money is wasted on vacations, junk, cars and trucks and CCs;. They are so screwed, San Diego has too much traffic and illegals aliens to be a nice place to live. The weather is not all that great either.
yea- let's see those politicians take down their own signs for this coming november! nothing is worse than seeing 10 signs on the median of one block for some ahole- i take note which guy is littering and usually vote the other way for the lil guy with less $ to throw away.
and yea, it's not like you're trying to find a 7-11 for a big gulp and if you dont find it you keep going to your destination. buyers that really want to look at the open house will find it, the signs only serve to distract others to maybe drive by and check it out- nobody is doing that anymore.
The reality is that open houses do not sell houses for the sellers. Most of the people who go to open houses are either not seriously considering buying anything or are future sellers trying to research what price to ask for their own house. Realtors love open houses because it gives them an opportunity to network the community and get introduced to the people looking to sell their houses in the neighborhood and to people who may be looking to buy a house some time soon.
The problem with this bubble is what aftermath it is likely to bring. The number of people granted a mortgage who should not have received one is going to bring about some very real problems for people who haven't participated in this housing bubble madness. Read up on Collateralized Mortgage Obligations and derivatives. Google "Memphis Bond Daddies", mortgage backed securities, CMO's. Get educated because the shitstorm that the defaults, short sales, foreclosures, etc. that are going to be coming are going to take down some pension funds that are heavily invested in this crap. Read up on what happened to Odessa College in TX, City Colleges of Chicago, Shoshone Tribe in WY, the public school district in Vermillion, OH and Robert Citeron the "genuis" money manager for Orange County in the 1990's. This crap is pervasive throughout our financial system now and if it comes down, lots of people who never heard of or cared about "the housing bubble" are going to be hurt. Get educated and protect yourself because there isn't going to be anyone who is going to help you, it will be every man for himself. Oh, and "Mr. State employee I sleep soundly pension holder because you rubes paying taxes are going to fund my retirement" if you are out there - you may want to rethink your retirement plans if your fund manager is like the many "geniuses" out there today who have bought into this junk because that is what it will expose itself to be "junk bonds" ala Michael Milken.
Perhaps these San Diego Corner Sign dancers are the "FB's" (F**KED Borrowers) with the creative ARM loans working a side jod for extra cash trying to pay for the recent mortgage adjusters. Its a California lifestyle advatage: huge mortages and no decent paying jobs to support the Mortgage Monster.
i live in wellington, fla and every sunday morning while out for my starbucks and paper, i pull those G**D**M signs from the medians and throw them in my trunk. On a weekly basis i pick up about 6 - 8 of them.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2080502341836165368&q=sign+dancer&hl=en
Check out the link! In typical Cal-Style sign dancing becomes a stand alone streetscene. Soon there will be sign dance MTV videos, and teens in Iowa will get with the new cool fad....
Anon 2:59:25,
Yes- it's California lifestyle; huge mortgage, both couples working, one couple has at least a 2nd job, and no time for kids.
Hey Osman, Portland has anti-billboard laws and so few billboards. Looks really nice. But the pig-ass capitalists are always suing the city so they can blanket the place and make it as ugly as any other american shithole city.
Everyone needs to stop embracing the greed culture and maybe the quality of life will rise in this crummy country.
"Everyone needs to stop embracing the greed culture and maybe the quality of life will rise in this crummy country."
Best thing I've read all day!
I'm convinced theres a bubble have been for a few years now. However I bought my 4 bed 2 bath San Diego home in 1999 for 165,000 owe about 130,000 on it now.
Homes sold last year for 500K in my neighborhood. Did I miss out should I have sold and cashed out? I thought about it before but it would have cost me more to rent an apartment then my 900.00 mortgage on a 5.25% 30 yr fixed so I didn't sell.
I dont think the value of my home will drop lower then what I paid for it
A real estate agent told me that open houses are for the agent - to troll for business, not for the seller. She said many agents tell their seller the open houses sell houses - she says that rarely happens. At least she is honest, unlike most of them.
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