Yvonne Wenger

6:00 a.m. EDT, July 25, 2012
Even with fewer "For sale" signs lining residential streets these days, it's important to find a way to stand out in the crowd. How about adding "Not haunted" or "Indoor Plumbing" to your yard sign, like Canadian ReMax agent Jake Palmer?

Or "Husband Left Us for a 22 Year Old ... House For Sale by Scorned. Slightly bitter. Newly single owner"?

The latter is the route Elle Zober of Oregon went. The story came across our desk from Yahoo! News via Oregon's KPTV.

Zober also set up her own website for the house in a Portland, Ore., suburb. She says "Adulterers Need Not Apply" and "We Loved This Home. You Will, too." Her hometown TV station reports that Zober's ex-husband gave permission for the sign and helped pay for it, in the hopes the former couple can sell quickly.

She also added a new tag line: "Scorned, slightly bitter but still, grateful and very happy... life is good."

On her site, she writes, "The idea for the sign was truly only to help SELL OUR HOME. The ex needs a place of his own, so he can plant his roots and move forward crafting a "Daddy House" with the kids - and *I* need to find a more affordable place so that the kids and I can carve out our own happy place."

Zober is trying to sell her house without a real estate agent. Meanwhile, Palmer, the Canadian agent, tells a local radio station that he wanted to draw attention to a property after an initial sale fell through. Here's the interview.

And here is a link if you wanted to take a look at the "Not Haunted" sign.

The idea to do something unconventional to get your house to stand out on the market is certainly tempting.

My husband and I decided earlier in July that after almost eight months on the market -- all the while juggling rent and a mortgage payment -- we would rent our house out. It's been a painful decision, but hopefully we'll find some good renters who treat the home like their own.

ywenger@baltsun.com

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