Nobody Notices Normal

What a day!  I just finished Day Two of RESA 2012 in Las Vegas.  Today’s speakers were phenomenal-informative, interesting and inspirational!  It was a day full of topics that ran from motivational to team building to presentations to marketing to inventory tracking to time management to “out of the box” income producing alternatives.  Whew!

After the evening awards dinner, some new staging friends and I did a little obligatory gambling (I need to keep my day job as “Luck” was not a Lady last night). We ended the night talking staging (as if a day of nonstop staging presentations weren’t enough).  My head is bursting with information, ideas and insights!

One benefit of this RESA convention is the opportunity to meet professional home stagers from all over the country.  And of course, we compare notes. 

Real estate markets are all drastically different.  Staging is the standard in some markets and is in its infancy in others.  We each do our businesses differently.  And, we are all at different points in the development of our businesses. 

But one theme was totally consistent with each stager I met.  When we get a house to stage, we all want it to be noticed.  We want our work to stand out.  We want our Realtor partners and selling clients to sell their house for the highest possible price in the quickest amount of time.

We spend thousands of dollars on furniture and accessory inventory, education and marketing all in order to service our clients and make this happen.

In our own unique ways, our professional home staging work is based on a simple premise - “Nobody Notices Normal!”  This catchy phrase was introduced by one of the speakers and it so captured what we do.

When we stage the house, the last thing that we want is normal.  Normal does not fire the imagination.  Normal does not turn heads or hold stares.  Normal does not bring out the “Wow” response.

What we want is inspiring, beautiful, creative, memorable, and comfortable.  We want that staged house to stand out from the crowded market – in its online photos, in its first impressions, and in its rooms and spaces.  We want the buyer to imagine the possibilities in this unique and special place which we hope they want to call their new home.

Think about all of the possibilities bursting from this insight that “Nobody Notices Normal”.  If you get it, then you understand the value and benefits of professional home staging.

Dwell in possibilities

Cindy