Signs of Discontent in O.C. : Real estate: Agents say communities’ rules governing content of ‘For Sale’ placards are making a bad market worse.

If Orange County real estate agents, their ranks thinned and their boom business gone bust, are in a battle to find scarce home buyers, the front lines are the patches of green where they plant their “For Sale” signs.

The signs act as both a calling card and a powerful selling tool, which may explain why some real estate agents are chafing under the restrictions that many homeowners associations place on the placards. Those guidelines--from limits on size and content to blanket bans--add an extra layer of difficulty in an already brutal market, agents say.

“If it were a good market, with buyers waiting at the door, it wouldn’t be as big a problem,” said Shiva Ommi, a Century 21 realtor in Irvine. “These associations should not have any effect on the salability of a house, and they do every day. That’s not right.”

Ommi and other agents say rules that forbid them from putting their own names or a second phone number on the signs create the type of cracks that prospective buyers often fall through, cracks that agents can ill afford in a market that has plunged since its raging success in the 1980s. But leaders of several associations countered those claims by saying that agents may be looking too hard for a scapegoat.

“I’m sure there’s a lot of frustration there,” said Nancy Ryan, property general manager at the exclusive 330-unit Harbor Ridge community in Newport Beach. The gated community with condos and multimillion-dollar homes forbids all “For Sale” signs. “And that frustration may have something to do with the complaints.”

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Ommi concedes that the tight market in large part motivated her to write an open letter to the homeowners in the sprawling 9,291-unit Woodbridge Village community in Irvine, asking them to do away with sign restrictions. She also went before the Woodbridge association board a few months ago asking them to relax their rules, which take up three pages in the association’s literature.

Signs erected in Woodbridge must be no larger than an open phone book, and they cannot bear the name of the specific agent, only their real estate company. They can carry just one phone number. The guidelines go on to list the specific color of the parts of the sign (“background color must match Ducarust Boom Brown”), the distance they can sit from the house and the length of the stake on which they are mounted.

A computer compilation of local real estate listings showed Monday that there are 227 homes for sale in Woodbridge.

Ommi said the omission of the specific agent’s name can often delay the information process when potential buyers call the agency or leave a caller speaking with an agent who may not be familiar with the property. The unnecessary complication should be done away with for the sake of homeowners in Woodbridge, she contends.

Also, agents are not allowed to add a “Sold” or “In Escrow” sign in Woodbridge when a buyer is found, signs that Ommi said often spur other buyers shopping in the area to move quickly. Or, on the flip side, a lack of “Sold” signs in a community may make some potential buyers think there is something wrong with the area.

But Bob Figeira, executive director of the association, said the 18-year-old guidelines have served Woodbridge well, keeping out a flood of obtrusive signs in varied shapes and sizes that detract from the aesthetics of the carefully planned community. Adding agent’s names or “Sold” signs amounts to advertising for agents, and that is a low priority to the community’s leaders.

“I know they are in a difficult situation with the market, I know they’re probably discouraged, but we sat down with realtors when we put these [guidelines] together and they have worked well,” Figeira said.

As for claims that one phone number on the sign or the lack of an agent’s name leads to confusion for buyers, Figeira said, “that problem lies with their office with whoever is answering incoming calls.”

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The National Assn. of Realtors released a survey last year that shows 40% of home buyers find their house through name recognition--the buyer went to a specific real estate agent or agency they had heard of from advertising, direct contact or word of mouth. The same survey stated that 20% of buyers bought a house after seeing a “For Sale” sign for the property.

Turtle Rock Pointe also forbids the placement of “Sold” signs (although the Irvine tract does allow agents to put their names on the signs), a policy that realtor Melody Terry said could adversely affect the fortunes of residents who want to sell their homes. An area with 15 “For Sale” signs, for example, might have five or six in escrow or sold, but to a buyer driving through the streets it looks as if nothing in the tract is moving.

“I imagine that happens a lot,” said Terry, an agent at First Team Reality in Irvine. “When [a new buyer] sees ‘Sold’ signs all around, that immediately validates their choice to buy there. It makes them feel like it’s an OK place to buy, it gives them some security.”

And what happens when the buyers see nothing but ‘For Sale” signs? “They’re convinced the whole place is falling through a big crack in the Earth.”

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Terry said homeowners are also ill-served by not seeing an agent’s name on the signs sitting in front of homes that have been successfully sold. “There are certain agents in each area that really are the pros,” she said. “If you see that name over and over again, you know who the powerhouses are in that tract. Without it, you have to guess.”

Terry said she and her partner have to pay out of their own pocket to buy signs in the Woodbridge area because they use their direct phone line instead of the agency’s general number. They would prefer their company pick up the $25-a-sign expense, but the extra expense is less costly than missing a client.

“We need every one we can get,” she said.

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Sounding Off About Signs

Selling or renting a home in Irvine? Don’t even think of slapping up a hastily lettered sign. Homeowners and real estate agents are chafing at detailed signage rules such as these enforced by the Woodbridge Village Assn.:

It must be made of finished wood no greater than a quarter-inch thick.

Background must be painted a specific shade of brown.

It must be mounted on a black, 48-inch metal stake.

Letters and numbers must be white and appear on one side only.

No flags, banners, balloons or “sold” signs.

Area is restricted to: “For Sale,” “For Sale or Lease,” “For Rent” or “For Exchange.”

Area is restricted to: Real Estate company name, lot owner’s name or terms “By Agent” or “By Owner.”

Area is restricted to: phone numbers and addresses. May include “By Appointment Only” and/or “Do Not Disturb Occupants.”

Placement * No signs on vehicles, windows or fences * Only one sign per lot or unit * Must be no farther away from dwelling unit than half the distance to sidewalk * For condominiums/attached units, sign must be placed in landscaped area other than lawn