An Iowa rural home is being offered for free! But there is a catch!
This property really adds a whole new dimension to U-Haul. It’s yours for free but only if you can fully relocate it!
A couple from Iowa is trying to get their four-bedroom, one century-old home off their hands. The property is located in Ringgold County and is valued at $52,700. Now, we all know that the best things in life are free, however, this might be the best thing in your life if you figure out how to move it.
“This house is free if you move it,” writes its owner, Roger Dolecheck, 54, in its Craigslist listing.
So, if you know how to lift the entire two and a half story building and place it on trailer beds, it’s yours. Oh yeah, you also have to drive it away somewhere.
The Des Moines Register spotted this peculiar offer first.
The couple is now trying to sell this for the sixth time since 2013. In 2010 they decided to offload their home after building a new house some 100 yards away. Linda and Dolecheck operate a 3,000-acre cattle, corn and soybean farm and this old house just takes up a hefty amount of space really. They thought about destroying it but they had owned it since 1984, and they raised their 4 kids in it. It has some sentimental value, that would be our guess.
Five years ago they contacted a local developer who had the intention of moving that home to a site where they wanted to create several properties that would later be used as an event space. Unfortunately, the developer’s health started deteriorating and the plan came to nothing.
Following that unsuccessful business venture, they took to Craigslist!
“[There was] always interest in it — people would come,” Dolecheck tells The Post. “But moving a house takes a lot of time and money.”
One local Ringgold County couple had the same thing happen to them too. Several years ago they splashed out a down payment for the home, and they soon realized that the cost of temporarily moving even a single power line in order to get their house lifted off the ground was way too expensive.
The Dolecheks’ ad resulted in about 50 phone calls last week and a visit by two interested parties. The house sits empty now, but you can see some really impressive woodwork. Doors and window frames along with columns were sourced from nearby abandoned homes and fully restored.
The couple, on the other hand, claims that they feel enthusiastic about the whole thing. Potential buyers have been coming, and some were due to visit on Friday. They own a plot of land near Minnesota and want to build a home for their sons. If someone decides to take this old house off of their hands, it might be a good fit.
“It needs a family to enjoy it the way ours did,” the Dolechecks’ listing explains.
So, are you up for a free house? Would you buy it? Speak your mind in the comments section below!
