I'll be following this -- it's exactly what I want to do when we retire and (partially) move from KY to the Sarasota FL area. We have SO much stuff!! I know that a new "eye" could easily put it into a new place with a fresh look! We are bogged down after living with it so long. I think that's probably what your client wants -- a new look with their old stuff!

At least in my part of the world there are decorators who specialize in redoing your existing house with (mostly) your own stuff. My SIL used one and the house was much fresher looking afterwards. Of course the markup on the few new things was very high, but she felt that altogether it was totally worth it.

This is quite interesting proposition. Is the customer sending pictures of EVERYTHING so you know what you are working with? How would you know where the hole is between what you think the home needs and what they already have? Seems like the entire two weeks could be taken just unpacking every box to see what all you have to work with. Seems like this is a much more involved task than just buying all new.

I don't think at this point in the conversation I am buying anything new for them. I'm sure they will arrive with more belongings, but from what I've been told in the email exchange they have ordered a boat load of new furniture, linens, art, rugs, headboard, you name it. A quote from the homeowner, "We have ordered for the furniture and home appliances, so all we need you to do is to make use of our supplies to do the interior decorating (furniture and electronics layout, artwork, kitchen utensil placement) once the orders have been delivered."

It is a well known scam that is going around. Ask for an actual telephone number and they are likely to evaporate into the ether. The poor grammar and punctuation, along with no real personal contacts are the dead giveaway.

Have you met with the client in person? I'd want to have a complete inventory of everything and make sure deposit and payment for services is secure.

Interesting idea about a scam...I wouldn't have thought that's what's going on or how it could work. I guess I'd move with caution, though if others have heard of it happening.

There are a dozen threads on the Pro section here and in other places describing the MO. In many of them, the homeowner is said to be deaf, in an attempt to explain the lack of voice communication with a person. (Forgetting the TDD that exists.) There are several Pros who have led on the scammers, in order to get the fake checks, and have the hard evidence for the FBI.

Doesn't it seem odd that they have ordered so much stuff beforehand? I don't know...maybe you can find out who their realtor is in Michigan and see the home before agreeing. Even if they send you a check first, it might be bad, And yes, I have heard of this scam on another forum, it had to do with school selection consulting and the consultant lost a lot of money.

I guess I'm confused. Why would they hire an interior decorator if they have already ordered everything on their own?

My parents hired an int. Designer for their second home in Palm Springs to gut the house sight unseen. Everything was redone-hvac, wiring, kitchen, bathrooms, balcony, flooring, all new furniture, new utensils, appliances, doors, new glass, walls were removed, etc. They never saw it until it was completed, when they flew down for vacation. They were very happy with the result and still are to this day, years later. But the interior designer in this case, gutted the home, selected and installed finishes, paint, and bought and placed all furtniture and decor.

Green Designs is right - I found info about the scam online -

https://www.meetup.com/Real-Estate-Staging-Association-Dallas-Chapter/messages/boards/thread/50476810/

How do they get your money?

It's probably that they send you a certified check that's quite high, actually higher than your fee, then ask you to send a money order for the difference between your fee and what the certified check was. You send the money order. The certified check was fake, so the bank where you deposited it wants their money back, but you're out of the money you wired.

Sounds like you dodged that bullet....

Please keep us posted on what happens. Such great information sharing.

Something sounded off but didn't know exactly what until I read the post about the scam. Thankfully we have great posters looking out for each other.

Similar scam with interpreters ... they are arriving and want an interpreter for granny for a week, or an interpreter for the big trade show.

They send you a much bigger 'certified" check than your fee (by FEDEX overnight) and ask you to refund the excess.

If you ask for them to send it by direct wire to your bank, they waffle and vanish.

Certified vs Cashier's Check.

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/savings/you-can-t-always-trust-certified-checks.aspx

uhh, "utensil placement" is a dead giveaway. I mean, really?

Plus, I would really wonder who moves from NY to MI and wants this service. Just saying it would not be common. NY to London, maybe.

I've seen the same scam for a different service. My son, autistic but quite bright academically, offered tutoring services online. He didn't tell us, but someone asked him to tutor her granddaughter who "was in the city just for the summer. $25 per hour is fine and she'd need 40 hours of tutoring, for a total of $1000," But the grandmother was going to send him a certified check for $2500 to include living expenses for the granddaughter and could he please give the granddaugter $1500? My son, naive and gullible, agreed to all of that without telling us anything. Fortunately, my husband saw this check and asked our son about it and he told us that he was going to tutor someone and the grandmother was sending extra money. Long story short, it was a fake check, but looked legit. The woman sent the check by fed ex using some corporate fed ex account in Colorado. When we called the company, the owner said, ours was the seventh call that same day with the same questions from folks who had received same kind of checks.

That was about four years ago. About 8 years ago, several class action attorneys in town were conned into the same scam when they received checks far larger than what their clients were owed, and were asked to wire the excess to some account. The bar association started issuing an alert to the bar at large about this form of scam. Cant believe it continues to this day.

What a fun job that would be if it weren't a scam! Sorry it turned out that way. Hello from Grand Rapids, by the way. ;)

Hi there, If you have a professional account on Houzz, please check out the Pro to Pro section for more information on how to report this scam! https://www.houzz.com/discussions/pro-to-pro-dsbr0-bd~t_9751

On a side note, I have a good friend who is an interior designer. She has evolved her business over the past few years into something like this but the other way. People that are downsizing hire her to figure out what furniture to keep, she does an estate sale to get rid of stuff they won't need and then sets up the new place.

I live in DC and there is actually a demand for that kind of service, including shopping for larger and smaller decor items and art and organizing kitchen items, spices, clothes, even stocking the fridge and pantry.