As a creative exercise, let’s pretend that you’re looking to buy a new home. In this, the age of unlimited information, you have many ways to attack this problem. You can search online, looking for new listings every morning and night. But that sounds exhausting. You can find yourself a realtor and outsource the research (and it just so happens that we know a place to find some very solid real estate professionals). Or you can take the old school approach and simply walk around the neighborhoods that interest you, and look out for ‘For Sale’ signs.
These signs are pretty much all the same. All of them have the name of a real estate company and a phone number, and most of them also have the name of a realtor as well. They project a few feet off the front of the home that’s for sale and they’re just noticeable enough to catch your attention if you’re looking for a new home, and just inconspicuous enough to blend in with the surroundings if you’re not on the market.
On a recent trip to Brewerytown though, we happened upon a rather unique sign, announcing the availability of a property.
This is 2926 W. Thompson St., and as the sloppily painted sign on the side of the building suggests, it is indeed available for purchase. We don’t know this because we emailed harryspider@hotmail.com, nor can we figure out how it relates to the fact that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” It’s publicly listed for sale, for $220K. Here’s a peek inside, from a listing from a couple years back.
Considering that the property traded for $55K roughly three years ago and it still appears to be in average to poor condition, we’re gonna go ahead and guess that the price will need to come down a wee bit before someone comes forward with an offer. Creative sign or no, if the price isn’t right, the owners are not going to be able to sell the home. Be that as it may, the creative signage certainly caught our attention, and now we’re telling you about it, so maybe they’ll sell it more quickly and for a higher price than they would have with a standard ‘For Sale’ sign.
While we’re over here, it seems like a good time to mention the large foundation just on the other side of Myrtlewood Street. Several months ago, we told you to expect a 6-story, 40 unit building as an old warehouse was getting torn down. As you can see, construction is indeed progressing on this project, though the vast majority of the work still lies ahead. Once the building is approaching completion, maybe the developers will look to the home across the street for some creative marketing tips.