I saw this post by Deanna on her blog Spiritual Coaching about the Salwen family. The Salwen’s are giving up half of things they own in order to give back to those in need.
The article, “Sale of 1 house will help 30 villages” explains “They talked about selling their cars or other things, but it was Hannah’s mother, Joan, who came up with selling their 6,500-square-foot house, donating half the proceeds and then moving into a house half the size.
For nine years, the family lived in a historic 1912 mansion near downtown Atlanta. It boasts five bedrooms, eight fireplaces, a kitchen that would make any cook jealous and even an elevator.”
Further in the article, “But the Salwens’ house has sat on the market for more than a year. It’s a tough time to sell any house, let alone one with an asking price of nearly $1.8 million.”
My question is: if their story is meant to inspire others to give up half, donate half, then how can they expect someone to buy their house?
It sounds to me as if the ideal buyer is someone who owns a 13,000 square foot house and has it on the market for $3.6 million.
The National Association of Realtors reports the preliminary median sales price of existing single-family homes in the Atlanta area for 2008 as $154,000.
Infoplease reports “According to the National Association of Home Builders, the average home size in the United States was 2,330 square feet in 2004, up from 1,400 square feet in 1970.”
In an increasingly conscience public of “going green” how energy efficient is the house? I would guess the electric bill just to run the air conditioning is one paycheck alone. Evidently not that much. The “Calculate your electric cost” on Michael Bluejay’s web site estimates it would cost $257.00 per month. Again, that is just to run air conditioning and it is simply a guestimate.
Although I think the Salwen’s concept is very noble I wonder how feasible it is. Would you feel guilty buying their house knowing their reason for selling?
If you wanted to buy the house to help the Salwen’s and their cause, why wouldn’t you just donate directly to a worthy cause yourself?
Maybe the answer is the historical society of Atlanta should buy the house and turn it into a museum. Admission fees collected could be donated to America’s Second Harvest.
Technorati Tags: society, charity, atlanta
