Price of “For Sale” Signs Hits New Record;
High Demand, Little Supply

Movin' on up.

“How can I sell my house if I can’t afford a sign?”

If you put off buying “For Sale” Signs on Thursday, it’s going to cost you. “For Sale” Sign retailers throughout low lying parishes and counties across the Gulf Coast are raising prices—most by 10 to 12 cents a letter.

While Creole Tomato reporters watched Tuesday morning, the Roger’s Ace Hardware in the Irish Channel, New Orleans, went from $2.77 to $2.89 for a letter of regular “For Sale” Signs.

“There only six letters in ‘For Sale,’ says Clarence Graves, local homeowner, “But it adds up fast. I can’t sell my house if I can’t afford a sign.”

Steve & Jenny’s Hardware on Highway 90 in Waveland, MS made the same price jump yesterday, according to our partners at ForSaleSignsAccountability.com.

As “For Sale” Signs prices were going up overnight, we talked with Isaac Martine, of Pensacola, FL. Putting a “For Sale” Sign up is a must for selling his beach front condo, and he’s not happy about how much he has to pay.

“These “For Sale” Signs prices are terrible, man.” Martine told us. “10 bucks got me barely more then half a sign, and what good is that? The sign falls over with only one peg, and nobody knows what it’s ‘For.’ A lot of times I see myself having to skimp out on a lot of things like a nice set of FEMA trailer steps for my mom or anything else, just because I need to sell this damn hurricane target.”

President Bush unveiled his four-point plan Thursday to help people like Martine, including opening up the Arctic Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and tax credits for those buying hybrid cars. But some say that won’t make an immediate impact.

Ashley Daniels, of the National Resources Council, said, “I don’t think there’s anything in the President’s plan that will have short-term impact on ‘For Sale’ Signs prices.”

And many Gulf Coast residents agree with the experts, saying there isn’t much President Bush or Congress can do about lowering “For Sale” Signs prices.

Martine said, “Every single day they make choices. They make choices, they make laws, and they make different whatever. They could always make the decision to lower the prices. They could do whatever they can, but they haven’t, and most likely they won’t.”

The President said on Thursday that “Ethanol is good for the whole country,” which Martine said is at least a step in the right direction.

“The best message I could possibly give out there, is that the only way to reduce our dependence on foreign signs is to invest in alternative communications sources.”

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