“The difference now is the environment and the landscape the perception is being made in,” Schafer said. “He’s in a much more serious position than he was as a TV star. He isn’t the host of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ anymore.”
In other words: It’s one thing if you don’t like Trump because he fired Meatloaf on his TV show or you think the Miss USA pageant is tacky; it’s another if you worry he could deport millions of people from the U.S., or start a nuclear war.
Trump’s Manhattan real-estate holdings are probably less vulnerable to the public mood: They’ll stand or fall on old-fashioned market criteria.
Canny Brokers
“New Yorkers aren’t swayed that easily by a name,” said Leonard Steinberg, president of real-estate technology company Compass. “There are another 100 things that matter more than the brand name.” Plus, he said, brokers are canny enough to skip the Trump reference and use a street address instead if they think it’ll play better with clients. Not all Trump’s buildings have his name emblazoned all over them.
Even there, though, the data suggest a mixed picture. The resale value of apartments in Trump-branded New York buildings rose 4.4 percent in the 12 months through June, beating the market, according to real-estate site StreetEasy.com. But StreetEasy also found that Trump buildings, which used to sell faster than competitors, have lost that edge.
If Trump wins in November, of course, he’ll have limited time to fret about such matters. In that event, the candidate said last week, the next generation of Trumps will take over the business.
There’s plenty of upside for Trump Inc. in that scenario, according to brand consultant Laura Ries, founder of Ries & Ries.
‘Huge Asset’
“Those kids are a huge asset,” Ries said. “They seem reasonable, smart, good looking and well spoken. They are very important to the future of the brand.”