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I, King Todd, am officially taking away my sellers 1st and 2nd amendment rights

OK, I have to admit when I first thought of writing this post I was only going to take away my sellers 1^st amendment rights. But, after remembering a situation last year, I've decided it best the take the 2^nd amendment away as well.

OK, of course I'm joking, but I am going to strongly encourage that sellers take political signs out of the front yard, when trying to sell their home. It doesn't help curb appeal and it takes away from the house. Here are two situations from this last week to show how those signs over shadowed the house! (To be fair, one from each side of the aisle.)

The first was a yard that had a McCain/Palin sign in the front yard. By the time we got to the front door the jokes were already flying. While walking through the house they were joking and asking things like, "Where do you think these racists keep their guns?" and "Hey, honey, we could live like the rich, if we live here!"

Then, from the other side of the aisle, the seller had the Obama/Biden sign and the buyers started making comments like, "Hey, lets see if they got government cheese in the fridge!" and "Maybe if we buy this house we can have the rich pay extra taxes and they can give us the money to pay our mortgage so we don't have to work."

You see, neither side can win in the sale of the home if the buyers aren't talking about or looking at the home. So remove your political signs and maybe you can sell your home a little quicker.

Now, for the 2^nd amendment and why I want that one taken away as well. I will admit this is all about my own personal safety. Please remove all guns from the house while it is for sale. Last year, I found a gun under a couch during an open house. How do you think I would have felt if a kid had found that? Or a criminal?

So please during the sale of your home, King Todd asks you to voluntarily give up a couple of your constitutional rights and I promise I will give those rights back to you as soon as we have your home sold!

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

Posted by Todd Clark (Broker) (503)524-9494 (Beaverton, Oregon Real Estate Expert) on 10/20/2008 09:49 PM

Comments (16)

Advice in the Home Selling Channel

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Originally posted at: Living Beaverton - Your guide to everything Beaverton: I, King Todd, am officially taking away my sellers 1st and 2nd amendment rights

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16 Comments on I, King Todd, am officially taking away my sellers 1st and 2nd amendment rights

OCT

2008

Hail King Todd - your commands are good and right. No sinage that may offend or guns that may kill during the period of listing. Nice crown.

Awesome point and well made!

Thanks, King Todd.

Found a gun under the bed during the open house? Wow! Were you routinely checking under the beds ?(LOL)

I agree, from Queen Lorene!

I was just wondering what effect political yard signs might have on a potential buyer....just what I thought - a negative effective. Another thing I wondered was "would a seller be insulted if I told them to remove it?"....hmmmm

If you think about the basic premise of staging - which is to remove anything that personalizes the home - then it makes perfect sense to ditch the yard signs as part of a staging consultation! Duh!

Todd: I've had to tell my sellers the SAME exact thing! The other day I had buyers who were 'divided' and made comments back and forth all day as we passed signs--once, the buyer said that she didn't want to look at a home because it had an Obama sign in the yard! The hubby and I talked her into looking at it anyway but, it took us skipping it and coming BACK to it! SELLERS: REMOVE ALL POLITICAL SIGNS PLEASE--YOU'RE COSTING ME GAS!! ;-)

I haven't had to tell any sellers that as yet, but we are getting close to elections, could happen.

But I never even thought about guns. I always tell them to put their jewelry, etc away.

OCT

2008

Todd - I agree with you, and I remind gun people to take them out of the house while it's on the market. THankfully, most of my homes anr new constuction, so no problem.

Todd - 100% agreed, aren't you glad when elections are over and you can give them back their 1st Amendement.

Hi Todd, we agree. If your house is up for sale then what type of message are you sending? These are the things that we tell our sellers.

no political signs ever, this is a no brainer
remove all religious type items
remove family photos (creepy but a pedophile could be touring your home, we had a client recognize the seller that was losing her house to a short sale from her pictures that she had displayed)
put away all trophies including dead animal heads
lock up any and all firearms or weapons (including putting away a kitchen knife set block)
do not leave any personal papers or bills out (we've seen a release from prison for a seller and past due bills laying out at many homes)
keep your personal life personal and put it away

Amazing what people will leave lying around when they are trying to sell their home, isn't it? You have given good advice, I just hope your sellers will listen.

TC,

How about going real PC and putting one sign of each back to back...you'll be sure to capture the imagination of both left and right...keep in mind at all times though, that only right is right!!! Thanks, Fran

Todd, I actually suspend my own first amendment rights when I'm with clients. Around here you never know who you have in your car!

OCT

2008

Todd,

I had a client tell me her political affiliation recently and I said, "That's great'" and changed the conversation. There's no point in going down that path. I had not thought of mentioning guns to my sellers, but I will for now on.

Todd - I think you are exactly right... you can't win the selling game with "that kind" of sign in the yard... Good Call! Guns... do we really need to tell people to remove their guns? No brainer!

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