Just Act at Home...

It's not breaking news that an industry has sprung up around making homes for sale look more appealing by decorating them with appliances, furniture, and artwork. This practice, known as "staging," is becoming widespread. And it's perfectly understandable: an empty house depends on the viewer's imagination to complete the picture and make it appealing, while a furnished house can instantly draw one into the home's charm.

We have our doubts, however, about a new trend that seems to be spreading. Not content with the charm provided by a well-appointed home, some home sellers are now hiring actors to play the part of a presumably happy and well-adjusted family.

This new realty-TV-meets-real-estate ploy has popped up in Dallas as well as in Oxnard and Santa Clarita, California. Behind all of this seems to be a huge construction company called Centrex Homes. They've garnered a fair amount of press and blog attention, all the way up to the New York Times.

One might presume that Centrex wouldn't push this if it didn't work. But do you really want someone's fake teenage daughter offering you cookies as you inspect the quality of the kitchen cabinets? Is evaluating a bedroom somehow enhanced through the presence of an X-box obsessed fake son?

One clue that this isn't a real family? [The woman actor] is wearing a stick-on nametag that says "mom," [the man actor] is wearing one that says "dad," and the couple is better-looking than anyone you know.

Of course, such a model family would be just that: model. Not only better-looking than you, but better behaved. No tormenting the cat. No chemistry-set accidents. Everyone smiles, picks up their clothes, and is polite to strangers. Welcome to Stepford.

It remains to be seen if this could give some aspiring actor the break she's been looking for Still, the PR firm that spawned this oddball idea has gone so far as to give the "performance" a name: Homelife.

Just bear in mind that it's nothing like the life in your home.