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oregon house essay contest

mkingmking
edited March 2008 in Seattle Real Estate
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

Comments

  • redmondjpredmondjp
    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!
  • mkingmking
    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
  • MarkorMarkor
    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?
  • MarkorMarkor
    redmondjp wrote:
    Back in Detroit and Flint MI, they literally can't even give some houses away!
    It seems it's not that simple. The listings I saw noted you had to pay something to the city or county or whatever; I presume $thousands even if the house is listed for $500. I would like to know what the true cost of a house there is.
  • mkingmking
    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?)
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