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August 17, 2008

$100 house?

Consuming Interests columnist Dan Thanh Dang takes on a niche marketing idea: Sell that house via raffle. She notes that there are two in Maryland, both for $100 a ticket -- a $550,000 Dunkirk home and a $186,000 Owings Mills home:
It sounds like a win-win for all involved. Ticket buyers get a chance at a realty gold mine, homeowners unload property in a down market and a charity gets a slice of the pie. But be warned that this little adventure is not for the faint of heart or the ill-prepared.

Why? Because it's not simple or quick for the owner. And for the winner, well -- it's not precisely a $100 house. Closing costs, assessments, property taxes and income taxes: That's on you. And it's not chump change, particularly because the fair-market value of the house is what you'll have to report as taxable income to the feds:

That could bump you into a far higher tax bracket and cost you thousands of dollars come tax time.
Posted by Jamie Smith Hopkins at 8:38 AM | | Comments (2)
        

Comments

Why 100$?
There'll be enough 1$ sales in the fall anyway ;)

The house of your dreams - something you buy at your dollar store!

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About Jamie Smith Hopkins
Jamie Smith Hopkins, a Baltimore Sun reporter since 1999, writes about the regional economy. Her reporting on the housing market has won national and local awards. Hopkins is a Columbia native and has lived in Maryland all her life, save for 10 months spent covering schools in Ames, Iowa.
She trained to become a wonk by spending large chunks of time as a geek and an insufferable know-it-all.
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