Luring buyers

We have a 4+ bedroom house with easy river/ocean access in Ipswich. In addition to a fair deal, we're offering a 20' boat, motor, mooring, and dingy. From day one, our new owners will be "living the good life", on the water, with family and friends. Dinner in the Atlantic, is simply hard to beat!

Is this legal? It seems a lot like a raffle masquerading as an "essay contest." Real contests for anything of significant value usually have a disclaimer attached along the lines of "no purchase necessary," I always assumed because of gambling laws. However, maybe they can skirt the usual rules in this case since the winner is judged on skill. This approach would actually be pretty clever in that case (if it's legal).

Dinner in the Atlantic, is simply hard to beat!

"In" the Atlantic? There's one heck of a selling proposition. Erosion problem?

If the deal were "fair," no further incentive would be necessary. These silly giveaway schemes, including this probably illegal raffle, are being abandoned by professional developers. They don't work.

Just lower your price.

I agree. And, actually giveaways seem to raise red flags. It's like, a plasma tv? Come on, I'm not stupid. I can go buy one for $1500, how will that make me reconcile the fact that the house is still 20% overpriced (which most houses still are)? I'm going to try to sell my house, and I'll do it the old fashioned way: take a beating and move on.

To:"Is this legal?" posted by Anon, we are the homeowners in Colorado sponsoring the essay contest. A raffle is a way of raising money by selling numbered tickets, one or more of which win a prize. A raffle involves the element of chance. An essay contest is a skill-based contest where the winner is selected by a panel of judges based on a preset criteria. The fact that the element of chance does not come into play in an essay contest makes it legal in most states for a private individual to conduct. No masquerading or skirting in sight.

Thank you - Wes Ludlow and J.J. Rodgers

What if you earn only $50 or $60,000 from the stunt? Wouldn't it make more sense to just lower your price?

Hard lessons , hardly learned. When fishing for fools, use a big lure.
most of this silliness evaporates when the contest becomes a ponzi
scheme in order to attract sufficient "contestants".

Interesting word choices assigned to what we've chosen to try. Essay Contests to sell one's home/property have been around for decades and in fact, are more commonplace back east than where we are. We are on a site that promotes real estate. Consider the context. If one veers anywhere off track away from the "traditional" , all the sudden, it becomes a scam. Give us a break and widen your horizons. Yes, people must be careful these days. If we only receive a portion of our goal of 2000 entries we must return the entry fees of all those who did enter. The alternative is to have the States Attorney General's office knocking on our door.

We've had the home on the market for several years. Priced correctly to sell from the start at our realtors' recommendation. Lowered it three times. Recieved great feedback when there was actually a showing. The area the home is in has completely stalled. It's not ALWAYS about one thing such as ..."just lower your price." Timing is propably the biggest factor in our particular situation. One of our parents was a realtor for over 30 years - we tried the traditional way without offering any incentives, just what we thought was a good home. We're giving this a shot & if unsuccessful-our alternative is to go back to our realtor.

J.J. Rodgers and Wes Ludlow

A few questions for the sellers:

Have you received any offers that you have rejected?

Is your asking price above what your house would have sold for in 1999 (before the bubble began)?

It is amusing on some incentives. I have seen a listing says: gas price is record high; purchase this property at the asking price you'll get 1 year gas voucher. It's pathetic. Incentive offerings such as Plasma TV, word to the sellers; even the TV is worth $40,000 and If I am a buyer, I don't want any freakin' TV :). Just lower the price. It's like going to buy a house but instead get a discount on the yard sales along with it.

@anon, I am not a seller but I got my offer rejected three times on the same property. The asking price was $359K, my first offer was $330K, they countered with $349K, I countered with $340K, rejected, I gave another offer $345K, rejected. I checked the previous sales on the property showing they bought the property in 1999 for $199K. I said to their agent: screw them...they make over $100K and too greedy on $4K? This was last September. I told them if they were to put this house on market again in the next 5-6 months it will be less than my initial offer. I tracked their listing, they took it off the market. Low and behold, a similar house on the same street went on market with asking price of $319K. What a shame!

incentives are a waste of time and just show that the seller is not serious. why would a buyer want to finance a TV (or a car or a boat) with a 30 year mortgage? if your house is not selling, it is not priced at "market," period.

House won't sell if the price is too high. A simple lesson most sellers don't want to learn.

The converse is also the case - if the house isn't selling, by definition the price is too high. No one is guaranteed to make a profit in real estate. Or last years sale price.

What a house is worth is what someone is willing to pay for it. Not an appraisal, not an assessment, not the sellers thoughts of "but this is a great neighborhood".

Do a thought experiment - if the price was a dollar would someone buy it? Obviously. So somewhere between a dollar and the asking price is the real value of the house, and it will sell at that real value.

iF THE OWNERS ARE RETURNING THE $100 FEE IF ENOUGH MONEY ISN'T RAISED, WHY ARE THEY NOT RETURNING THE ESSAYS TOO. WHY SHOULD THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE A PROFIT --IF THEY CAN-- FROM SOMEONE ELSE'S WRITING. SHOULD THEY EVEN RETAIN RIGHTS TO THE WINNING ESSAY?

If I wrote, "Here's my ball. Go get it. Now bring it back...." (to that affect) do you think I would care that you return my essay?

Personally, I think it's a great idea. The only people who are obviously put-out by this strategy are similar to anyone who didn't think of something 1st...and afraid that someone just may have success...or put another way..."opportunity" where others feel they should be 'entitled' to part of that opportunity even though they have no ownership whatsoever. Kind of like 'political correctness.' Gag! It takes a village my eye. It takes commitment, resolve and other people to simply mind their own business.

I wanted to add one thing--in anticipation of your reply to you saying "I own my essay..." 1st of all, it's part of the CONDITION, aka "RULE" of participating in the CONTEST. If you don't like the rule, THEN DON'T ENTER. Simple.

I agree with Mike in Iowa, people need to butt-out. I think that Rodgers and Ludlow "R O C K"! I'm sure there are a majority of the complainers who are involved in the the money making business of real estate, and I don't want to forget all those money grubbing mortgage institutes who don't want this kind of giveaway becoming too popular then there would be less people beholden to them.