By Staff
But there’s a catch …
By PAUL DUNN
Managing Editor
Twenty-six down, 2,674 to go.
Deadline: April 15.
That’s Mary Lou Jordan’s dilemma.
And here’s how it came about: Washington residents Jordan, 56, and her husband, Leslie, 63, own a double-wide manufactured home on 1.45 acres.
The couple have been trying to sell the home and land for more than a year, but like other homeowners in a dismal economy, they have come up empty.
So, as Mary Lou tells it, she was lying in bed one night and an idea smacked her just as she was trying to sleep.
So, of course, she listened.
The idea? Solicit essays for $50 each from interested buyers, with each buyer explaining why he or she deserves to get the house. The person with the winning essay — as judged by the Jordans — wins the house for the $50 entry fee.
But there’s a catch: The Jordans need 2,700 essay entries to cover close to the $139,500 they’re asking for the house — and time’s running short. Leslie recently mandated an April 15 deadline to the adventure.
By Wednesday, Mary Lou had received just 26 entries.
She began the bidding process in mid-December by advertising in several locations, but she has had little luck luring the volume of essay writers she needs.
If enough essays aren’t received by deadline, all $50 fees will be returned to participants, Mary Lou explained.
But she’s not ready to explore that option. She still has more than two weeks, and she recently sent out letters and purchased more advertising in a last-ditch effort to garner enough $50 bids.
The Jordan homestead — at 200 Lovick Lane — sits surrounded by farmland off of a dirt road unseen from nearby U.S. Highway 264. Boo, a chipper Alaskan husky-mix dog, greets visitors with her tail wagging and tongue lolling.
She goes with the homestead, by the way — if the new owners want her.
The 1,848-square-foot house has three bedrooms, two baths, a large fenced-in yard, a workshop with pool table that stays and other amenities.
The Jordans — who have been married for eight years — enjoy their home and property, but they want to move into a trailer they own on Crystal Beach between Chocowinity and Aurora, Mary Lou said.
If the couple receive enough essay entries by April 15, they’ll have a cookout at their home, place the names of the 25 finalists in a barrel and draw the winner.
House hunting, anyone?