Ardell DellaLoggia over at Rain City Guide has a bone to pick with local brokers who aren't being tooootally truthful when it comes to whether a house has sold or not, and she let it all out last week online with some stern words for buyers and agents. The ubiquitous "SOLD" strips fixed to real estate signs are apparently unique to the Seattle area, and DellaLoggia thinks they're almost always unwarranted and misleading.
Her tip for buyers: "Sold" signs don't actually mean anything. When a house sells, the sign goes down. When it's got a "Sold" sign, it's pending. Once it closes the sign goes down.
Her tip for agents: stop leading people on when the house isn't really sold yet. Well, then.
There's a lively debate among commenters after the post (which went up on April 25th) and it's worth checking out. Noteworthy highlights include the actual specifications of the "Sold" strips and a discussion on how to fix the grass where the sign used to be.
· Seattle Real Estate Signs- Pending is spelled SOLD [Rain City Guide]