Just when I thought I’d heard of everything…. this may be the single most rediculous idea I’ve heard yet….

Extreme Home Staging
By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer

Home sellers long ago discovered that small touches could boost selling prices - fresh flowers, the smell of freshly baked cookies. Now a real estate developer, Centex of Dallas, is adding in beautiful people.

The experiment in what’s called “staging” is simple: Home buyers enter a home and see not just furniture but real people - actors - playing out the life they might lead there.

The Centex program, which its creators call HomeLife, has been used twice so far at Milestone, a 166-house development in Santa Clarita, about 25 miles north of Hollywood.

In one performance, the ‘model’ family spent about three hours pretending it was Mom’s birthday. They baked a cake, sang happy birthday and the children drew and framed a picture - of a Centex house. The original cast included a former Baywatch hunk, Jaason Simmons, in the role of Dad.

There’s more, if you can stand it…

Hat tip to Becky Troutt for finding this article. She commented on her blog:

……Ok, so picture this: You are walking through a model home and come across a “family” acting like they live there while they bake a cake, play cards or want to “show you around in their home.” How un-comfortable or weird would this be? It’s like having a seller at home during a showing. The purpose of viewing a home is in hopes that no one is there so you feel comfortable opening cabinets and looking in closets. If you have a “family” there, don’t you think more people are going to be watching what the family is doing or talking to them versus really looking at the house? GIVE ME A BREAK!

A note to builders: Spend your money on something useful like buyer incentives or paying their closing costs OR better yet how about cutting the price off the home instead of paying people to “pretend to be a family” in a model home???

I must say that I concur with Becky. Is it just us, or is this not the dumbest idea ever?

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