kepdawg
10-31-2007, 04:39 PM
Let's pool our money and buy it! It'd be a town of outlaws!
Tiny Texas town up for sale on eBay 3:59 PM CT
04:03 PM CDT on Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO - Bobby Cave, owner of a 13-acre town in the Texas Hill Country called Albert, decided this year to sell. Then a friend mentioned the online auction behemoth eBay Inc. Now, with the click of a mouse -- and at least $2.5 million -- Albert could be yours.
Cave said that after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to clean up and restore the area 20 miles southeast of Fredericksburg, he's ready to move on to his next venture.
"It's a concept. It's one of a kind," said Cave, 47, and an Austin real estate agent. "It's more like a piece of art than it is a real estate property. That's why eBay sounded so good to us. It's quirky."
Eric Meissner, Cave's friend and co-listing agent, said Albert qualifies as a town, or at least was once a town, because it used to have a post office. Albert dates back to the late 1800s and is now in unincorporated Gillespie County.
"There is a road sign with a name on it. It's indicative of an area," Meissner said. "Just because the post office goes away the town doesn't go away."
No one lives there permanently, but the icehouse Cave created from the frame of the old general store is open on weekends. There are also the "cleanest public restrooms in Texas," built by Cave, and a pavilion, 85-year-old dance hall, tractor shed and three-bedroom house. All of that, plus peach and pecan orchards, come with the land.
Cave said he will even throw in his plan to turn the place into a real tourist destination, including plans for a restaurant and cabins.
The eBay auction closes on Nov. 23. On Wednesday, about a week after bidding opened, offers were nearing $300,000. A call to eBay was not immediately returned Wednesday.
This is not the first time a town's been up for auction on eBay.
Bridgeville, in northern California, was the first town ever put on the eBay auction block. The 83 acres were twice sold on the site, in 2002 (that deal fell through) and again last year.
Also, Nevada's Mustang Ranch, the state's first legal brothel, was sold by the government on eBay for $145,000 in 2003. The government had seized it in 1999 after guilty verdicts against its parent companies and manager in a federal fraud and racketeering trial.
Look Here (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/110107dntextownforsale.1c5c8771a.html#)
Tiny Texas town up for sale on eBay 3:59 PM CT
04:03 PM CDT on Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO - Bobby Cave, owner of a 13-acre town in the Texas Hill Country called Albert, decided this year to sell. Then a friend mentioned the online auction behemoth eBay Inc. Now, with the click of a mouse -- and at least $2.5 million -- Albert could be yours.
Cave said that after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to clean up and restore the area 20 miles southeast of Fredericksburg, he's ready to move on to his next venture.
"It's a concept. It's one of a kind," said Cave, 47, and an Austin real estate agent. "It's more like a piece of art than it is a real estate property. That's why eBay sounded so good to us. It's quirky."
Eric Meissner, Cave's friend and co-listing agent, said Albert qualifies as a town, or at least was once a town, because it used to have a post office. Albert dates back to the late 1800s and is now in unincorporated Gillespie County.
"There is a road sign with a name on it. It's indicative of an area," Meissner said. "Just because the post office goes away the town doesn't go away."
No one lives there permanently, but the icehouse Cave created from the frame of the old general store is open on weekends. There are also the "cleanest public restrooms in Texas," built by Cave, and a pavilion, 85-year-old dance hall, tractor shed and three-bedroom house. All of that, plus peach and pecan orchards, come with the land.
Cave said he will even throw in his plan to turn the place into a real tourist destination, including plans for a restaurant and cabins.
The eBay auction closes on Nov. 23. On Wednesday, about a week after bidding opened, offers were nearing $300,000. A call to eBay was not immediately returned Wednesday.
This is not the first time a town's been up for auction on eBay.
Bridgeville, in northern California, was the first town ever put on the eBay auction block. The 83 acres were twice sold on the site, in 2002 (that deal fell through) and again last year.
Also, Nevada's Mustang Ranch, the state's first legal brothel, was sold by the government on eBay for $145,000 in 2003. The government had seized it in 1999 after guilty verdicts against its parent companies and manager in a federal fraud and racketeering trial.
Look Here (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/110107dntextownforsale.1c5c8771a.html#)