When Traude Daniel couldn’t find a buyer for her luxury villa in southern Austria, she decided to raffle it off.
It turned out to be quite a success: 9,999 tickets priced at 99 euros each (NT$4,305) sold out within days in early December to raise nearly 990,000 euros (NT$45 million).
Daniel said the 400m2 house had an estimated value of about 830,000 euros (NT$36.1 million) and had been on the market for about half a year before she came up with the idea of advertising the raffle on a Web site.
PHOTO :EPA
Daniel, a German, said she got inquiries from as far away as the US and Brazil. “The response was amazing. We got emails from around the world,” Daniel said.
Walter Egger, an Austrian, was picked as the lucky winner of the home in Austria’s southern province of Carinthia during a drawing in the southern city of Klagenfurt.
The raffle has inspired several other homeowners to try to sell their homes through lotteries as the country starts to feel the effects of the financial crisis. Experts are warning of a tough year ahead.
Juergen Tatscher, who is planning to raffle off his luxury mountain bungalow, says it’s an ideal way to cover one’s costs if selling high-end property the regular way proves to be tough.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Tatscher said.
But not everyone is getting carried away.
“I’m skeptical. If people are seriously interested in a particular property, they’ll make a bid the regular way,” said Friedrich Noszek of an association of Austrian property owners.
(AP)
特蘿得.丹妮兒在奧地利南部有一棟高級別墅待售卻苦無買主,所以她決定利用摸彩賣屋。
結果這策略出奇成成功,總共九千九百九十九張、每張九十九歐元(新台幣四千三百零五元)的彩券,去年十二月初開賣後,幾天內就銷售一空,籌金近九十九萬歐元(新台幣四千五百萬元)。
丹妮兒說,這棟佔地四百平方公尺、價格估計約八十三萬歐元(新台幣三千六百一十萬元)的房子,招售了約半年都乏人問津,於是她想出了這個在網站上刊登摸彩賣屋廣告的方法。
德國籍的丹妮兒說,還有遠自美國和巴西的民眾來信詢問,她說:「回應的人數多到令人驚訝,我們收到來自全球各地的電子郵件。」
在南部卡拉根佛市舉辦的抽獎活動中,奧地利的華特.艾格幸運中獎,得到這棟位於奧國南部卡林西亞省的房子。
因為奧地利開始感受到金融風暴的影響,所以若干屋主也試圖如法炮製,想透過彩券來賣屋。專家警告民眾今年將是難熬的一年。
正計畫用摸彩來銷售他的山間豪華小屋的約根.塔喬說,如果用傳統方式賣不掉高價房產,那摸彩售屋倒不失為理想的銷售方式。
塔喬說:「我覺得這個主意棒極了。」
但並非每個人都對這個構想感到興奮。
奧地利屋主協會會員弗萊瑞奇.諾柴克說:「我抱持懷疑的態度。如果是對特定房產很感興趣的人,應該還是會透過一般的方式出價。」
(美聯社�翻譯:袁星塵)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into
A: As well as Eid al-Fitr, Southeast Asia is celebrating the Water Festival this week. B: And this year, Thailand is expanding the celebration between April 12 and 16 for the event, officially known as the Songkran Festival, expecting to make 24.3 billion Thai baht in tourism revenue. A: Does Taiwan celebrate the Water Festival? B: Some local cities and counties do have similar activities. A: Let’s go experience the festival then. A: 除了「開齋節」外,東南亞「潑水節」本週也盛大登場! B: 泰國今年從4月12日到16日擴大「宋干節」連假,預估觀光收入可高達243億泰銖。 A: 台灣會慶祝「潑水節」嗎? B: 有些縣市會舉辦類似活動。 A: 那我們也去體驗一下吧。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)