Posted on Mon, May. 05, 2008

And behind the door of house for sale? A new car!

Jim Jordan

So you have a house that you want to sell for $899,900, but you quickly discover that there are lots of other houses available in that price range.

What are you going to do?

If your name is Rick Langley and you want to move to Kansas City to take over a business you just bought, you might turn to your Realtor and ask, "What can we offer as an incentive? Can I give somebody a car?"

His Realtor is his longtime friend Mike Wheatley, and Wheatley had to do some checking around before he could tell Langley that the car was a go.

"It is so unusual," Wheatley said.

Here's the point where it gets really unusual.

Other homeowners have given away cars, normally very inexpensive ones, but Langley had in mind a 2008 BMW 328i, valued by the manufacturer at $35,850.

Wheatley was all for it. A BMW would certainly attract more attention than a $35,850 reduction in the asking price for the house.

So Wheatley held an open house this week at 3893 Silver Charm Lane in Walnut Grove Estates and he parked the BMW in the front yard.

Lots of lookers came, but Langley has not received an acceptable offer. That's not surprising, Wheatley said. No one is in a hurry in that price range.

He predicts that someone will eventually claim the Beemer. Not only will they get a nice house, but something unusual to talk about for years to come.

Green turns to gold

What do Washington, D.C., Perryville, Ky., Boston and China have in common?

Tea, of course.

The National Archives in Washington commissioned Elmwood Inn Fine Teas in Perryville to package a tea for the archives' gift shop that would commemorate the Boston Tea Party.

Elmwood's owners, Bruce and Shelley Richardson, discovered that American colonists tossed four types of Chinese tea -- Bohea, Congou, Souchong and Hyson -- into Boston harbor in 1773 to protest British taxation.

"I sent samples of all these teas to Washington," said Bruce Richardson. "Hyson, a green tea, was the (National Archives) staff's choice because of its flavor and the rising awareness of the health benefits of green tea."

Richardson said America's current fascination with green tea is nothing new. "One-third of the tea exported from China in the 18th century was green tea, with green Hyson being the choicest of all."

The commemorative tea is sold only through the National Archives, because it is a private label product. The price is about $9.95 for 4 ounces.

Elmwood also produces private label teas for Joseph-Beth Booksellers and The Longaberger Co.

Motivational no-shows

Hour of Power televangelist Robert H. Schuller was there.

So was former Secretary of State Colin Powell and University of Kentucky football Coach Rich Brooks.

But two of the biggest names scheduled to speak at the Get Motivated Seminar at Rupp Arena on April 29 were no-shows.

Neither Super Bowl champion quarterback Joe Montana nor master motivator Zig Ziglar made the trip to Lexington.

Get Motivated CEO Peter Lowe declined last week to say why the two headliners missed their appearances. But he said it is "unusual" when featured speakers fail to appear as advertised.

Lowe did say, however, that the event drew 6,500, which was just shy of his expectation of 7,000.

Those who bought tickets in advance paid as little as $4.95 each, so they might not care as much if Montana and Ziglar didn't show.

Those who got tickets at the door on the day of the event discovered that the price had been increased a bit -- to $225 a ticket.

Lowe compared it to airline pricing. "If you buy in advance, you get a big discount," he said.