ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, August 1, 1996 TAG: 9608010054
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF
An essay contest with a pre-Civil War home as the prize has, according to its sponsor, "kind of fizzled out."
Sue Mann of Peterstown, W.Va., said she and her husband, Darrell, received fewer than 100 entries by the July 15 deadline they set for the contest. They needed 3,000 essays - each with its $100 entry fee - to cover the price they sought for the house. She has returned the fees to those who entered.
"I was sure it was going to work," Mann said. The couple tried the contest after they were unable to sell the house using more conventional methods. Entrants had to write a 250-word essay with the opening words: "Owning a pre-Civil War home in the country would. ... " Mann said they hoped to find a family that would value the house as they had.
The prize was to have been a five-bedroom, two-living room house of 5,000 square feet, its antique furnishings and 20 acres in Monroe County, W.Va., about 90 miles from Roanoke.
The Manns, who raised their six children there, will move to smaller quarters in the next few days, she said. The house is still on the market with its owners hoping to sell for $300,000.
LENGTH: Short : 30 linesby CNB