For Farrah Fanatics
Offered for sale at the height of the Farrah Fawcett mania in the late 1970s — an "authentic deed to a small piece of land that was Farrah Fawcett's early childhood home in Corpus Christi." Only $4.95 each!
The ad doesn't say, but the amount of land a purchaser received a deed to was exactly one square centimeter.
The entrepreneur behind the scheme was Corpus Christi realtor Sam Allen who dreamed up the idea when he learned that a house Farrah had lived in as a child was up for sale.
So what was the address of the house? I'm not sure, because Farrah lived in four different houses in Corpus Christi, and Allen didn't reveal which house it was, saying that he didn't want treasure hunters damaging it. Two of those houses have sold in the past ten years.
I don't know enough about real estate law to know how, or if, his sale of all these micro-deeds would have affected if the house could ever be sold again. Could the house be sitting empty to this day because random people still own various square-centimeter pieces of it? I'm guessing not. Any claim to ownership must have lapsed if they didn't pay property taxes.
Other examples of Farrah-Mania we've posted about: Ferrous Faucets and Farrah Fawcett Lookalike Contest Winners.
The ad doesn't say, but the amount of land a purchaser received a deed to was exactly one square centimeter.
The entrepreneur behind the scheme was Corpus Christi realtor Sam Allen who dreamed up the idea when he learned that a house Farrah had lived in as a child was up for sale.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Mar 5, 1978
So what was the address of the house? I'm not sure, because Farrah lived in four different houses in Corpus Christi, and Allen didn't reveal which house it was, saying that he didn't want treasure hunters damaging it. Two of those houses have sold in the past ten years.
I don't know enough about real estate law to know how, or if, his sale of all these micro-deeds would have affected if the house could ever be sold again. Could the house be sitting empty to this day because random people still own various square-centimeter pieces of it? I'm guessing not. Any claim to ownership must have lapsed if they didn't pay property taxes.
Farrah Fawcett in 8th grade
Other examples of Farrah-Mania we've posted about: Ferrous Faucets and Farrah Fawcett Lookalike Contest Winners.
Comments
This sounds like a scheme performed by a certain Max Bialystock and Leopold Bloom, trying to answer the question: "How many times can you sell a 50 percent share of something?"
Posted by KDP on 09/18/20 at 02:18 PM
And I figured that still having her poster on your wall would be creepy...
Posted by Brian on 09/18/20 at 02:45 PM
Notice that you would just get a "Certificate of Ownership," which was no doubt cheezy and entitled you to nothing.
Posted by Virtual in Carnate on 09/19/20 at 01:32 PM
I don't know the details about this specific event, but many times what they sell are 'quit claim' deeds. This gives you all the legal rights to the property which the sell had. The downside is when the seller didn't have any known legal rights in the first place, so you're buying a certificate/deed which is worth virtually nothing.
Posted by Phideaux on 09/19/20 at 02:08 PM
It's reminiscent of this: http://www.weirduniverse.net/blog/comments/owning_one_inch_of_the_yukon
Posted by ges on 09/21/20 at 09:01 AM
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Category: Celebrities | Real Estate | 1970s