Homeowners Try Using Gimmicks To Unload Properties
Some people will do just about anything to get rid of their homes these days— including turning to gimmicks. J.W. Elphinstone of the Associated Press wrote in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune:
It seems home sellers can’t give their homes away these days.
Two home-essay contests, one in Colorado and one in Oregon, both failed to attract enough literary enthusiasm and have left the sponsors in a lurch.
The deadline has just passed for J.J. Rodgers and her husband Wes Ludlow to give away their second home in Red Feather Lakes, Colo. The couple started the contest in January after their two-story home sat on the block for three straight summers.
From across the country, people mailed in essays and the $100 entry fee. Rodgers said she was “astounded and touched” by the stories strangers were willing to share.
The couple extended the May 25 deadline, but still fell about 700 entries short of the 2,000 needed to make the contest work financially…
Likewise, Ray Sinclair and his wife, Sharon, canceled their essay contest for their home in Yachats, Ore., after extending the deadline from the end of May.
They are also returning the $200 entry fees to contestants.
“The abrupt lack of entries and severely diminished Web site activity since the end of June have triggered this decision,” Ray Sinclair wrote on his blog.
For Sale: Home & Bride
Elphinstone talked about some of the other creative ideas homeowners have been running with:
Deven Trabosh, a 42-year-old single mother, offered her South Florida home and a shot at marrying her on the Internet. In Wisconsin, Bob Fanning, 69, will make the buyer of his home the beneficiary of a 10-year, $500,000 life insurance policy.
And Ricki and Bob Husick gained international interest after advertising that the buyer of their two-story colonial in Wexford, Pa., would receive the full purchase price back after the couple dies.
The Husicks, who had list their home for $399,999, sold the property for $377,000 in early June, according to county records.
Source:
“Why you want my house in 100 words or less”
J.W. Elphinstone
Chicago Tribune, August 24, 2008
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