Town of Swett for Sale for a Sweet Quarter Million
If San Francisco and New York rents are getting you down there is a town for you. It's affordable. There is plenty of open space. And it is for sale, according to the Rapid City Journal.
Swett, South Dakota is on the market for a cool quarter million dollars right now. It is 6 acres and has a single house and a bar. In light of real estate prices elsewhere, Swett is a steal.
Haunted House
The town was originally listed at $390,000 in 2014. There were no takers, which may be because Swett's only house is rumored to be haunted, but lots of interest.
The town has been cleaned up a bit since then. Real estate agent Stacie Montgomery said that the tract was improved with the removal of three decaying mobile homes and a transport truck. The land is described as "prime prairie" acreage.
Business Boom?
Although the real estate agent, Montgomery, was unable to sell Swett previously, she feels that news of the town's availability has helped her business. According to the Rapid City Journal, a July 2014 story it printed announcing that Swett was for sale "set off a media firestorm that resulted in worldwide coverage."
People "from Moscow to Maine" were interested in learning more, if not making a purchase. The sale of Swett inspired songs, YouTube parodies, and some pretty bizarre business ideas.
Inspired by a Notion
Reportedly, a song about Swett, written by a 12-year-old in New York, went viral, YouTube featured a video parody, and television reality show producers started calling."Someone pitched a concept for a Dry Idea deodorant commercial, 'Never let them see you Swett,'" Montgomery said. "One production company thought about rebuilding the town and calling it 'Swett Equity."
She said that the strangest offer came from a Nebraskan man who wanted to bring in 2,000 women from Russia and 600 male felons, build acrylic houses, and run cameras. Montgomery said, "I told him he needed to call the state because I couldn't deal with the permits for anything like that."
Apparently that did not work out, as Swett is for sale again. But Montgomery knows the type who wants to buy a whole town and thinks it will sell now, saying, "[Those] interested in the past included people who wanted to be their own mayor."
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