Buy A House, Get A Free Car

LOON LAKE — Worried that potential buyers might be turned off by a 32-mile commute to Spokane, some homeowners near Loon Lake are offering whoever buys their home a new Toyota Prius for free.

You might have heard of a lot of home builders offering incentives to try and sell homes, things like $4,000 toward granite countertops or two-tone paint or maybe they’ll pay your closing costs for you.

But what about a free 2009 Toyota Prius?

The 5,000 square foot home is nestled on 20 acres of land and comes with all the amenities you’d expect from a house with an $800,000 pricetag.

The only downside? With today’s gas prices it’s an expensive 30 mile commute from Loon Lake to Spokane.

So when Stephanie Hattenburg decided she needed to sell her $800,000 home they needed ideas on what it would take to make the sale.

“We were just sitting around talking about commuting being an issue and it just came up in our conversation … it was just perfect,” she said.

Realtor Curtis Miller came up with the idea that if you buy the house you get the car too.

“There’s thousands of homes out there. Do something different,” Miller said.

With almost 4,500 homes for sale in the Spokane area throwing in a free car certainly is different.

“We jumped on it and thought it was the greatest idea anyone’s ever had,” Hattenburg said.

Their plan is that if a person makes a reasonable offer and get the house, head down to the Toyota dealership and pick your Prius out.

“I’m planning on buying one for me for real estate,” Miller said.

So if you have $800,000 you could get a house, 20 acres of land and a car that gets 48 miles to the gallon.