In August, The Stasko Agency got an exciting request to assist in scheduling and pitching a full press tour for Former U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Henry Cisneros. Mr. Cisneros was visiting the Denver/Boulder area to deliver a positive message about the state of the housing market, particularly in our area. Since we love to spread good news, we jumped on the opportunity and hit the phones to garner interest among the media.

Mr. Cisneros and his team arrived in Denver on September 29th with an early morning of interviews ahead of them. We hit Channel 4, Channel 7, and Channel 9 before 7:30am, making sure no moment was wasted. Mr. Cisneros grabbed breakfast and an interview with well-known real estate writer John Rebchook before heading to a speaking engagement at the Urban Land Intstitute event with Mayor Hickenlooper.

During his visit, Mr. Cisneros shared his support for extending the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers and gave his reasoning for why Denver is in the forefront of the recovery. Between federal tax incentives, low interest rates, and low home prices, Mr. Cisneros strongly encouraged that "Now is the time to buy."

After a busy morning, Mr. Cisneros headed up to Boulder to see The Peloton and visit with homeowners. The Peloton, which is financed by Mr. Cisneros' company CityView, is an example of the kind of smart growth and smart development that Mr. Cisneros touted in his message. We had a lovely lunch with some of The Peloton's residents, followed by a conference call with Mayor Hickenlooper and 7 print media representatives from Denver/Boulder to speak about affordable housing and the market as a whole.

The tour concluded with an afternoon spot on both local and national FOX news.

Needless to say, it was an action packed (and extremely rewarding) day in PR. Many thanks to our awesome Denver connections who helped us pull this together. Special recognition goes to Mr. Cisneros' Press Secretary, Forrest Beanum, who was a main player in the press tour's success. We were so grateful for this opportunity and were honored to work with Mr. Cisneros and his team.


Click on the links below to see some of the coverage from Henry's press tour:

Former HUD Secretary Speaks on Housing Market--CBS 4 Denver

Henry Cisneros joins ABC 7 News Denver and discusses the Case Schiller S&P Indices Report--KMGH Channel 7 News

Former HUD Secretary calls for homebuyer tax credit extension--9News Denver

Henry Cisneros has deep ties to Denver--InsideRealEstateNews.com

Henry Cisneros supports extending $8,000 tax credits--InsideRealEstateNews.com

Former HUD secretary: Extend home-buyer tax credit--Daily Camera

Housing tax-credit extension urged--Denver Post

Former HUD cheif Cisneros: Extend 1st-time homebuyer credit--Denver Business Journal

Optimism on Housing--Denver Daily News