In a hush-hush deal with Meredith Corporation, Realogy has obtained the licensing to the Better Homes And Gardens real estate brand with the intention of creating a new division and branding opportunity for franchisees by July 2008. The agreement is long-term (50 years) and forward-thinking, just the way Realogy Vice-president and Chairman Richard Smith likes things.

"Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate is a highly strategic addition to Realogy's premier portfolio of real estate franchise holdings, a brand that comes with well-established equity and one that we expect will compete well in the marketplace," says Smith.

Privately, he told Realty Times, he knows the timing of the license acquisition will raise some eyebrows because of the sluggish "national" real estate market.

"We're looking well beyond the current cycle," explains Smith. "We're looking at what the franchise will look like in ten years. The health and welfare of this business is stronger than any cycle. We research that stuff to a fault, and you come to the realization that this too will pass.

"We are indifferent to these short-term cycles."

But Realogy is doing something it's never done before -- launch a brand without existing franchisees. How will Realogy build the brand?

That doesn't worry Smith. "We manage brands, but we don't like building brands," says Smith. "That's death. The only brand we would license is one that doesn't require creation of the brand. That's very difficult to do, it's very expensive, and it takes years."

He points out the fate of most dot-coms, for example. "The largest single line item is marketing. All the little dotcoms spend their money on is marketing. The smartest thing to do is license an established brand. This way, we've left home base, so we are at second base. We are already at built brand awareness."

With the licensing of Better Homes and Gardens, Realogy not only has a brand that's already created, it's one with considerable good will. Long before the Martha Stewart omnipresence, Better Homes and Gardens magazine was the go-to source for decorating, recipes, holiday and other homemaking ideas. Nicely positioned to appeal to the upper-middle-class pocketbook, the magazine was and still is, an elegant yet practical influence on modern homemakers. Today the magazine has a circulation of 7.6 million and a readership of nearly 40 million, says Realogy.

For those new to real estate, Better Homes and Gardens was also once a highly respected real estate brand, until the name was put in the Disney vault for a decade. The BH & G brokers didn't disappear, they just got rebranded when GMAC Home Services purchased them. The licensing rights to BH & G reverted to Meredith Corporation owner of the magazine since 1922.

(Actually, GMAC had two good choices -- keep the BH & G brand or continue to build GMAC. GMAC Home Services aligned nicely with GMAC Mortgage, and received benefits from its affiliation with the world's largest automaker, GM. When GMAC purchased the offices in June 29, 1998, there were more than 800 member firms, 1,500 offices and 26,000 members in US, Canada, Puerto Rico and abroad. By October 26, 1999, there were 1,450 offices and 24,000 agents, said The Detroit News. The company's lost a little traction, but so have others. Today there are 1,300 franchised and company owned GMAC Real Estate offices, and 22,000, according to the GMAC website.)

Just like having GM around doesn't hurt, having a major magazine and media company in your back pocket doesn't hurt either. Realogy will receive "selected database services" from Meredith's 85-million name consumer database, while Meredith will receive ongoing license fees based upon the royalties that Realogy earns from franchising the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate brand, says Realogy.

The marketing possibilities from the association are mouthwatering, and the creative possibilities are endless, especially coming from the man who rocked the newspaper world by saying Realogy, the franchisor, wasn't going to advertise in newspapers anymore. Realogy and Meredith the media giant could do each other a lot of good online, too. Meredith's magazines, which are marketed to women, also include Family Circle and More has a combined circulation of 30 million.

Realogy plans a July 1, 2008 launch of the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate franchise system, and is looking at management personnel in the interim. An announcement should be made shortly.