Pierce County realtors accuse developer of sabotaging their open house events
Janet Erickson put out six signs promoting her open house events in a Tehaleh neighborhood near Bonney Lake on May 16. She said two of them were taken.
Erickson told The News Tribune in a phone call that she ran into two other agents while trying to find her signs, who also say their signs were taken near 198th Avenue. To make the situation worse, she said, there was a hailstorm.
“I know this is kind of dramatic, but this is my reality — dressed up for an open house, looking for my sign in a hailstorm, was not a fun experience,” Erickson said.
Erickson said the A-Frame real estate open house signs typically cost anywhere from $100 to $250 each. She believes the cost for all the open house signs that were removed that day may have been over $1,000.
Steve Lawson, a homeowner in Tehaleh, also said he knows of several real estate agents who were affected. He told The News Tribune he and other homeowners are outraged over the signs being taken. He and his wife are in the process of selling their home. The Tehaleh Homeowners Association reportedly ordered the sign removals.
“Homeowners allege the selective enforcement unfairly targeted resale homeowners and independent agents while favoring Brookfield affiliated new home builders during a major sales event on the new side of the community,” Lawson said.
Brookfield Residential Land is the owner and developer of Tehaleh, a master-planned community south of Bonney Lake. Signs relating to their event that day, Lawson said, were not removed.
“Per the Tehaleh Homeowners Association Governing Documents, homes for resale are allowed one standard-size ‘For Sale’ or ‘For Rent’ sign in their front yard,” a statement from Scott Jones, senior vice president of operations for Brookfield, said Friday.
The statement said signs along streets, in roundabouts and on sidewalks were removed and returned to the owners later, in compliance with the association’s rule and consistent with Pierce County code.
“There is no correlation between the removal of the homeowners’ signage the weekend of May 16 and the developer’s event occurring that same day as removal of homeowner’s signage that is in violation of the TOA Governing Documents occurs consistently year-round,” the statement read.
Lawson alleged that the association’s board is controlled or significantly influenced by Brookfield, and that two out of three board members work for the developer. He shared with The News Tribune an email from Jones, which stated decisions about which signage is allowed are only made by the association.
“I understand how it could appear that board members who also work for Brookfield have a conflict and would favor rules that benefit Brookfield. I can assure you that we take the separation of Brookfield employee and Board member roles very seriously and expect our team members who sit on boards to honor their fiduciary responsibility to all members of an association,” Jones wrote in the email that Lawson shared.
‘If my signs are taken ... I’m filing charges.’
Liz Johnson, a Tehaleh resident and realtor, told The News Tribune she has lived in the community since 2014 and “has gone to battle” over signs being taken before.
“Well, it’s county property, it’s on the sidewalk, it’s not your property, and you're stealing,” she said. “And we had kind of come to an agreement where they were just going to relax on it, because I was like, ‘They’re not out overnight, they’re not out for days ... for a few hours, like, you set them up right before your open house, and then you do the open house, and you take your signs back up.”
Johnson said, before this month, she didn’t think agents’ signs had been taken since 2018 or 2019.
“And then lo and behold, on the builders’ tour of homes they decided to take all the competition signs down,” Johnson said.
Homeowners and realtors who live in Tehaleh attended an HOA meeting May 26. Lawson said the public comment section lasted for over an hour.
Johnson said during the meeting she confronted the board after realtors were told they always take unauthorized signs on the weekend. She said that is not true.
“I got pretty verbal with them at that meeting and called them liars and told them stop gaslighting us, because they were,” Johnson said. “I always have an open house going every weekend, not me doing it, but an agent on my team.”
If her signs are taken again in the future, Johnson said she will call authorities.
“I have encouraged everyone, because what I’m going to do is, if my signs are taken, I’m calling Pierce County Sheriff’s and filing charges,” she said. “Even though I know I’m being petty, and they’re not going to do anything about it, but I’m going to cause a lot of inconvenience for [the developers].”
Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Carly Cappetto told The News Tribune that if anyone calls them they respond. Even in civil disputes, such as this one, the Sheriff’s Office prefers to be in the middle so no criminal altercation occurs, she said. People can call the non-emergency number or 911 in any kind of dispute, she said.
Cappetto said if the signs were taken and not returned, it would be considered a criminal matter.
Johnson said she eventually got her signs back because someone she knows from Cohere, the property management company for the homeowner’s association in Tehaleh, gave them back.
“So I texted him at 6:30 on Sunday morning and said he stole my signs,” she said. “I wasn’t kind about it, and he offered to deliver them to my house.”
Erickson said her signs were returned after Lawson insisted someone from Brookfield deliver them to her house. When asked if Brookfield or the association ever told her she could not have her signs up before this incident, she said no.
Lawson said he, along with other homeowners and realtors, asked the board to put a moratorium on removing real estate signs. The News Tribune has reached out to the board president to ask if they plan to discuss this suggestion.
