Arizona house up for penny auction

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GLENDALE, Ariz., March 12 (UPI) -- An Arizona man is auctioning off a 4-bedroom, 2-bath Glendale home appraised at $125,000 for bids of a penny each on the Internet.

Todd Talbot, creator and owner of iBidForAcent,com, said the auction for the 1,749-square-foot property could be the first of its kind online, ABC News reported Monday. He bought the house for $81,000 in January and added about $20,000 worth of improvements.

Bidding, which reached 15 cents Monday, will come to an end at 5 p.m. Tuesday, at which point "20-second extended bidding will begin," Talbot said.

"At that point a 20-second timer clock will start a countdown. If someone bids during that time, the clock automatically re-sets for another 20 seconds. This will happen until no one bids during the 20-second period," he said.

The reserve price for the house is $2,750 and Talbot said he expects the winning bid could be as low as $5,000.

He makes money on the Web site by selling bid packs in increments of $60 to $6,000, which users purchase to make bids on the auction site. Users place bids on the house, each of which costs 60 cents, using the bid pack money, and each bid increases the price of the house by a penny.