Austin Real Estate Scene

This cracked me up when I read this story about builder hiring actors to be a fake family in their model home.  Sales for new homes in California and other places are slowing down. Centex wanted the to use a fake family to give the place a more homey feel. It sounds kind of corny, especially when they have visitors to the open house helping the “family” sing Happy Birthday to “Mom”, but I don’t know how effective it will be in converting lookers into buyers. See the story from the San Diego Tribune below.

A Little Improv Goes a Long Way in Selling a Home
Centex Homes has begun staffing model homes with actors in hopes of stimulating the once-sizzling San Diego. Calif.-area new-home market.

On a recent Sunday open house, Mom, Dad, and the two kids chatted about Grandma visiting as they interacted with would-be buyers, serving them fresh-baked cookies and showing off their rooms in a $700,000 model home in Ventura County, Calif.

Centex calls it an “improvisational theatrical model home experience.”

“Think of it as a docented tour, a combo of Williamsburg village and `Desperate Housewives,’ ” says Centex’s publicist, Jim Garfield. “Staged homes tend to be so cold. We’re looking for a way to put the heart back in the home.”

Some home shoppers, including Ventura resident Filomena Silva, thought the idea was an entertaining approach. “It makes you feel right at home,” Silva says, after joining in to sing “Happy Birthday” to Mom.

Source: San Diego Union Tribune