California real estate prices have been skyrocketing the last few years, but who would have imagined $250K a square foot in the San Ramon Valley. I guess it's a question of how you figure it.

I think the current statistic is 19% of real estate sales come from your signs. We, The Harper Team, always use an abundance of directional signs to guide prospects to our open houses.

How many signs do you see like these – way too many in our market. How do you spell marketing or branding?

Our directional signs match our yard signs and with Keller Williams, we are able to maximize our team branding.

Our directional signs take up 2 square feet, so when that sign sends us a buyer for a $500K condo – I figure that real estate is worth about $250K per square foot to us.

In San Ramon, our primary market and farm, we have the dreaded “sign police.” All signs have to be placed on private property. At first, we thought this was a negative, but it has turned into a great prospecting tool.

This just in from CCAR – Contra Costa Association of Realtors – Sign Violation Fee in Concord. (Concord, California is about 15 miles north of San Ramon.) This is their fine schedule for misplaced signs:

• First Violation $30/sign
• Second Violation $40/sign
• Third Violation $140/sign

Maybe that's the idea behind those ugly signs above. If the sign police confiscate them, they can keep them. So, you're only out a couple of cups of Starbucks. 

Be sure to catch the next post – How the Sign Police Helped Us Build Our Business