Trading a red paperclip for a house?

[MaryAnnDVC]

How cool is this? This guy was on Good Morning America today, altho I didn't see it. My DH told me about him.

Here's his website, and this is how he got started...

My name is Kyle MacDonald and I am trying to trade one red paperclip for a house. I started with one red paperclip on July 12th, 2005 and I am making a series of trades for bigger or better things. My current item up for trade is one year in Phoenix. Do you want one year of FREE rent in Phoenix?

http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/2005/07/one-red-paperclip.html

Now why didn't I think of that?

 

[lewdyan1]

OMG, this man is a genius!!! That is so cool!

 

[twinklebug]

The genius part I'm not so sure about. Partially crazy, for sure.

Since his whole point is to keep swapping items UP for better items, I'd worry about the legal implications of swaping off time in a loaner home (and car) to someone the owner doesn't have a say about.

If he's not VERY careful this ladder he's scaling might give way under him.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

He's not hiding who he is or what he's doing. I think that people he swaps with know what they're getting into and are doing it to take part in something cool.

 

[twinklebug]

He's not hiding who he is or what he's doing. I think that people he swaps with know what they're getting into and are doing it to take part in something cool.

I'm not saying he's lying about or hiding anything. What I mean to say is, well, for example, say he has taken on the use of a condo for a summer with a car included. The owner has checked him out and all is cool (he's seemingly responsible, licenced, insured etc) but he swaps it away for a villa in Germany to a person who is unlicenced, uninsured and a regular party animal. Say even that this party animal distroys the timeshare, gives the owner a bad name with 2am noise and has a tragic accident using said vehicle.

He needs to be VERY careful checking out references etc. as he moved us the ladder especially in relation to items that can cause personal damage to folks other than himself.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

What I'm saying about him not hiding who he is or what he's doing is that any person who swaps with him knows upfront what they're getting into...that this guy will NOT be the one ultimately keeping/or using the swapped item/property. I would imagine that all those concerns about who ultimately ends up using the property/car for a year are addressed from the beginning. The owner isn't going into it thinking that this guy is the one that's going to use the place...he knows the purpose is to keep swapping it out, and I'm sure they've worked out an agreement about who the property can be swapped out to, including any background checks and liability issues that would be addressed as if it was a direct transaction.