oregon house essay contest

[mking]

hi

a while back i read an article of a man in oregon who couldnt sell his house at a price he could live with, so he decided to have an essay contest. $150 to enter, 200 word essay, best essay wins the house. if enough essays are not submitted everyone gets their $ back,

i had a great idea for an essay, but cant find the link to the contest. nor can i find it using yahoo search.

anyone have the link?

thanks
mike

[redmondjp]

Another desperate seller. Same thing as people who have a 'lottery' to buy their house (this was on 'Nightline' a few weeks back, somebody was doing this on the east coast).

Who knows, this house could be in a place that nobody wants to live, or in really bad shape, or on land which will be redeveloped in the near future . . .

Back in Detroit and Flint MI, they literally can't even give some houses away!

[mking]

actually, it was a really nice house, on the coast nearish lincoln city or thereabouts. the issue was the seller just couldnt get what he "thought" it was worth

[Markor]

Did you try Google? I got lots of links for "house essay contest".

I've read that these are legal, but you really have to have your ducks in a row or else you might get sued. For example, you should not judge the essays yourself, otherwise you could just give the house to a sibling.

I think these are a tough sell, but with the right marketing who knows?

[Markor]

[mking]

ok here it is

http://www.win-this-home.com/

its on the just a bit north (and west) of euguene

"appraised" at $575k. WTF? last i checked the oregon coast isnt a hotbed of economic activity. its a nice house in a seaside community with very little economic activity. i dont see it being worth much more than $200k in a rational market

contest entry is $200. if you win, you get a 1099 for $575k. so you would owe the government around $170K in taxes (i am assuming prize money is taxed as income vs capital gains?)