‘Stagers’ See Silver Lining in Housing Slowdown

This might be more appropriate for DallasDirt, but I learned last night that there’s a nice upside to the housing/subprime fallout–for some in business, at least. Dallas home “stager” Ann Schooler–basically, she spiffs up empty or tattered for-sale houses with cool furnishings so they’ll move faster–said at a party in Preston Hollow that her business has actually increased as home sales have slumped. Today’s sellers are seeking any edge they can find, it seems, and Ann’s Schooler, Kellogg & Co. provides a big one. Schooler’s handiwork was all around us at 5031 Deloache Avenue–a 15,400-square-foot, for-sale mansion she’d decorated with stuff like Flemish tapestries, even wrapped bars of French milled soap in the bathrooms. You can have the place for $8.6 million.