In the second round, though, an all-caps “for sale” sign was added next to each of the dresses. In this round, each price level sold equally as many dresses. It wasn’t a one-off.

During Oakley Signs and Graphic’s early years, buying a home in the U.S. was both affordable and desirable. In 1983, the year I was born, roughly two-thirds of Americans owned a home, up from a ...