Everyone told Stacy Blake she was doomed to fail. But she did it anyway.
And she did it in pink.
In March 2011, Blake opened her real estate agency during the worst housing slump in decades. She decorated her Milford storefront with a bright pink awning, and put up pink “For Sale” signs on clients’ front lawns with her photo and motto: “Stacy Blake Realty, Building Dreams One House at a Time.”
“People were saying, ‘What’s up with the pink?’ and ‘She’s never going to make it in this market,’” Blake recalled.
She has proven them wrong. Blake oversees a successful agency serving all of New Haven and Fairfield counties. The agency specializes in residential waterfront, near-the-water and inland properties.
“I’ve been selling everything from a $157,000 condo to the $800 million home,” she said. “I don’t discriminate; I sell them all.”
The agency employs five full-time agents, including one man. “Pink doesn’t bother him,” Blake said.
And it doesn’t bother her clients, either: “People love the pink signs.”
Blake has been in the real estate industry for 13 years, and worked for several of the larger local firms – Re/Max, William Raveis and Beazley – before venturing out on her own. Opening her own agency “was the best decision I ever made,” she said.
She credits her success to a “positive attitude” and to “responding to clients immediately.” Blake also emphasizes “doing right by the client.” Hard work and 70-hour work weeks have also helped her grow her new business.
Business ownership is not new to Blake. Before she went into real estate, she owned a pizza restaurant and an entertainment company. She attended Quinnipiac University and the Connecticut School of Broadcasting.
Blake belongs to several professional and civic organizations, including Business Network International, Milford Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Milford Business Association.
She has two sons, Chaz, 21, and Michael, 30, and two small dogs.
So that those who doubted her can see her successes, she puts a big pink stripe over all the listings listed in her storefront window that have a deposit on them or have been sold.
