| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 6/30/2008 10:04:40 PM | We are all aware of the endless threads here regarding who pays for what, women want a wallet, men want sex, etc., etc., so when I ran across the following on MSNBC today, I instantly wondered: Can love really be forged and exist based upon a legally binding contractual obligation? (i.e.: real estate transaction which includes a $500,000.00 "companionship clause.") Please no trolling or gender bashing.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25416138/?GT1=43001
By Kelli Kennedy
updated 1:35 p.m. MT, Fri., June. 27, 2008
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - She's tried night clubs and online dating sites, but now a 42-year-old single mother is looking for love where everyone else's heart is breaking — the real estate market.
After a year of trying to sell her four-bedroom home and eight years of singledom, Deven Trabosh is offering her South Florida home and a shot at marrying her on the Internet.
"I figured let's combine the ad because I'm looking for love and I'm looking to sell the house," said Trabosh, who teeters around the nearly 2,000 square-foot house in patent leather heels.
"Marry a Princess Lost in America," Trabosh wrote in the ads she posted on eBay and Craigslist last week. She describes a life of romance and travel and a home decorated with vaulted ceilings, upgraded tile and a soaking tub in a gated community with a pool and tennis courts.
Trabosh, a licensed real estate agent who hasn't practiced in years, knew she would struggle to sell the home in the troubled real estate market, but insists her fairytale ad isn't just a sales gimmick.
"I'm struggling...I don't want to lose my house and I want to find somebody," said Trabosh, who changed her name in the ad to Traboscia to keep people from finding her in the phone book. "So I came up with this dream plan because I've always dreamt about being a fairytale princess."
She listed the home for $340,000 on a sell-it-yourself Web site, but upped the price, adding a $500,000 shipping fee to include her companionship on eBay.
Trabosh says eBay removed her ad, though she planned to change the wording and repost it. Under the site's prohibited services policy, eBay does not allow the sale of human beings, body parts or relationships, spokeswoman Catherine England said Friday.
Trabosh hasn't received any serious offers, but says she's had nearly 500 responses, mostly positive, including one from Ottie of Surrey, England, who e-mailed to say, "You are offering the perfect life with the perfect American princess."
She whips out her laptop to show off a picture of Claudio, a handsome Italian wine and cheese taster, who she's been corresponding with since he responded to the ad. Seated on a white leather love seat in her living room, she giggles almost girlishly about him. They're hoping to meet in Miami in a few weeks.
She's gotten criticism, too. Her 21-year-old daughter Haley says she just wants her mom to find love, but her 14-year-old daughter says her mother is embarrassing her. Other have e-mailed to say she's selling herself short.
"I'm not selling myself. I'm selling love...to meet that true love," Trabosh says. "Of course, it's gonna take more chemistry and connection. It's not going to be instantaneous that I'm just going to be automatically for sale...it's a package deal for true love."
Trabosh isn't the first to use the Internet to hawk the unconventional. A heartbroken Australian man recently tried to sell his life online, including his house, job and friends. Others have sold body space, promising to display advertisements for the highest bidder. | |
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| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 6/30/2008 10:12:36 PM | | Well...it was definitely an interesting way to go about things, I will admit. Although I don't think it is quite the wisest of options. It will be interesting to see how this one turns out. | |
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| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 6/30/2008 10:19:50 PM | ya i heard about this story about the women on ebay whos selling herself and her house as a package deal.people like this are wackos lol.either just plain nuts or trying to get publicity for whatever reasons.actually probably just to sell her house.she did mention she knew she would have trouble in todays market or something.
someone book this lady on jerry springer.
JERRY!JERRY!JERRY!
LMAO!
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| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 6/30/2008 10:20:18 PM | I saw this on Yahoo yesterday and it strikes me as quite pathetic on many levels. It is a sign of the times in both having a place that one cannot afford and as desperation and too much vulnerability in wanting a relationship. This is a recipe for disaster. | |
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| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 6/30/2008 10:26:18 PM | | ^^^^It is a sign of the times. The era of the net and a horrific economy. I'm just thankful I sold my real estate when the market was good. I shiver at the thought of what might have been "claused in" to get it all sold. | |
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| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 6/30/2008 10:27:11 PM | A princess??
What man in his right mind would pay for a woman who considers and advertises herself as a princess?
I feel nauseous now. | |
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| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 6/30/2008 10:32:13 PM | LOL
Notice the 21 year old daughter just wants her mother to be happy whilst the teen daughter is
overly concerned about her own embarrassment. Interesting
I see nothing right about it since she has the right of refusal.
O | |
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| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 6/30/2008 10:36:24 PM | $500,000.00 Wow............She´s expensive.........
but thats smart..........she doesn´t want a sugar daddy..........she wants her OWN bank account...............
And she gets callers????................AMEN SISTER.........  | |
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| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 6/30/2008 10:38:25 PM | OP, I'm guessing we'll be in agreement on this one.  No, love cannot be bought. On the other hand, sex CAN be bought, and has been bought and sold for centuries now. Now, is the sex she's trying to sell worth the $500,000 that she's apparently asking? And what kind of contract will the buyer get for his $500k? Enquiring minds want to know!  | |
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| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 6/30/2008 10:43:06 PM |
OP, I'm guessing we'll be in agreement on this one. No, love cannot be bought. On the other hand, sex CAN be bought, and has been bought and sold for centuries now. Now, is the sex she's trying to sell worth the $500,000 that she's apparently asking? And what kind of contract will the buyer get for his $500k? Enquiring minds want to know!
LOL ~ you do know me my friend. Dead on with you on all accounts. I pondered the contract and actually found myself wondering, "Hmmm~I wonder how many years she's prepared to be 'in love' once the check clears the bank."  | |
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| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 6/30/2008 10:48:48 PM |
"Hmmm~I wonder how many years she's prepared to be 'in love' once the check clears the bank."
I think that any man who considers putting up the $500,000 should be sure to do his research very well first. Somehow I'm thinking that it may well be material here that according to stories I've read, she's been the target of "several" lawsuits over the last few years over failure to pay her contracted debts. My guess is the "debt of love" will likely end up in the same state of default her financial ones have before its all said and done! | |
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| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 6/30/2008 11:06:18 PM | And what kind of contract will the buyer get for his $500k? Enquiring minds want to know!
Well according to the post it will buy her consideration for a marriage. In other words, your $500k will buy you an option on a marriage. A year or two down the road she will execute the divorce and take 50% of the option purchaser's assets. Sounds like an excellent business opportunity for any man lol!
I love this piece the best lol!
"Marry a Princess Lost in America," Trabosh wrote in the ads she posted on eBay and Craigslist last week. She describes a life of romance and travel and a home decorated with vaulted ceilings, upgraded tile and a soaking tub in a gated community with a pool and tennis courts.
And I who thought that profession was illegal lol! | |
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| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 7/1/2008 1:40:34 AM | | NEVER All that can ever be bought is a way of life and sex. Love is something that comes from caring about someone and sharing something special with them irrespective of money | |
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| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 7/1/2008 2:01:12 AM | | Only if you are buying a card to tell the person how much you love them. I guess if you are a superficial and shallow person then you can be bought. Otherwise, no way! | |
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| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 7/1/2008 2:30:58 AM | Attention whore and desperate. Everyone wants their Internet fame these days, but nobody can top those nutty YouTube kids, Chris Crocker and lonelygirl14.
I had an ex-girlfriend that said she loved me so much that she didn't care if I lived in a cardboard box. It was literally the one sweetest thing I've ever heard, even though she jerked me over later on.
I'm sick to death of money tied to 'love'. Everyone seems to want the 'big ticket' and overlooks what love really means. You just can't buy love because that certain emotion can neither be bought nor sold legitimately. If there's a price tag on love, I will have nothing to do with it even if it's in the $10 or less bin or at the Dollar Store. I spit on it all. | |
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| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 7/1/2008 4:06:25 AM | | i laughed at this question but with a sad feeling, is that what our world has come too, love is a binding of souls with someone, you cannot buy that with anything in this world!!! women want a wallet, men want sex, your words, this ain't what love is based round that's lust and greed.... a very big diffrence and a very shallow way of thinking. i think the best option is staying single now, if thats all people are looking for! disgusting | |
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| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 7/1/2008 4:23:23 AM | I'm with some of the other posters.. I did in fact chuckle at the thought, and the gumption it took to write this ad.. the woman was a salesperson after all...
I'd never reduce myself to something like this.. I want it to come naturally, or not at all.
Playing devil's advocate for a moment, perhaps she figured the men browsing higher end real estate ads would make better prospects than regular dating sites like the rest of us? Who knows... either way I think she's in for a few rides.. but none will lead to her life of romance and financial comfort... LOL... what if after an inspection, the sale doesn't go through?? Would you include a health inspection with the home inspection? Yoiks.. too many things to even get into... lol | |
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eazk
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Joined: 9/8/2006
Msg: 20 | |
| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 7/1/2008 4:30:23 AM | I dunno...I think that she has a misplaced value of worth.
The bottom line is that any man who could afford to give $500,000 to her for love can probably pretty much afford any woman who was willing to enter into such an agreement...and that there are a lot of younger, hungrier girls that don't require a $500,000-$800,000 down payment to begin.
Which brings us to the point of...why is a 42 y.o. with a nice home in a good location having problems meeting men? Could it be that there's something else which fundamentally makes her unattractive for dating? I could see it if she was looking for a partner to move in with her to take over the expense burden of the home, but this doesn't sound like an American Geisha type of thing and without any certainty of longevity of the contract, I'm not sure why one would bother...with of corse the exception of the ever-present green-card-seeker.
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| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 7/1/2008 5:17:28 AM | If you've been around humans long enough, you know that a lot of them are shallow.
Would someone a mile wide and an inch deep find what little they are looking for, this way? Probably, yeah.
as for a 14 yr old worrying about herself....well, at that age, what else does she have to worry about? | |
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| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 7/1/2008 5:57:52 AM | Oh ,, I see ..
At first , I thought she was offering the money, house, and love to any man that would have her. | |
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| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 7/1/2008 6:01:20 AM | Hahaha...wonder if she would take a check?
I'll mail it today....
hahahah!!!!
If he likes the house more than the spouse.....is he entitled a refund?
"undisclosed defects" in the house could result in litigation....how about the "companion"? | |
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| Can love really be bought?
Posted: 7/1/2008 6:14:02 AM |
I think that any man who considers putting up the $500,000 should be sure to do his research very well first. Somehow I'm thinking that it may well be material here that according to stories I've read, she's been the target of "several" lawsuits over the last few years over failure to pay her contracted debts. My guess is the "debt of love" will likely end up in the same state of default her financial ones have before its all said and done!
LOL - perish the thought that any man entering into that contract fail to scrutinize the "fine print" disclaimer.
OP - as to the question as to whether love can be bought - it would depend on what one loves, don't you think? And what one defines as love. As far as the kind of love that sustains a lifetime with a partner? No - cannot be bought at all. IMO | |
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