Tiny Texas town up for sale on eBay

[TexasRed]

How many of us can live on 13ac :mrgreen: I'm just dying here .. I WANT this property!! Perfect location.

SAN ANTONIO - Bobby Cave, owner of a 13-acre town in the Texas Hill Country called Albert, decided this year to sell. Then a friend mentioned the online auction behemoth eBay Inc. Now, with the click of a mouse -- and at least $2.5 million -- Albert could be yours.

Cave said that after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to clean up and restore the area 20 miles southeast of Fredericksburg, he's ready to move on to his next venture.

"It's a concept. It's one of a kind," said Cave, 47, and an Austin real estate agent. "It's more like a piece of art than it is a real estate property. That's why eBay sounded so good to us. It's quirky."

Eric Meissner, Cave's friend and co-listing agent, said Albert qualifies as a town, or at least was once a town, because it used to have a post office. Albert dates back to the late 1800s and is now in unincorporated Gillespie County.

"There is a road sign with a name on it. It's indicative of an area," Meissner said. "Just because the post office goes away the town doesn't go away."

No one lives there permanently, but the icehouse Cave created from the frame of the old general store is open on weekends. There are also the "cleanest public restrooms in Texas," built by Cave, and a pavilion, 85-year-old dance hall, tractor shed and three-bedroom house. All of that, plus peach and pecan orchards, come with the land.

Cave said he will even throw in his plan to turn the place into a real tourist destination, including plans for a restaurant and cabins.

The eBay auction closes on Nov. 23. On Wednesday, about a week after bidding opened, offers were nearing $300,000. A call to eBay was not immediately returned Wednesday.

Albert, Texas

[MLC]

i am sooooooooooooooooooooooo in. hell, i'll even hock the wife and dog to pitch in and buy this.

[ezR1der750]

Red,

When Julie and I were in San Antonio last summer we took a quick road trip one afternoon to Johnson City, Lukenbach and Fredricksburg. All we had heard was that Albert Icehouse had the coldest beer in Texas. We headed down there but it was the one day a week they were closed. We didn't get a cold drink but we took a couple of pictures.

[speed]

I wonder if it actually went for $300k.

SM

[TexasRed]

Thats pretty darn cool ez!! I dont think Gzr & I have been thru there yet. Dang it!

I'd love to know what it ends up going for. I research real estate in the Hill Country obsessively .. er .. regularly. LMAO

$2.5M sounds about right

[TexasFatboy]

I have enjoyed the ice cold beer at the Albert Icehouse - great little spot down there!

[Kate]

Be cool to pool resources & own a town based on a website...

[FATboy05]

We're in too, lets bid!!!
sounds like a really cool place

[mrpiff]

Albert-Hawgzone, Texas. Has a nice ring to it. Maybe I can sell that 1 cubic inch of the chicken ranch I own on e-bay and use it towards a group purchase of this town!

[curley725]

No kidding if HZ is bidding on it i'm in too :grin:

Curley