There's a sucker born every minute, and one of them appears to be moving to South Dakota

533 Polk avenue winner, south dakota

A reader sent along this article about a 5,000 sq.ft. house in Winner, S. Dak. that's received a lt of attention for being priced at "only" $137,900. It's on a third-of-an-acre in a town of less than 3,000 and appears to need everything, from bathrooms to kitchen, and even its agent admits "it could use new windows". 

I was about to laugh at the listing broker's optimistic prediction that he'd "have a deal by this weekend" but by golly, I checked Zillow and some loser has entered into contract for the place. Remind me to check back in a month, because I'll be astonished if the buyer doesn't come to his senses before closing. If not, wish him luck heating and cooling this mishmash of a structure in Winner (birthplace of Bob Barker, turns out), where the record low and highs are -29 and 112, respectively. 

Built in 1914, no one really knows the story of how or why it was built in Winner, Shippy said. But local legend includes an account of multiple houses being moved to the area and joined together.

It was owned by the Read family for much of the 20th century, then sold to a local business owner who made some updates and upgrades to the utilities. He moved and sold it to an area surgeon who turned it into a hunting lodge.

But give that broker, Rick Shippy credit, he's pretty brutally honest about the place:

“It needs some work. It needs maybe some new windows. There are some little things, but the house is move-in ready,” Shippy said.

And while it’s more than priced to sell, Shippy reminds interested parties of two things: Someone still has to be able to afford to operate it, and it’s still in a small town in south central South Dakota.

“Everyone’s like, ‘Why’s it so cheap?’ Well, it’s Winner, S.D. It’s what we call supply and demand,” he said. “It’s extremely hard to find anybody that wants a 5,600-square-foot home. It’s double the size of most big homes in town.”

Even so, “I’ll be shocked if we don’t have an offer by 5 p.m. Friday,” he said. “I think it will be sold by next Friday at that price.”