South Wedge home to go to the winning entry in an essay contest

CARLOS ORTIZ Mark Merithew holds a flier -- 'You can own this house for only $50!' -- on the stoop on his home at 200 Hamilton St. If he attracts the minimum of 1,900 entries, he'll gross $95,000 for a $72,000 home.

By Sudeep Reddy
Democrat and Chronicle

(07/11/2000) -- Mark Merithew is giving away a $72,000 house.

Well, he's not really giving it away. He's selling people a chance to enter an essay contest for the house -- for a $50 entrance fee.

Oh, and the lucky person only wins if there are at least 1,900 entries, which would get Merithew $95,000 for the four-bedroom, 2,500-square-foot house at 200 Hamilton St. If he doesn't get the 1,900 entries, Merithew will be cutting refund checks to contestants.

The former Rochester resident, facing a declining assessment on his South Wedge home, decided he would forgo traditional means of finding a buyer and organize the contest.

Merithew, 43, moved to Cincinnati in 1998 and works for a student loan firm there. He decided to run a contest after watching the 1996 movie The Spitfire Grill, in which a restaurant owner holds a contest to give away her business.

"The numbers are moving in the wrong direction for me," Merithew said of his home's declining value. "I had this idea kicking around in the back of my head for a while."

So far he has created a Web site, at www.winthehouse.com, and he is setting up advertising in local publications later this month.

The essay topic is simple enough -- "Why I want to own this house." Merithew's team of judges will pick the winning entry based on originality, creativity, persuasiveness and clarity.

Because it's billed as a "contest of skill," state law does not consider Merithew's contest gambling.

The state Attorney General's Office, though, warns of the potential for fraud in such contests.

While Merithew is hopeful that his plan will succeed, the odds may be against him.

"Ninety-eight percent of these things don't work out, and that's because of the way people go into them," said Mark Samwick, creator of the Web site EssayContests.com, who is writing a book on the subject.

Samwick estimates about 100 essay contests take place across the country each year, offering homes, cars, restaurants and vacation trips. He said all but a few organizers end up refunding their entry fees because they didn't put enough time and effort into planning and promoting their contests.

Samwick said he advises contest organizers to budget at least $5,000 to $10,000 for advertising and legal fees and to plan a national promotion to get the minimum number of entries.

"If you have something you can make attractive, and put people in the dream, you can have a good shot at it," said Samwick, a resident of Wilmington, N.C. "It can be done, but it takes a lot of work."

When a contest does work out, the organizer can pick up a hefty profit. If 3,000 people enter Merithew's contest -- the maximum number allowed in the rules -- he would take in $150,000 in entry fees, more than twice the assessed value of the home.

And if it succeeds, Merithew has imagined other possibilities for essay contests in the area.

"I'm sure there are other people in the city who find themselves in the same position as I am," he said. "Ultimately the idea, long term, might be another tool for the city to use. I think that would be huge for the city of Rochester."