Buying A Bar On Ebay
Listed alongside old board games, vintage action figures and hand-crafted jewelry is an item that carries with it a bit more responsibility (but still one that I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on). A historic building in the Cobblestone District, now housing McBride’s Irish Pub, is posted for sale on ebay by Buffalo Drop Off, a local company that helps individuals sell their things on the popular website.
Now, I claim to be no real estate guru, but seeing a bar for sale on ebay threw me for a bit of a loop. It’s a good thing they have starting bids, this one at $150,000, because I have a twenty burning a hole in my pocket, and I happen to thoroughly enjoy bars of all kinds.
Though the Buffalo community at large hasn’t jumped on the opportunity just yet, ebay has been selling real estate on its site for several years (we’re a little behind the times, but it’s certainly part of our charm). As of today, only a handful of local listings were up, mainly for foreclosed homes, but I wager bidding on them with a click of the mouse from the comfort of your home beats standing in a mass of people raising your hand.
“The beauty of putting items on ebay is you become your own middle man, so you’re not paying a broker to do the work for you,” said Scott Seifert of Buffalo Drop Off. “Why not do it yourself?”
And the exposure of one of the world’s most popular (and profitable) websites doesn’t hurt either. It may actually be a clever way to get national attention from buyers, though it seems the screening process could leave something to be desired.
“If anything, it's a great way just to get the exposure, period,” Seifert said. “You stir up interest, and you get the word out that places like this are up."
The 1850’s building at 115 Chicago Street (incidentally, site of the city’s first St. Patrick’s Day Parade) is being sold “as is,” with a beautifully remodeled first and second floor pub, and work to be done on the upper floors. It can be seen in more detail on ebay, or go grab a pint and see for yourself. It looks like this listing is closing off tomorrow, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it up there again, especially with the amount of inquiries (questions only at this point) it’s been getting. If anyone out there is interested, jump on it – I got $20 to buy the first round at your new bar.
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buddha_rat
2 beautiful buildings. The beginnings of a neighborhood. Looks like the one on the left could use some TLC. Hoping that it doesn't meet the same fate as the Harbor Inn which I discovered and fell in love with in the 1980's and returned to Buffalo to find demolished.
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kelly
If I'm not mistaken, this is the second time that bar's been on ebay. I believe it was listed over the summer as well.
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LivingForge
I think this post takes an inappropriately celebratory position on the place of eBay in Buffalo real estate.
It seems as though the author sees eBay as a good development for the community, allowing us to shop for $20k foreclosed homes from our swivel chairs? While this bar might be a different situation (with a starting price of 150k), my understanding is that eBay mostly invites speculation from out of towners with no understanding of our neighborhood situations, attracted by the prospect of large cheap homes. They buy places sight-unseen and let them rot in their lots.
I don't have the numbers on eBay's role in flipping Buffalo properties, but I can't imagine that eBay has the kind of positive potential that the tone of this article suggests.
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BuffaloBloviator
This auction ended November 9, 2006 for $257,500.00. I thought that the winner, DrScott716 might be Mark Croce's brother Scott. I asked Scott but he had no knowledge of the transaction. I believe that the property would be adjacent to the planned Seneca Casino. Great location if somebody believes that they can compete without smoking and with sales tax. Somebody suggested a gay bar because the Casino cannot compete with that.
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kelly
"Turnkey" always sounds like a red carpet for out of town investment.
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viking
If someone actually paid that much for that fine establishment, my decision to re-open makes me happy, I got a bargain.
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Farnsworth
with as close as this place really is to what could possibly be the Buffalo Creek Casino, this might be a good buy, but I doubt there will be a sale until we know what in the world the Seneca Nation is going to do with the land.
This entire area is cool, would be nice to see it all come together. By the way, I noticed that people are parking in this area for Sabres games, so perhaps they should consider an after game special? lol
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Martin
I don't think listing a property like this [or any property for that matter] on e-bay says much about Buffalo to anyone. It almost screams "last resort" sale. Not to mention what "out of town" investers have done to this city over the years.
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