To the Editor:

As a real estate professional, I’m dismayed and dumbfounded at the shortsightedness of the recently enacted sign bylaw.

Signs don’t make a town, signs don’t break a town. But they sure can be helpful when you’re looking for a home.

Seventy-five percent of buyers I work with are looking to move into Wareham and come from other towns or cities. They don’t know the difference between West Street, West Boulevard or West Central. They don’t know that we have 1st Avenue and 1st Street. People make errors entering data into handheld and vehicle GPS systems because they don’t remember if it was avenue or street. Directional signs can be an excellent form of validation when one thinks they may be lost.

Home sales for the last 18 months have been remarkably brisk, due to low interest rates and favorable financing programs. Most directional real estate signs are exceedingly temporary; up for less than 60 days.

On the flip side of the coin, listing clients are wondering why I don’t market their home better – including signage to direct those driving around town looking on their own for a home or to perhaps inquire with me or their own agent about a particular property. Talk to the Board of Selectmen, I tell them.

Signs don’t make a town, signs don’t break a town – PEOPLE make a town what it is. And real estate professionals are the ones bringing people into Wareham, and selling Wareham to their clients – your new taxpayers.

Don’t include restraint of trade as one of your accomplishments. Please revisit the sign bylaw.

Respectfully,

Cynthia K. Parola

Laforce Realty/Swift’s Beach Real Estate

(Parola is a former Selectman, having served from 2001 to 2006.)