2 days Ago By Nathan Griffiths
Article content A Vancouver realtor who put himself on a downtown billboard to raise his profile, appears to have gotten a little too much attention. Ian Watt’s controversial ad has unleashed a torrent of criticism, and he says he has received “threatening” messages. The ad shows Watt leaning against a wall painted black to look like a chalkboard with the words “Ian Watt, making Yaletown unaffordable since 2005.
” Watt posted an image of the ad on his account on October 28 but the online anger didn’t take off until Nov. 29, when an image of the billboard was posted to the thread on Reddit, with the title “Greed has no shame.” https://www.
instagram.com/ianwattdotca/p/DBq44G2PHDq/ “I was being ironical (sic),” Watt said in a text message to Postmedia explaining the ad. “The craziest thing is that the billboard has been up almost two months,” Watt said.
“I can’t believe it took people so long to notice.” Watt said the inspiration for the ad came months ago, when “some lunatic came into my open house and yelled at me that I’m ‘the problem why real estate is unaffordable.’” “Am I that powerful to change the economic landscape of Vancouver?” he asked.
“The reality is the government is to blame for allowing real estate to be traded like a stock for so many years instead of it being reserved as a place to reside,” Watt said in a text. “Why not give rent rebates or support based on economic income levels?’ he asked. Online posts about the ad generated more than 25,000 views and comments.
“Does he think its (sic) a positive thing? Is he flexing? At first I thought it was someone taking a shot at him, but he has his info on that billboard. I guess any attention is good attention when you are a realtor,” wrote one user on Reddit. Despite the fact that many online comments on the ad were positive, Watt said he disabled comments on Instagram “over threatening content.
” “Some of the comments were over the line,” he said, noting that “someone started calling people” who commented on his Instagram post. “They went too far,” Watt said. He shared a sampling of online comments highlighting both harassment and support over the post with Postmedia.
Watt, a real estate agent focused on downtown Vancouver’s Yaletown and Coal Harbour neighbourhoods, was born and raised in the region and has been working in Vancouver real estate since 2005. He purchased space for the controversial ad on a street-level billboard owned by the Pattison Group at the corner of Expo Boulevard and Carrall St. near Rogers Arena in late October.
Large-format billboards like the one Watt rented typically cost between $3,000 — $15,000 per month, according to , a marketing firm. “The wide range in pricing reflects the variability in location quality,” according to the Good Kids website. Postmedia reached out for comment to Heller Murch Reality, the firm listed on Watt’s ad, but did not hear back in time for publication.
Watt was upset about the online harassment but denied that realtors were responsible for the high cost of real estate in Vancouver. “At least I was being honest about the economic landscape in Yaletown for young people,” he said. “If people don’t see the irony here, I don’t know what I can do to help them,” he said.
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