Model Home

To help buyers envision life in a new community development, a builder has hired actors to "live" in a model home and portray a family going about daily activities — cooking, listening to music, and hanging out.Beginning on May 20, actors will live in a model home in Centex Corp.'s Milestone community in Santa Clarita, Calif. The thespians will act as a two-child family, allowing prospective buyers to watch them as they live. The "home owners" also will be able to provide information about prices, floor plans, and local schools. Homes in the 166-unit Milestone development are priced from $500,000 to $600,000 and feature as much as 2,321 square feet of living space, five bedrooms, and three bathrooms. The HomeLife program will be expanded to other Centex developments in the coming months. "Model complexes tend to be a bit stagnant and dry for people," comments Amanda Larson of Centex. "What better to show how someone might live in them?"