Owner selling house for $150 and 200-word essay

A homeowner in Houston wants to sell you his house for $150. All you have to do is write the perfect 200-word essay.

The two-bedroom, 1,056 square-foot house is appraised at a market value of $394,000, but owner and real estate agent Michael Wachs insists there isn't a catch, it's just meant to be a fun way to sell his house. (Tweet This)

"We saw an inn in Maine was doing the same thing and thought it could work for selling our house, too," he said. "There's no catch here, though, I'm a Realtor, and my goal is to sell the house."

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The house will go to the winning author of the essay the family chooses.To keep things fair, all essays are being judged without identifying information and friends or relatives of the family have been asked not to apply.

It will take Wachs a little over 2,600 essays to make at least market value on his house, but that doesn't look like it will be a problem.

"It started out with a message to 300 of my friends but pretty soon after my site crashed," he said. "A lot of people have submitted an essay; less people have submitted the payment portion." Applicants are asked to pay with Paypal, Square Cash or check.

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Wachs maintains that he isn't beholden to sell his house to an author and reserved the right to sell the house elsewhere if he doesn't find someone through the essay contest.

"We'll take a bunch of things into consideration, but we'll refund everyone if we can't find a new owner."

Wachs is accepting offers until June 13.

You can view the listing here.