Bill would let homeowners skip HOA sign regulations

A third for sale sign went missing before Scottsdale homeowner Freda Pongetti realized what was happening.

Pongetti was trying to market her two-bedroom home in McDowell Mountain Ranch, but the local homeowners association only allows for sale and open house signs on certain days, she said. So the association took down her signs.

“I should have checked before I did this,” she said. “There are community rules, and it’s my job to find that out.”

Homeowners associations across the Valley place restrictions on where and when sellers can place signs or hold open houses.

But some real estate agents say that can hurt an owner’s chances of landing a successful sale — especially in the middle of a housing market slump.

“The more limitations you put out there, the harder it is to sell,” said Susie Goetze, an agent with Arizona Best Real Estate in Scottsdale.

Some associations allow sellers one open house sign but no directional signs on adjoining streets to point the way to a house. Some restrict for sale signs to windows and yard gates or require agents to use signs of uniform design, while others don’t allow them at all.

A proposed measure, approved by the state Senate last month, would let sellers put a sign on their properties despite association rules. The measure, SB1062, is now in the House.

Meanwhile, homeowners and agents live with the rules.

Associations do serve a purpose by preserving a community’s overall feel, but some can go overboard, Goetze said.

“If you’re going to make it tough on the Realtor to show it, they’re going to go where it’s easier to show,” she said.

Prospective buyers can’t find homes that are deep in neighborhoods without multiple directional signs, said Yalda Alawi, an agent with WestUSA Realty Revelation in Chandler.

The longer a home sits on the market, the less money a seller is likely to get for it, Alawi said.

That can impact an area’s overall value, she said.

Still, other agents say the rules serve a purpose and don’t hamper business.

Agents are getting fewer and fewer calls from signs, said Don Matheson of ScottsdaleRealEstate.com.

“You get way more Internet calls than you do sign calls,” Matheson said.

In high-end neighborhoods, house hunters aren’t out driving streets, looking for signs anyway, he said.

They’re working with agents.

That’s especially true in gated neighborhoods, said Carol Spencer, a homeowner in Scottsdale’s DC Ranch.

Spencer, who is also an agent, said she understands why most associations have criteria for selling homes.

“It’s about security, and it’s about traffic and kids playing on the streets — not about hurting people’s abilities to market properties,” she said.

DC Ranch recently discussed changes to its policies.

The association is working with agents on ways to cut back on the amount of traffic entering neighborhoods for real estate agent tours, town manager Melinda Gulick said. It’s a matter of safety and convenience with so many cars on the development’s narrow streets, Gulick said. The association is trying to balance the needs of owners selling their homes and everyone else, she said. “We’re trying to find a happy medium.” Rules are there to preserve the appearance and value of a neighborhood, Spencer said. Some limitations may make showing a home a little more inconvenient, but “is it really impacting my ability to plan? No, not really,” she said. In her Gilbert neighborhood, owner Cheryl Barber said she’s heard just one directional sign is allowed for open houses. But, Barber said, it didn’t occur to her to check with the association about rules before putting her home on the market. She has had a for sale sign up since November. “Nobody’s come around and told us we couldn’t have it,” she said. “I didn’t even consider it.”