Here Is What To Expect When The For Sale Sign Lingers After Closing
One of the questions I see pop up often goes like this. We closed on our house yesterday and the for sale sign is still in the yard. How long until it is gone. It is a fair question and it stirs up surprisingly strong feelings. Personally, I even earned a negative Google review once because a for sale sign was still up the day after closing. So let us walk through what is normal and what you can do.
There Are Two Common Kinds Of Signs
Post signs
These are the large posts you see set several feet into the ground with the panel hanging from an arm. The post is either a heavy plastic sleeve around a steel stake or a wood post set with an auger. It is not a simple yard stake. Most real estate brokerages hire a professional sign company to install and remove these. After closing the listing agent submits a removal order. The sign company then works the request into its route for that week. Depending on workload, weather, holidays, and area coverage it typically takes a few days and sometimes up to a week for pickup. No one is ignoring you. It is a scheduling issue.
Yard stakes
These are the lighter metal frames you can push into the soil by hand. Many agents keep them in the trunk. They are easy to pull and usually disappear the same day or the next day.
What You Can Do As The New Owner
Be patient for a few days
For post for sale signs a short wait is normal. If you are anxious about appearances let your buyer’s agent know you want it removed quickly so they can nudge the listing agent who can nudge the sign company.
Move the panel only
If the post for sale sign bothers you, you can carefully unhook the hanging panel and set it in the garage or by the side of the house. Leave the post for the sign company to extract. The posts are heavy and may damage your lawn if you try to yank them out.
Lay it down gently
If you have two people and you feel comfortable, you can lower the post to the ground and place it along a fence line. That keeps the curb appeal clean and avoids any risk to irrigation lines or buried utilities.
When To Call Again
If a post for sale sign has not been removed within about a week, especially when there are no holidays or storms in the mix, ask your buyer’s agent to follow up. Sometimes a removal order simply did not get entered. If it is a light yard stake and it is still there the next day, feel free to pull it yourself and let the agents know where it is.
Why This Happens
Sign companies run tight regional routes. Mondays might be the north side of town, Tuesdays the east side, and so on. A Tuesday holiday can bump the route by several days. Spring and early summer are peak seasons for new listings and closings in many markets, so crews are slammed. None of this is personal. It is a logistics puzzle that sits just outside the control of individual real estate agents.
A Quick Etiquette Note
If you move or store any part of the for sale sign, send a short text to your agent with the location. Everyone appreciates clear communication and it prevents an unnecessary extra trip.
Have More Quick Questions Like This
I am happy to help you sort out the small stuff that can cause outsized stress during a move. And if you are planning to buy or sell, I can introduce you to a vetted real estate agent in your market who will manage details like these with care.
