Back in my more peripatetic days, I used to think that house-sitting might be a good gig. Spend some time here and there in other people’s pleasant homes, paying nothing or maybe even getting paid, with hardly more responsibility than making the place look occupied, and feeding and walking the dog.

And now I read that, in certain upscale areas of our depressed housing market, the erstwhile house-sitter has morphed into the resident manager, a person willing to move quickly, with all his or her worldly stuff, into an otherwise vacant house and give it that certain je ne sais quoi that says “home” to prospective buyers.

It’s not an easy life. For starters, there’s all that moving—although the stay could be rather long if the house doesn’t sell right away. Then there’s the strain of keeping the place neat at all times, so it can be shown at a moment’s notice (refrigerated cookie dough is necessary too, to pop into the oven to give the place that tantalizing aroma). And anything too controversial, decoratively speaking, is a no-no.

But the rent is cheap. And a commission can be earned at closing time. Acting credits are a plus—and so it’s good that many of these job openings are in California, where unemployed actors abound.

But it’s not just California:

Showhomes Management LLC, a franchise operation based in Nashville, has 350 “resident managers” living in homes for sale in 46 high-end markets, including in Florida, Arizona and Illinois. The company has seen revenues increase 88% since last year, says vice president Thomas Scott. Unoccupied staged houses aren’t selling as well as those with people in them, he says, “because people can still tell they’re vacant.”

Call me behind the times, but somehow I don’t think there’s going to be a whole lot more growth in this particular industry.