I Lost 8 Open House Signs in One Day - and 100 Open House Visitors Proved They Were Useless Anyway

It was a regular Sunday morning. I woke up early, loaded my car with open house signboards and directional signs, and drove to an Oakville neighbourhood where I had a listing. I placed the signs carefully at intersections and corners, making sure everything was visible and neat. I double-checked the locations, felt confident I’d done it right, and then headed home to rest before the open house started.

I’ve done this routine many times. There was nothing unusual about that morning.

At around 1:30 PM, I returned to the property, expecting a normal open house day.

When I arrived, every single sign was gone.

Not one sign was left standing. All eight of them had disappeared.

My first reaction was confusion. I assumed someone had taken them, so I drove the entire route again, checking every intersection where I remembered placing a sign. I slowed down, looked carefully, and even pulled over a few times just to be sure I hadn’t missed anything.

I also asked a couple of neighbours if they had seen anyone removing signs. No one had noticed anything, or at least no one cared enough to comment.

After driving around for a while, it became obvious that this wasn’t theft. The City had picked them up.

That part, while frustrating, didn’t shock me too much. What surprised me was how the City chose to contact me.

Instead of calling or emailing me directly- my name, phone number, brokerage, and email were clearly printed on every sign- they contacted me through an inquiry form on my Realtor.ca listing. The message looked like it came from a potential buyer, but at the end it said they had my signboards and asked me to contact them.

It was strange, but I followed up.

The next day, I received an official email explaining that the H-style signs I had used were not permitted under Oakville’s sign by-law. The signs had been confiscated, and if I wanted to pick them up, I would need to pay an administrative retrieval fee of $72 per sign.

I had eight signs.

That meant a total of $576.

These were signs that cost around $20 each. I was being asked to pay several times their value to get them back.

I called the City and, after being transferred between a few departments, finally reached someone who took the time to listen. Thankfully, he told me not to worry about it and said the signs would be discarded without any charge.

I got lucky.

If that call had gone differently, this would have been a very expensive lesson.

At the time, the situation felt like a by-law problem. But what made me rethink everything wasn’t the near fine. It was something I noticed afterward when I reviewed my open house records.

At every open house, I ask visitors one simple question on my sign-in sheet:

How did you come to know about this open house?

I give four options:

I don’t ask this out of curiosity. I ask it because I want to know what actually works.

Recently, I reached 100 completed open house entries, and that felt like a good moment to look at the data properly.

Out of those 100 entries:

Not a single person came because they saw a sign on the street.

That’s when losing those signs in Oakville stopped feeling like bad luck and started feeling like a wake-up call.

I hadn’t lost something valuable. I had lost a habit that no longer produced results.

Realtors love debating marketing tactics. Some swear signs still work. Others insist social media is overrated. Most of those opinions are based on assumptions or isolated experiences.

This wasn’t an assumption.

This was data from 100 people who physically walked into an open house and told me exactly how they found it. When none of them credit signs, it’s hard to justify the time, effort, risk, and money spent placing them.

Especially in cities like Oakville, where sign enforcement is real and fines are not small.

The data made one thing very clear. Buyers are deciding to attend open houses before they ever step into the neighbourhood.

They find them online. They see them on Instagram, Facebook, Google, or through a message from someone they know. By the time they arrive, they already know the address and the time.

Directional signs are no longer a discovery tool. At best, they confirm something the buyer has already planned to attend.

That’s a big shift from how open houses worked years ago, but it’s the reality now.

Once I accepted that signs weren’t driving results, the next question was obvious. If not signs, then what actually brings people to an open house today?

The answer turned out to be simpler than I expected. I stopped trying to catch people while they were driving and started focusing on reaching them where they already spend their time and where they make decisions.

For most open houses, I now run a small, highly local ad on Instagram and Facebook. I target people within three to five kilometres of the property and keep the message straightforward. A short vertical video showing the home, along with the date, time, and address, is more than enough.

I usually spend between $15 and $25 over two or three days. That small budget consistently reaches people who already live nearby and are most likely to attend themselves or pass the information along to someone they know. Compared to the time and risk involved with physical signs, this has been far more predictable and easier to manage.

Alongside paid ads, I always post the open house organically on Instagram Stories and Reels and share it on Facebook. This doesn’t cost anything other than a few minutes of time. I’ve learned that clarity matters more than production quality. People aren’t looking for a cinematic video. They want to know what the property is, where it is, and when they can see it.

Consistent posting also helps keep the open house top of mind without overwhelming anyone.

When group rules allow it, I share the open house in neighbourhood and community Facebook groups. I keep the tone natural and conversational, not promotional. These posts often bring in neighbours who are curious about the local market, as well as people who forward the information to friends or family members who might be looking to buy.

There’s no cost to this, and when done respectfully, it continues to be one of the simplest ways to reach a highly relevant local audience.

One tool that’s often overlooked by Realtors is Google Business Profile. I now use it consistently as part of my open house promotion.

Before an open house, I create a short post on my profile with the address, date, time, and a couple of photos. This takes only a few minutes, but it plays an important role. When someone Googles my name, the property address, or “open house near me,” the information is right there and easy to confirm.

I also update the website or event link on my profile so people have a single place to click for details. This doesn’t create demand on its own, but it captures high-intent interest from people who are already considering attending.

The best part is that it’s completely free and provides useful data on how people are finding me and what they’re searching for.

Instead of relying on multiple physical signs, I now use a single digital link that includes photos, the address, the time, and basic details about the property. That link gets shared across ads, social posts, and my Google profile.

It gives people something to review before they decide to come and makes the open house feel organized and intentional. It also removes the guesswork and risk that comes with placing signs around the neighbourhood.

Another advantage of this approach is that it allows for natural follow-up. When someone clicks a link, replies to a post, or messages with a question, I can send a simple reminder before the open house or a thank-you message afterward.

There’s no pressure and no sales pitch. It’s just a continuation of a conversation that already started online, and it often brings in people who might not have shown up otherwise.The real cost comparison

Physical signs look cheap on the surface, but they come with hidden costs. You pay for the signs, spend time placing and collecting them, and now you also carry the risk of fines or confiscation.

Online promotion costs the same or less, takes less time, and is backed by actual data you can track.

Based on my own 100-entry sample, signs simply don’t show up as a meaningful source of traffic anymore.

This isn’t about saying signs should never be used again. It’s about being honest with yourself about what’s actually working today.

Markets change. Buyer behaviour changes. City enforcement changes. If you don’t look at your own data, it’s easy to keep doing things simply because they feel familiar.

Losing eight signs in Oakville felt frustrating in the moment. In hindsight, it pushed me to stop relying on a tactic that had already stopped delivering results.

If you’re a Realtor, I’d strongly recommend asking the same question at your open houses and actually reviewing the answers. Let real data guide your decisions instead of habit.

That’s how you move forward without wasting time, money, or energy.