Unreal Estate: The dinosaur next door

Flickr photo courtesy of doviende.

Editor's note: The following item is republished with permission of AOL Real Estate. View the original article.

Each week, AOL Real Estate probes the corners of the Web to bring you offbeat dispatches from the world of real estate. Here are some "gotchas," with the news that the founder of a for-sale-by-owner website used a broker to sell his house, and the revelation that the head of New York's "Rent Is Too Damn High" movement enjoys the benefits of a rent-controlled apartment.

By TEKE WIGGIN

But first: Haven't you ever fantasized about having your own pet dinosaur? That's what one enterprising Canadian is betting on. Curbed reports that in exchange for housing in Vancouver, B.C., a Craigslist advertiser is offering to be a landlord or landlady's "personal dinosaur for one year." Can't decide whether you'd rather have a Tyrannosaurus rex or Velociraptor? No problem. The type of dinosaur -- i.e., the style of dino suit the wearer will don for a year -- is negotiable.

Actually, enterprising Canadians dominate the weird real estate news this week. According to the Vancouver Sun, since real estate prices in British Columbia have held steady while those across the border in the U.S. have plummeted, it's created a niche market. Seizing the opportunity to reduce operational expenses, members of Vietnamese pot-growing gangs are reportedly migrating to the U.S. to cash in on cheaper grow-house costs.

Perhaps some of those future pot-growing properties are listed for sale by owner, a money-saving strategy that one man created a website to promote. But when he needed to sell his own New York apartment, what did he do? Why, hire a pro of course.

According to The Wall Street Journal, ForSalebyOwner.com founder Colby Sambrotto ended up using a broker to sell his condo after it languished on the market for six months.

In other "do as I say" news, former New York mayoral candidate and Rent Is Too Damn High Party founder Jimmy McMillan recently revealed to the New York Post that he has long avoided paying high rent by living in a rent-controlled apartment in the East Village. McMillan, who is now reportedly planning a presidential run, is fighting eviction, claiming his landlord is trying push him out because "my rent is too damn low."

More from AOL Real Estate:

• Unreal Estate: Weird real estate news from around the Web
• Houses of the Day: Unique and unusual properties for sale
• Celebrity Real Estate.

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