Half a million dollars worth of advertising doesn’t go a long way these days, especially in New York. That’s the price tag on a brand new Manhattan marketing campain undertaken by Orlando real estate brokerage, Condo Metropolis this month.

The larger than life campaign is designed to co-incide with the company’s launch into the New York market in the second quarter of 2010.

Marcus Burke, founder and broker for Condo Metropolis LLC believes that spent in the right places, even a relatively modest advertising budget can have an impact. Burke and his partner found a couple buildings in good locations that happened to be in need of renovation, and then approached the owners with an offer to cover them with the Company’s art work during the renovation period.

“We’ve had our eye on the New York market for some time now since it’s pretty obvious that the Florida condo market has already seen it’s best days,” said Burke. “New York condominium living, on the other hand, is always going to be in vogue and will always be in high demand.”

The campaign was to have two phases, including one week on the N.Y. subway transit system in Manhatten, but the signage panels that were delivered last week were too large to slide into the frames inside the cars.

“The printing company made them a quarter of an inch too large,” said Burke. “And that was enough to ruin the entire initiative. In the end, we just didn’t have enough time to have them all redone.”

The advertising is being paid for by an undisclosed venture partner who believes that Condo Metropolis has the ability to quickly penetrate real estate markets dominated by condo sales and rentals.

The news at Condo Metropolis follows CondoDomain’s recent announcement that they are also entering the New York market. Other real estate brokerages are expected to follow suit.

“Until now, New York never had an MLS like the rest of the country,” said Burke. “But now that the State has started offering VOW, New York has become a viable market for business models like ours.”

V.O.W. stands for “Virtual Office Web” a system that holds all listings in a database that can be modified and distributed by any real estate company in the New York, and shared online.

Condo Metropolis LLC was launched in Orlando, Florida in December 2006. Their new downtown Orlando condo website was uploaded last month.