Cheryl Cook and I held REO (Real Estate Owned) open house at xxx Silberhorn Way in the community of Lexington of Folsom CA. 95630

About half way though our 5 hour open house a guy comes in and asks me if those are my open house signs out front. I proudly admit they are indeed mine. I thought initially we may have placed a directional sign on his property. Lets call the guy "Bill", Bill is rather flushed and agitated and proceeds to tell me that the style of our open house signs are degrading his neighborhood and that our signs suggest that all or at least some of the people who live in his "exclusive" Lexington neighborhood are irresponsible borrowers. Bill proceeds to tell me that he has been putting up with this for months and that he has had enough. The style of our open house sign is what has him most disturbed. We use a very cheaply made sign spray painted using a stencil.

I proceed to tell him that I understand his concern and that if I were not in the real estate business, and the signs were in my neighborhood, I might feel the same way.

Bill goes on to tell me he wants me to have his address so we can come by after the open house to pick up our signs because he intends to pick them up.

I respond that I would like his info so I can pass it on to the broker so the company knows what is going on. He again tells me the only reason for me to have his address is so that we can come by to pick up the signs he intends to confiscate.

We have a bit more dialog and he kind of calms down where I tell him the cheaper the sign the more people come to see the house. He then proceeds to tell me he is in marketing for his employer and he totally understands the process but he just doesn't want them in his location. Bill tells me he is fine with the dead grass in front of the REO's and broken windows, just get the signs out of his neighborhood. It seems to me that he would rather get them sold and then all would be better at least until the next REO comes up.

At the end, he tells me he won't pick up the signs today but he will the next time he sees them. Bill recommends we use professionally prepared signs and put them where Realtors would put them, meaning only one sign per turn as apposed to leading the turn with several. (During this whole dialog I was wearing a badge Bob Nowack, Realtor, e-PRO). I originally wanted him to know about the amount of signs we are supposed to put out to have a good open house but decided it was no longer worth spending any more breath for this guy.

Cheryl and I decide we are done with his neighborhood anyway. There are so many REO's now why put up with one other hassle when trying to do open house.

I guess in the end Bill gets his way, at least for now.