For sale signs proliferate in our residential areas. Typically, we think nothing of the signs. But they are big, blocky advertising signs helping to clutter our streets. I wonder if Ottawa regulates their size or placement?

above: Does Chad Clost really need his name up there twice, and in different fonts? Are Ottawa home buyers so dumb they can’t recognize a bungalow from the street?

I was surprised to find these, ah, more discreet signs while out of town:

And no, that pic has not been photo-shopped. The sign really is that small.

And it wasn’t just in one locality. I saw a number of towns where for sale signs, or “available” signs, were on a severe diet compared to our obese placards.

 above: In this town, all the signs were the same size and shape regardless of the realtor, the oval sign on a substantial post shown above.

This oval sign is in the same neighbourhood as the sign in the preceding picture. Discrete, it doesn’t clutter the streetscape.

The one shown here is a bit closer to the traditional swing board we use in Ottawa, but still significantly smaller.

I suspect the days of people driving endlessly around suburban crescents or city streets to discover a house for sale are long gone. I presume people use the internet, or real estate advertising, or are on computerized email lists,  to find houses for sale. I do understand a small placard outside a house, to reassure the searcher they have found the property they were looking for. The sign also gives one permission to stare at a house, criticise the landscaping or roof condition, and move on. And even a small sign will be noticed by neighbours who might be looking, have friends looking, or seeking comparables by which to value their own homes.

Have  the big swinging placards exceeded their best before date? Is it time to give them a shove to the dustbin of practices we could do without?