Look around your house. Are the clothes in your closet organized by color? Are your stacks of books arranged at angles so precise that an interior designer would approve? Can you hear soft music in the background, and smell a hint of vanilla in the air?
Bob and Dareda Mueller can—because they are props in their own home. Well, it isn’t exactly their home. The sprawling Tampa mansion the Muellers live in belongs to a home-staging firm called Showhomes, and it’s for sale. Showhomes lets the Muellers rent the house—as long as they keep it in absolutely perfect condition—until the real buyer comes along.
Why bother letting a family live in a house you’re going to sell anyway? The answer, according to franchise owner Linda Saavedra, is that adding fake owners creates a magical atmosphere in an otherwise bare house. That makes the home more inviting to a buyer. “There’s an energy there,” Saavedra told the Tampa Bay Times. “You can feel it . . . There’s life.”
That may be true for the house, but it’s not true for the Muellers. The once-wealthy family lost its money in a housing downturn. Bob and Dareda took jobs at McDonald’s. Left with nothing but a few of their expensive possessions, the Muellers were perfect candidates for Showhomes. All fake owners are required to bring their own valuable possessions to furnish the house. Showhomes conducts surprise inspections to make sure everything is exactly where designers positioned it. The Muellers must obsessively make adjustments, racing across town if necessary when a potential buyer wants a look at the house. Perhaps worst of all, the Muellers have to be ready to move at the drop of a hat if the house sells. The two are now “urban nomads.”
The Muellers are getting a real taste of what it means to live like pilgrims. God is providing a temporary home for them. But is living in a mansion worth all that fuss?
