Unscramble Some Words, Win a House

You’ve heard of contests that require you to write an essay and win a house. Or homes that are sold in a raffle. They usually go up in flames, but down in Florida, a real estate investor seems to have come up with a unique new approach. Donna Kalman, a provider of short- and long-term housing in South Florida,  has created an online word jumble skill challenge game that she says is fair and benefits everyone: the seller, the buyer, the agent, and the lawyers. It’s called Perfect Place Contest.

Simply, you choose the house you want to try to win, pay a fee of $10 to $50 and then play the word jumble game on Perfect Place. The fastest person to unscramble the words over a set number of weeks or months wins the house. And, of course, you can enter as often as you like.

On the other side of the equation, Kalman would like to sell enough “chances” to cover the cost for everyone involved. For example, for a $250,000 house she has on the site, she needs to sell 5,000 chances at $50 apiece.  But, if the game closes before the maximum amount of entries is reached, persons with the highest scores will receive gift cards. Not sure how the sellers make out in this situation. Kalman says she knows the legal ramifications of ideas like this and says her rules have been written and reviewed by lawyers with a fine-toothed comb.

It will be interesting to hear about the first house that is “won” fairly and squarely through a word jumble game.