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Moving the Motion Picture (House)
Jan. 25th, 2016 10:07 amI happened across a story about a guy who was giving away his two screen motion picture theater, located in Houlton, ME, a quaint and charming town just this side of the Canadian border. To claim it, you had to write a 250 word essay on why you wanted it. The market value to purchase the theater is $350,000, and the place actually looks pretty neat, just based on the stuff they showed.
The concept of writing an essay to get a movie house, no matter where it was located in the USA, seemed intriguing but, of course, there is a catch: a one-hundred dollar entry fee. And there was a secondary notation: money refunded if fewer than 3,500 entries were received by January 31.
You don't have to be a mathematician to know what's going on here. This guy wants his $350K for the sale of his Milk Duds, but he apparently can't get anyone to pay it out flat. So, create a contest, get 3,500 people (or more!) to enter, get your pricetag (or more!) and hand over the keys to whomever you want.
Actually, they are apparently attempting to be fair about it: the essay may not have a name attached to it and after the first round of judging, the top essays will be ranked by a panel of three independent judges, presuming the 3500 entries are received.
Still it feels like getting rid of a white elephant to me, despite the fact that it's a contest, and it really isn't a "giveaway," if you have to spend 100 bucks for the entry fee. Plus, what's the deal on property tax if you "give" the place away as opposed to selling it? I guess that's for the courts to decide.
I applaud the person who thought to try this concept and it would be great for a local to win it, since they presumably care about this old theater and have attended many movies there, over time. But, for the rest of us, relocating to one of the northernmost points of the forty-eight contiguous might be a lot more trouble than it's worth.
The other little nagging element that all of this raises: I wonder if more and more people are going to try similar things to move their real estate off the market if they can't get their pricetag? Would this constitute a lottery, and would it actually be legal if suddenly everyone from New York condos to Malibu Beach Houses started doing it? And would someone hire me to write their essay?
The concept of writing an essay to get a movie house, no matter where it was located in the USA, seemed intriguing but, of course, there is a catch: a one-hundred dollar entry fee. And there was a secondary notation: money refunded if fewer than 3,500 entries were received by January 31.
You don't have to be a mathematician to know what's going on here. This guy wants his $350K for the sale of his Milk Duds, but he apparently can't get anyone to pay it out flat. So, create a contest, get 3,500 people (or more!) to enter, get your pricetag (or more!) and hand over the keys to whomever you want.
Actually, they are apparently attempting to be fair about it: the essay may not have a name attached to it and after the first round of judging, the top essays will be ranked by a panel of three independent judges, presuming the 3500 entries are received.
Still it feels like getting rid of a white elephant to me, despite the fact that it's a contest, and it really isn't a "giveaway," if you have to spend 100 bucks for the entry fee. Plus, what's the deal on property tax if you "give" the place away as opposed to selling it? I guess that's for the courts to decide.
I applaud the person who thought to try this concept and it would be great for a local to win it, since they presumably care about this old theater and have attended many movies there, over time. But, for the rest of us, relocating to one of the northernmost points of the forty-eight contiguous might be a lot more trouble than it's worth.
The other little nagging element that all of this raises: I wonder if more and more people are going to try similar things to move their real estate off the market if they can't get their pricetag? Would this constitute a lottery, and would it actually be legal if suddenly everyone from New York condos to Malibu Beach Houses started doing it? And would someone hire me to write their essay?
