I don't know. I'm starting to get used to the staging I'm seeing in my search...you know the look: dirty laundry thrown on the bed, dishes all over the counter, etc. It's as if the sellers are surprised that the realtor took photos of their home!

I have a lot of anxiety about all of this moving. Can you tell?

How interesting...thanks for posting this.

"It was like a beautiful woman who had had her clothes and her jewelry ripped off, a beautiful body just lying there in the dirt," is how he described the place.

That's how my house looks after working a couple of weeks without a day off!

Oddly, their life sounds like it should be a frantic dash of packing and unpacking, yet they seem so calm.

Good read bk!

That was really interesting, Stinky.
I couldn't quite figure out how they make money though. It seemed like they only occasionally get a percentage of the sale.

I meant good read SG! Bee, I must have been thinking about your move when I typed.

Their payment includes living rent- and utility-free, along with reimbursement for their moving costs and often a percentage of the sale, though not always.

I suspect "moving costs" are interpreted quite broadly on the invoice....

Oh I posted on this, too. Or at least I thought I did. I'd do this in a heartbeat, but my husband would never agree.

Bee, moving is SO anxiety-provoking! Wishing you the best with all that. Keep us posted!

Kathie, don't these two two make a fascinating pair? I've never heard of anyone with a staging business like theirs!

Deedee99, LOL! Yes, they do seem calm. It takes a special person to live that way, I imagine!

Bumblebeez, thanks! Based on what Deedee pointed out, guess they don't need "income" per se, but are in it more for the adventure? Would think there must be tons of business tax write-offs though: moving, storage, travel fees, & I'm sure many others I can't even imagine !

Ideefixe...it would be an adventure! In many ways, I imagine this is SO much fun, but it's also a LOT of work. These two aren't in their twenties anymore either! Think they must have a staff who help them...the two of them can't possibly get the entire move done alone, even if they can imagine each furniture layout in one walk-through. Would be interesting to see the whole move unfold!

I don't know....it took alot of the house 6-8 months to sell whcih doesn't seem particularly fast. And they hung up alot of art- whose going to repair all of those holes? I guess it's better than having the property vacant. At least someone is keeping it clean.

I thought the same think, pps. All those nail holes...but it seems most prospective buyers plan on at least some gutting, and at the bare minimum, a paint job, so it really doesn't matter.

I'm not really able to think like they do, i.e. (class differences already at work) flowers from New York, for instance, wouldn't local florists be good enough?

Or even, gasp, Costco?

I wonder how many lights they leave on so they don't miss where the bathroom is in the middle of the night!
Can you imagine trying to cook and all your things are in different places all the time...LOL

how interesting! 14 yrs is a long time to be doing that, but with the moves always being local moves, i guess that makes it easier!!
i don't think i could handle the 'moving in with friends' bit between jobs!

Busybee, that's the part I'd have a hard time with...the "in between" stages!

As far as nail holes being problematic... wowza, I don't get that! I understand that it's a buyer's market & people are more picky & demanding than ever, but if nail holes are a deal breaker, that's it...I'll never sell my house! I'm sure this couple hangs their art with care & precision, which is more than many people do.

Must say, when house-hunting for both of my houses, I never once looked at one that didn't have an abundance of stuff on the walls. I thought most people expected to deal with such. I certainly did. Frankly, if a potential buyer so much as mentioned nail holes to me I'd have to tell them to go suck a lemon.

Bumblebeez, class differences? Clearly, this is not a service for the middle class! The houses they are working in are obviously not your average American digs. Guess those of us with more modest lifestyles who think in terms of "budget" and "value" are too sensible to make sense of many of the details behind such an endeavor! You know how it is, "The rich are different from you & I."

I do think that using a local florist, regardless of pricing, would be a really lovely idea. Supporting the small businesses in the town in which you live is a terrific thing to do for many reasons.

Didn't they say she worked in the flower business years before? She probably has wholesale connections in NY and gets better stuff at a good price.

SG, you are so funny. I just can't imagine you telling someone to "go suck a lemon"! That made me smile.

Chispa, I wondered the same thing!

Nance, glad you got a kick out of that!

We have friends who are on their second house in the caretaker program, it's sort of similar. Right now they are living in a $500K-600K house for $700 a month. Basically they get to live there for cheap as long as they keep it in showing condition. If that's not the deal, I don't know what is!

Maybe they're not that calm. Maybe she's clenching her jaw and waiting for the session to be over so she can tell her husband for the millionth time "I want a house of my own"!!!!! lol

We have friends who were house sitters with good furniture. They were a young couple in Greenwich, Ct, renting a place when a realtor suggested they become sitters for empty houses on the market. They did it for about three or four years in the late 1980s ( last big recession). It worked out perfectly for them. They were both bond traders in NYC and when she had their first child and wanted to stay home, this offset some of her missing salary. They lived rent free, just paid for utilities and someone rose kept up the yards, I think. It saved them at least $4000 per month. Their moving expenses were paid. I think they did it until their daughter started school and then they needed a fixed address, obviously. These people could have afforded any house they lived in...you never know the motivation of people who do this :)

While I've never had that much stuff to pack every time, there was a period when I moved a lot and it's like anything else--once you get your chops up it's easy to do it. If you only do it once every ten years, it's hard.