Home : Blogs : Maureen McCabe Central OH Homes : Columbus Ohio real estate

Realtor on the Today Show

Is she an ActiveRain member?

No I don't see her in AZ on ActiveRain. She is a Realtor and an artist, who sells the "reborn" babies she creates.

Note The woman pictured here is not the Realtor

The tweet of the story from the Today Show this AM asked "Cuddly or Creepy?" Woman of a certain age ( I believe they say 40, 50, 60 more than once between the article and video) playing with realistic baby dolls.

In the video it does not say she is a Realtor. It does in the article:

Bogus baby boom: Women who collect lifelike dolls

“It fills a spot in your heart,” Lynn Katsaris told TODAY’s Matt Lauer Wednesday in New York as she cuddled “Benjamin” and “Michael” in her arms. A realtor from suburban Phoenix, Katsaris is also an artist who has created 1,052 reborn dolls and sold them to women around the world. She was one of three grown women visiting the show with five of the the bogus — but eerily realistic — babies cradled tenderly in their arms." emphasis on "realtor" added.

I know long ago a member told a really creepy story on ActiveRain about running into a couple with "babies." My buyers - the Cabbage Patch Family...U won't believe this... (Members Only) That was the first I had ever heard of this... I wonder if others have run into these "babies" in homes, but that is really just the same sort of interest I have in stories I see on the front page of a tabloid in the grocery check out line. I am a strong believer in not "kissing and telling" when it comes to what we have seen in homes we've shown as "Realtors" especially via blogging but that's just me...

Looks can be deceiving

The word "realtor" caught my eye in the article by Mike Celizic, a TODAYShow.com contributor or I probably would not have even read it. It does not say the professions of the other two women who were interviewed by Matt Lauer yesterday. I assumed the woman in the middle on the couch is the Realtor. I assumed that woman who is pictured in the Today Show article was the Realtor, the woman shown at the start of the MSNBC video. She looks like a Realtor to me. Not that the woman on the far left of the couch talking with Matt Lauer does not look like a Realtor... or a gifted artist, since she makes these baby dolls. They don't say what the other two woman do... wonder why they mention her other profession.

Grown-Ups playing with...

Collecting. Men collect cars... guns. Some women have collected dolls for years. When we list a house of a collector we usually would tell them to pack up collections. Of course a collection can distract buyers from looking at the house. I had a client who collected cars but I did not make him store the cars away from the house. Double standard? The cars were out in the garage...

Now being a childless woman of a certain age... I am so glad I don't have a $1000 dollars to spend for a doll... nor the urge. I do however have to confess an urge to dress the cat up in a sailor suit... he's a boy so I would not want to put him in a dress... that would just be wrong. The poor cat does not even want to be held or cradled... so, so far it has just been an idle threat, so the Humane Society, the ASPCA and the cat can relax....

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Connect with me, Maureen McCabe

RSS or email subscription to Central Ohio real estate market news:

Subscribe to Discover Columbus OH - Columbus and Central Ohio

Subscribe to Worthington Old and News - Worthington real estate

Posted by Maureen McCabe Central OH Homes on 10/02/2008 06:47 AM

Comments (21)

Realtors in the ActiveRain Channel

realtor

21 Comments on Realtor on the Today Show

OCT

2008

I had put Matt Lauer on my do not watch list a long time ago so I missed this. Curious, what will your cat be for halloween?

He won't be dressed up... he is not declawed and if the truth be known he is just my step cat, so I would be crossing other boundaries by dressing him up.

I have got out of the habit of watching or even listening to TV in the AM... I read Twitter or ActiveRain instead. I was a big Today Show fan for years. Love seeing the Today Show people dress up for Halloween.

This is a really creepy thing. I have children and loved him as a baby but this really creeps me out. Oh well different strokes

I never played with dolls. I do have a mannequin! She is more of a decorative "conversational piece". She wears all my great clothes that may be too tight for me...(sigh)

Maureen: Very interesting piece indeed. Obviously these dolls fill a void for many people. Makes me think more about people's needs in a day where so many complain about being lonely and detached from others. Hmm... (waxing philosophical)...

I'm speechless. At first I thought they were just doll collectors---and these dolls are amazingly lifelike. but it does seem to be more than a collection for some of these women.

I still have my newborn Thumbelina. Won't give her up. However, I don't play with her, she's tucked away in a chest.

The dolls this artist creates are beautiful and life like, but I wouldn't want one.

Charlie I loved dolls as a child. Especially baby dolls. I do have a Madame Alexander baby doll from the 1980's... they are collectable dolls...I was assistant buyer for a department store and we sold them and for some reason I bought one (sans box so not as much value?) that was returned. The Madame Alexander dolls were not anywhere near as realistic as these dolls. I don't believe I have ever cradled her. Most Madame Alexander dolls are a different kind of doll, (or were... I have no idea now) not baby dolls.

This kind of creeps me out... but who am I to judge?

Ruthman Real Estate.... I assume the her of Ruthman Real Estate not the him... I love the idea of a mannequin. It reminds me of the mannequin in 'Say a Prayer for Owen Meany' I think it is not the son of the woman whose mannequin it was that hangs onto it but Owen Meany who hangs onto it. That mannequin in the novel may have some of the same creepiness that the realistic dolls have for some.

Well that is an interesting and off-beat subject. Matt seems to be unearthing some less than substantive news stories. Isn't there enough news of interest to report these days?

Maureen, Duncan, my Westie has a nice kilt and I inherited two porcelain dolls that take up space on antique chairs. But I don't believe I would have much of a career if I put them in a car seat and did my grocery shopping with them. That's creepy to me!

hey, I am not interested to know the realtor but this is an interesting clip:Fake Babies!

Michael I saw the Tweet early this morning and thought huh? thinking it was late enough to have been on today's Today show... but it was not 7:00 AM yet and it was on yesterday, and I really, really have to believe it was on the second hour of the show... in light of the "lightness" of the topic with all that is in the news right now.

I am sure they have a stock of stories that are not breaking news and have to have a certain amount of "off-beat" subjects for some of their audience... or they would not do the light pieces.

Debbie My dog Buddy will wear a bandana and I feel blessed by that. He won't dress up for Halloween and we have come to terms with that over the years. His predecessor Sox would not wear a bandana. He'd eat it. The part about the car seats, strollers, etc. surprised the heck out of me.... the thing about police and people seeing the baby dolls left in car seats is scary.

Thanks all for the comments.

Kris... Thumbelina sounds familiar... wonder if I had one. I know I love the fairy tale. I can appreciate the dolls as realisic art but I don't want one... and if someone walked up to me in the grocery store or on the street with one strapped in a car seat in the grocery store, I would probably not appreciate it personally. They show that in the UK in the video... if I was approached by a stranger asking me if I wanted to buy "a baby"....

Maureen- My daughter bought a realistic baby doll in New York...."adopted" they called it. They had to "approve you, and you got a Birth Certificate and all. At least my daughter has 4 little girls so the baby has lots of cuddling :)

This is so weird...or is it? I just had to write a blog post on the topic because there has to be a reason for why there are customers for these dolls...and furthermore, why the dolls are given so much reverence and adoration.

Kathy... lots of arms to hold the baby... if the realistic doll is family property. I don't know if I paid $500 to $1000 dollars for a doll if I would want kids dragging it out in the sandbox... but I would not pay that for any doll... as artwork, toy or investment so maybe that is why I don't get it.

Thanks for the comment Michelle and the link.

OCT

2008

I HAVE BEEN A REAL ESTATE BROKER AND BUILDER FOR 25 YEARS IN AZ....15 YEARS IN LAKE HAVASU AND NOW IN TONOPAH SELLING LAND...WELL WHEN THINGS WERE SELLING LOL LOL I HAVE ALSO BEEN A DOLL COLLECTOR ALL OF MY LIFE AND FIOR THE LAST 10 YEARS I HAVE MY DOLL BUSINESS OF MAKING REBORNS..I LOVE MAKING THEM WAY MOR THEN REAL ESTATE ...I HAVE THOUSANDS OF HAPOY CUSTOMERS THAT EMAIL ME DAILY WITH PICTURES OF THERE DOLLS AND OUTDITS THEY HAVE FOR THEM ..THERE HAPOY NORMAL PEOPLE THAT LOVE LOOKING AT BEAUTIFUL LIFE LIKE DOLLS....SO WHAT.....NO BIG DEAL PEOPLE...HOW PETTY CAN PEOPLE BE LOL LOL

Think that is the real Lynn Katsaris? Or someone else...trying to make her look like some kind of....

Not sure why if it is her she felt the need to post her RE resume or why she'd get in a snit over this. I don't see anything questioning if she is a real estate agent. Just wondering why her being a real estate agent is part of the story.

I wrote "She is a Realtor and an artist, who sells the "reborn" babies she creates."

Do you think she's "tweeted" back to the Today Show about their question about "Creepy or cuddly? that it is petty? Do you think she's trolling the web looking for people saying "petty" things about her?

I think if it is her the whole "looks can be deceiving" thing went way over her head.

OCT

2008

WOW Maureen- this was an interesting post before the subject ?? showed up to defend herself... while trolling the web. I'm laughing really loud here.

I read that on my phone yesterday and thought what is she reading there that has her in a snit... if it is her. I can't get into AR on my phone lately so I read the emails so I wondered what "petty thing" I had said... or if it was comments that she thought were petty. That not everyone wants a doll? That some people find any aspect of it odd... or to use the Today Show's word they tweeted "creepy."

OCT

2008

Maureen, that was weird. I can't imagine grown women pretending a doll is a baby. Not for me thank you.

Leave a response…

Name:

Email:
(optional)

Comment:

What does the graphic say?