Located on East 23rd street in Houston Heights, Michael Wachs plans to sell his 1920s 1,000 square foot bungalow for a small price of $150-but of course, there's a catch.
"It's a few minutes to downtown, it's super quiet at night. There are bike trails, it's a great place to live," said Wachs, who resides with his wife and daughter, notes ABC. The bungalow was a perfect size for his small family but in attemps to move closer to his daughter school in Rice Village, Wachs developed an essay contest which will result in giving one lucky winner a new home.
A realtor himself, Wachs took an unconventional route to listing his home, straying away from Zillow and Realtor.com and creating his own website www.150house.com, which went live today. "This is the only method that we can think of that we could get our money back and also give a chance to someone to start a new life or build a home right in the city," he said.
The entry includes a $150 submittance fee and an essay of at least 200 words. The winning essay writer receives the house, fully stocked with appliances, but must pay off closing costs. His website crashed within hours of activation from an abundance of interest and has already received a plethora of submissions. "What would I do?" one submission reads. "Dance with my friends, sing a Disney song, I never lived in a house." Another submission details how winning the contest "could be lifesaving" because it would allow the essay writing to live in the city.
"We're very stressed because of the house project," admitted local writer Emma Lyders. "We're living in a garage apartment with my toddler, who doesn't have his own room." The Lyders family have desperately tried to furnish a home but continue to run into complications. So far, Wachs has only skimmed through the essays but he hopes to receive nearly 3,000 applications by mid june in order to gain $400,000 the market value for his bungalow. If enough funds aren't raised, he'll reimburse all entries and continue selling his home the more expected way through a reatlor listing, reports the New York Daily News.
You can apply for your chance to win the Houston Heights bungalow at www.150house.com today.
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