I imagine many have had the experience of unexpectedly meeting someone that totally takes them by surprise, in a good way.

It happened again recently to me here in Carlsbad.

I had been working with some buyers who lived a couple of hours north who were seeking a get-a-way place (they found me on AR, BTW) and within a couple of weekend we found the right condo within 2 blocks of the ocean and the town…exactly what they wanted. With a 30-day escrow planned things had to move along quickly (incidentally it was 8 weeks from first meeting until closing).

The inspection was set with a gentleman the buyer had used on a previous sale, rather than using someone locally. Made sense to me, after all it was their choice. The inspection got off to a good start – I worked on my laptop while David was doing his thing, but we started talking.

Without belaboring this post, it became very clear quickly that David was a newer member of AR, and in addition to being a home inspector (Apple Inspection Services), was also a staging professional with a number of websites (Staging 101, Sexy Staging) and a recent book (see photo). With this common ground, and with time to spare before the buyers arrived to go over the inspection result, we chatted about SEO, on-line marking, blogging and ActiveRain, finding leads and driving traffic, and so much more.

• How do you make homes “sexy” and appealing?
  
• How do you impact the emotions of buyers?
  
• Should you talk more about features or benefits?
  

So let me introduce David Jones – home inspector (Orange County, North County San Diego and other nearby counties), writer, stager, and a pretty knowledgeable guy when it comes to marketing, on-line and off-line, and real estate. He has also done some interesting research on staging statistics in teh Orange County area. Things are not always what they seem.

His Staging 101 site is pretty cool…stop by and take a look…and is a great resource for agents, staging professionals, and folks who might be interested in trying to do some staging themselves (e.g., unrepresented sellers). He’s just getting started with blogging, but you will find articles by him on the ezines as well as on one of his websites. 

Want to chat with David about staging or a home inspection? You can reach him at (949) 837-7755.

Stop by and say howdy and welcome!