Got Real Estate?

Step Right Up..."It's a great time to buy or sell an office building." That's the imaginary (!) banner headline in NAR's campaign to stoke up the commercial real estate market.

Yes, I'm making this up. The actual banner in NAR's new $40 million ad campaign reads, "It's a great time to buy or sell a home." And, of course, it's aimed at the residential market.

Which raises the question. How can it be a good time to buy OR sell? Can real estate markets trend both up AND down simultaneously? Hmm.

The New York Times explains that this advertising blitz "may go down as the Got Milk? moment for the housing sector." If dairy associations can promote the benefits of milk, why can't NAR promote the benefits of real estate? ( Nov 3, 2006)

Of course, what's important to brokers are transactions -- a lease, a sale. Whether values are going up or down is only relevant at the margin.

Way back when I was a broker, I always smiled when a friend at a cocktail party would ask, "Is it a good time to buy or sell?" Hey, I thought to myself, "Doesn't matter to me. Just do something!"

Now what about NAR's commercial sector, the Realtors' Commercial Alliance? What percentage of total membership are they? Let's say it's ten percent. Will NAR launch a $4 million campaign for its commercial professionals?

If so, what banner headline would you suggest?

-- Peter Pike