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A campaign being rolled out by area builders and developers encourages potential buyers to reinterpret the negative news they’ve been hearing about the local housing market.

Sliding prices? Affordability.

Record inventories? Broad selection.

The “Buy Now!” campaign also offers reminders of Southwest Florida’s steady growth, its enviable climate and its many beaches. Low mortgage rates and the area’s increasingly diverse economy are features mentioned in the campaign as well.

“Buy Now!” got its start with a $40,000 grant from the National Association of Home Builders.

Donations from local companies tied to the building trade bumped the budget up to $150,000, said JoAnn Orr, assistant executive vice president of the Lee Building Industry Association.

Additional buy-in from the media in the way of reduced advertising costs and in-kind donations of services by a handful of local public relations firms makes “Buy Now!” the equivalent of a $500,000 campaign, she said.

“We all understand that reporters have to report the news, but bad press has shaken the confidence of people to go out and spend their money,” Orr said.

The key component of the campaign is its Web site — www.buynowswfl.com, which spells out in detail the factors that weigh in favor of making a real estate purchase in Lee County. The site also allows visitors to submit requests for additional home-buying information and offers those affected by the industry’s downturn to contribute money toward the campaign.

Photos on the site are of tantalizing beach scenes and lush golf courses.

“Buy Now!” kicks off Oct 25 and continues through Nov. 18. A second phase is planned for February.

The effort includes newspaper, magazine, radio, television, Internet and billboard advertising.

Also planned is a publication containing information about the area’s lifestyle, its economy and testimonials by recent home buyers.

While the thrust of the campaign is home buying, Orr said another goal is to give a boost to businesses that specialize in home repairs and remodeling.

“This is about more than just ‘buy a new home.’ The message is also that this is a great time to add a deck, have your house pressure cleaned, plant flowers,” Orr said. “Everyone has felt the slowdown in the housing market. Anything people can do to support the area’s tradespeople is a help.”

James McCord, who founded American Dream Builders in Golden Gate Estates 11 years ago, contributed $1,000 toward the “Buy Now!” campaign.

“I think this campaign has the potential to help our industry,” he said. “I think we’re pretty darn close to the bottom but there are too many doomsayers who say we’re not.”

McCord specializes in building homes that working families can afford. He expanded over the years to Lehigh Acres, Cape Coral and North Port, and during the couple of years leading up to the market’s 2005 peak he was building 170 to 190 homes per year, he said.

McCord said he’s seeing signs of revival after a year in which his business produced “next to nothing.” Inquiries from potential home buyers picked up in his Golden Gate Estates office about three months ago.

He’s now seeing the same trend in Lehigh Acres and North Port.

“Things are improving, but all it will take to stop that is one more editorial or one more news report that’s negative,” he said.

Despite the lagging market, Barb Clark sold her home off Daniels Parkway in order to build one in Avalon Preserve Estates in Fort Myers.

“We figured what we were losing on the selling end we were more than making up for on the buying end,” she said.

Without revealing specific dollar amounts, Clark said she and her husband priced their house aggressively last September and accepted an offer eight weeks later, allowing them to start construction on a new home that included a swimming pool in the standard price. They closed on that house March 30 and have no regrets, she said.

“Some people still seem to be holding out but they’re not considering that they’re getting a great deal on the other end,” she said.