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Model Homes and Model 'Families'

The Times: Forty miles north of Los Angeles, in an area where hundreds of homes are cropping up among the brushy, treeless hills, several dozen buyers recently found an odd spectacle in a new housing development.

To visitors, at first glance, it was like walking into a domestic scene starring Colin Farrell and Cameron Diaz.

As shoppers stepped through the front door of the largest model home, a barefoot affable man in his 30's shouted hello from the kitchen and offered juice to the buyers' children. His "wife" — slim, blonde and agreeable — pressed them to try some fresh-baked cookies. Their "children," 12 and 14, offered to show the visitors their rooms. A birthday card was propped on the mantel, and a chocolate layer cake with blown-out candles sat on the speckled granite countertop.

In truth, this cheerful family of four was a group of professional actors — paid to show buyers how life could be in the house, which is one of 166 units planned by Centex Homes of Dallas. ...

"I applaud their creativity, and I think it's one of the funniest things I've ever heard," said Annie Pinsker-Brown, who helps sellers add appeal to houses through her company, called Stage to Sell, in Culver City. "We do try to create a warm, lived-in feeling, but this goes to an extreme."

The fundamental principle of staging a house, she said, is to encourage buyers to "mentally move into the home." The standard methods include painting, putting a wood floor in the living area and adding carpeting in the back bedrooms.

Adding actors, she said, "could be a sort of turn-off," and if the staged family did not reflect the family structure of the shoppers, it could limit the number of buyers. She warned that "it makes the home-buying experience a spectacle, and it may work against the final sale of the home."

Only in L.A....

Hmm, 'reflect the family structure of the shoppers', that's a new one. Does that mean no Hispanic, black or Asian American actors need apply?

Unless, of course, it's for show houses in ethnic enclaves.

Image from 1975's Stepford Wives found in various spots online.