Picture this!
Every child is a Picasso in the eyes of their parents; refrigerator doors serving as art gallery space displayingmasterpieces, generally with crayon as themedium. Almost every child is introduced to crayons from a very young age.
Few children envision their future peering into a box of Crayolas, as Mar Jennings did, however. The two-time best-selling author, seven-time Emmynominated television host of the nationally syndicated Life on Mar’s: Home Makeover Show, Realtor, and lifestyle expert, knew from childhood he would choose a vibrantly colorful and creative life. How could he not when he has a personality as bright as Crayola’s Vivid Tangerine, Caribbean Green, Pink Flamingo, Jazzberry Jam, Razzmatazz, Mauvelous, and Outrageous Orange in the fluorescent crayon box?
“Early on, I refused to use just basic crayons. I needed to have the big box with all the unique, more elaborate colors. Normally, peoplewould be satisfied with a couple of crayons but I wanted to play with the entire box,” says Jennings, a Westport resident.
He may have carefully colored inside the lines as a child but he certainly has thought outside the box throughout his professional life. The left- and rightbrained Renaissance man is comfortable fusing logic and artistry, contracts and creativity. After leaving a position as a corporate financial manager in the banking industry and adding “Realtor” forThe Higgins Group to his resume eight years ago, Jennings implemented an artistic component not used by any other agent or agency, at least not in Fairfield County, or Connecticut for that matter. Jennings created handmade pencil line drawings of each house he represented. Several years later he added color, collaborating withWestport artist Susan Albright to come up with computer-generated renderings of each house he has on the market.
“Let’s think outside the box. Let’s not go with the traditional, cookie-cutter way of doing it. Find the new roads less traveled. I want to lead by example; I don’t want to follow other people’s example,” Jennings says.
Homeowners appreciate the twist on traditional marketing of their homes. “It was fun to see howMar and his artist (Albright) captured my little gray house. He and (Albright) picked up on
the lattice fence. That’s the feature that caught their eye,” says Jodi Sansone, formerly ofWestport who now lives in Los Angeles. “It was just fun to see themgive the home personality. They render it in a way thatmakes it a vision of what the house is and what it could be,” Sansone said, adding that the “simple, whimsical” drawings are actually a powerful tool in the real estate marketing process “that evoke feelings about the property (and) make it more visceral than a real estate photograph.”
“Every house looks alike when you’re going through the listings, but to see the drawing of a house captures your attention and draws out what it feels like to live there,” Sansone explains.
Jennings, who assigns a name to each house, named Sansone’s residence, “Lattice House.” Other current listings and sold houses were given the monikers “Garden Court,” “Cardinal Landing” and “Stony Brook Cottage.” He named a house inWeston, “RiverDen.” A house near a golf course in Fairfield was dubbed, “The Clubhouse.” There was “Waterpoint View” in Easton, “Kensett Crossing” inWilton, “Farm Creek Cottage” in Norwalk, and “Green Acre” in Trumbull.
“People can relate to a name more than an address,” Jennings observes, adding that the name and the rendering are a romantic way to connect with the public. “Once I understand what the name of the house is by pulling its history and determining what defines it as a wonderful home, then I can build the rendering,” says Jennings, who has been featured on HGTV, the Today Show, Food Network, and inThe New York Times and BetterHomes & Gardens, offering his trademark sMARt tips and techniques.
He studies each house and photographs it before creating the renderings with Albright. They include myriad details; one might feature Adirondack chairs on the front lawn, bicycles in the driveway, a dog running to greet a visitor, window boxes laden with blossoms, or a bluebird perched on a white picket fence.
“I’m all about the details,” he says. His branding of each house is completed with a mailbox and welcome mat, both depicting the name. “More than ever, it’s resonating with people,” Jennings states.
DariaWard, of Fairfield, says the rendering of her house, named “Belle Haven,” by Jennings, was charming, and that she was impressed with the way he displayed it in a plexiglas frame, along with a printed list of the home’s amenities and recent improvements, during a public open house (precoronavirus) for prospective homebuyers to view. “He’s one-of-a-kind; he’s incredibly creative, he’s got a flare that’s remarkable,” Ward says.
carefully colored inside thought outside the box throughout his professional life.
In addition to a name and a rendering, each one of Jennings’ listing clients gets a copy of his books — “Life onMar’s: A Four Season Garden,” and “Life onMar’s: Creating Casual Luxury”— to display as part of the professional staging of a house, another of his talents. “Iwork hard to give all my listings that casual luxury signature,” he says. Buyers of the properties he lists can purchase a rendering of the home, if they wish to.