Caribbean island goes up for sale on eBay
Monday January 6, 6:52 pm ET
By Lisa Baertlein
PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan 6 (Reuters) - First came a decommissioned missile silo, then an abandoned logging town, and on Monday a Caribbean island became the latest mega-property to list on Internet auction site eBay Inc.
At the minimum bid of $3 million, a sale of the whole island would be the largest ever real-estate deal on eBay, a spokesman for the popular online marketplace told Reuters.
Those with dreams of owning their own tropical getaway will need to have deep pockets to make a play for undeveloped, Thatch Cay, a 230-acre island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Bidding for each of three island parcels starts at $1 million and will end Jan. 16, according to the auction terms.
Last year, eBay hosted the $2.1 million sale of a former Atlas F missile silo in upstate New York and the $1.78 million auction of the tumble-down Northern California town of Bridgeville.
To date the biggest sale on eBay -- in terms of dollars -- came from a $4.9 million bid for a used Gulfstream jet.
Thatch Cay's estimated value is $22 million to $25 million, according to the seller.
The property, in the chain of mountainous, beach-fringed U.S. Virgin Islands, has caves under its north shore that allow divers to swim from the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Sea, seller Scott McIntyre told Reuters.
McIntyre, a real estate developer and investor from San Diego, said he is open to selling all or part of Thatch Cay and described himself as a "highly motivated seller."
McIntyre said if the entire island is not sold, he plans to use proceeds from parcel sales to fund the development of a private retreat or residential estates.
The U.S. Virgin Islands is a U.S. territory and the clear, turquoise waters of the 50 some islands and cays are a popular destination for cruise ships, sailors and scuba divers.
Bill Hoyle, who is handling the auction marketing of Thatch Cay, said moving such sales to the Web makes it easier to cast a wide net for potential buyers.
With the advent of digital signatures, he added, the auction process can be faster and more convenient.
"The world has become a much smaller place," said Hoyle, whose company has sold over 2,000 properties at auction and this summer plans to launch its own online auction site. |
