The For Sale Sign

Make Your Own

Lets look at the home made for sale sign. This will work very well, if you decide not to sign on with a for sale by owner company, or the company you choose doesn't supply signs.

Later on this page, I will also discuss where to obtain great for sale by owner signs, online.

A simple but effective way to go, is to buy a 1/2 sheet of ¼” - ½” plywood, or coroplast. You can cut the sheet to say, 36" wide and 24" high (approx. 91cm x 61cm)

You can of course, make the sign bigger,or smaller if desired. I would recommend that your main yard sign be at minimum, 18" x 24".

Put a coat of primer on each side, if using plywood and then one or two coats of white outside paint. You can also go with a dark color and then use white for lettering.

After the paint is dry, either layout your letters and numbers using a pencil and a straight edge, or you could buy a set of stencils and use those.

What to Put on Your For Sale Sign

The following should be on your sign:

• House for Sale by Owner

• Your Phone Number (a second cell number is optional)

• The asking price

• Certified appraisal available (You are going to get one, right?)

Why Put the Price on the For Sale Sign?

• You are not a real estate agent.

• You as a for sale by owner, have one goal. Sell My House.

• A real estate agent has a different goal. Sell A House.

Let me explain.....

When you are selling by owner, you don't want to be bothered by people who are looking in a different price range.

If you are on the market for $275,000.00 and a buyer drives by that can afford $175,000.00, do you want them ringing your bell? No. They not only won't buy your house, they can't.

Not only is this a waste of time for you, but if it happens several times, there can be some real negative effects that I will cover on another page.

When a real estate agent is marketing a house, he or she wants the phone to ring including Mr. And Mrs. “I am qualified to buy up to $175,000.00”

Why? OK I'll do the bit.

Ring...

Good-morning, XYZ realty Beth speaking.

Hi, I drove by a house on Elm Lane this morning and saw your for sale sign. What is the asking price.

Lets see, Oh yes, that's a new listing on Elm Lane. They are asking $275,000.00. Is that in the price range you are looking?

.......Not really...We were trying to stay somewhere in the ballpark of $175,000.00 or less.

What areas were you interested in?

Anywhere on the west side of town would be preferred because my daughter goes to school there.

I'm Beth Brown by the way, who am I speaking to?

It's Harry Stone.

Well Harry, we have several properties in that area in your price range. Where are you living now?

You get the idea. Beth the real estate agent would not get this call if she put the price on your property. You don't need or want Harry to call you. Got it? Great, I knew you'd catch on fast.

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Side Note: Beth the real estate agent was handling that call quite well. From past experience many real estate agents were not nearly as efficient and would lose many of these callers right after the price was given.

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The Paint has Dried on Your Sign Now

Once your paint is dried, you could put your for sale sign up in a tent configuration as shown on the left. Of course you would need 2 sign pieces for this style.

You could also do a 3 post style with an arm at the top as shown below. You then can put eye hooks on the bottom of the arm and hang your sign from there.

With the 3 post style, you may want to build your sign much larger.

The advantage of this type of sign is you can then add rider signs such as open house or an extra like "air-conditioning" during one of those days when the temperature soars.

Likewise during a very cold spell, you could hang the "cozy wood fireplace" sign. Hey, it's all about feelings, Right?

Whatever style you decide, make sure it is highly visible, professional looking and sturdy enough to withstand any high winds.

The sign shown here on the left is my favorite type of for sale sign.

It is professional looking, high visibility, lots of space to work with and room for riders on top and bottom.

To secure the sign, you don't have to dig a big hole by the way. Buy a piece of angle iron, say 4 feet long, cut one end with a hacksaw on an angle to make it sharp, drill two or three holes in the section that will be above ground.

You then can pound the piece into the ground leaving the part with holes above ground and secure the post to that with two or 3 lag bolts.

For more stability, use two pieces of angle iron. An optional method would be to use a couple of those angle pieces that you see used for metal shelving.

One more method to secure is to purchase one of those 4 x 4 post holder spikes that you pound into the ground. They have bolts and nuts that tighten up on the corners.

You will also notice an addition of a feature sheet holder on the post. You can just use a mail box for this.

On the outside you could have the words. "Information Feature Sheets, Please Take One", or words to that effect.

You Don't Want To Build Your Own Sign?

Not everyone wants to take the time and effort to build their own sign. If you are one of those, may I give you some advice? Thanks.

Don't buy one of those cheap little red and white signs you see at the hardware store. They are two small, unprofessional looking and fade in the sun in about 2 weeks making you look like you have been on the market for months!

You can buy a for sale sign, (or signs) on line for a reasonable price. You can have them customized with what you want to place on the sign and shipped right to your door!

I have researched extensively and found a few of these suppliers I'd like to recommend. If you are interested please proceed to: Yard Signs.

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Boy Doug, This Sure is Adding Up

When you sell for sale by owner, you need to invest a bit of money. Sorry. A professional looking for sale sign is part of that investment.

Later we will talk about Advertising and Marketing. Have to spend some there as well.

Remember, you could be saving thousands in commissions, so this is peanuts compared to that.

Here's the Good News!

In another section of this web-site, I will show you how to get All Your Investment Back, should you for some unknown reason decide to give up and list with a real estate agent.

Once you finish this Master's Course in Sell My House FSBO, I doubt if there will be many of you!

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For More Information on For Sale Signs

Cheap Signs - The Red UV Signs

The For Sale by Owner Company Signs

Open House and Directional Signs

Signs - Main Page

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