For sale: Everything I own, house and cars included. Make an offer, but no peeking

Man tries ‘mystery-box,’ sight-unseen approach to selling Nova Scotia estate

HALIFAX— A Nova Scotia man has taken a novel approach to getting rid of his house, his two cars and all his worldly possessions. For a minimum bid of $200,000, Michael Bowden will part with everything. The catch is that the winner of the online auction takes it all sight unseen.

“The whole mystery-box sce- nario is a difficult thing to swallow. That’s a lot of money for sight unseen. But what it’s doing is it’s sparking interest,” Bowden said.

The five-bedroom house sits on a quarter-acre lot in the community of Lennox Passage, Cape Breton. A successful bidder would get all household contents, from furniture to clothing and appliances. Bowden’s 2013 Hyundai Elantra and 2007 Kia Sportage are part of the package.

Bowden said he decided to change the way he lives following his father’s death this past March. On Aug. 5, he and his family buried his father’s ashes and he felt the time was right to move forward with his plan. He said the quote, “Live simply so others may simply live,” attributed to Gandhi, has always resonated with him. Besides his beloved cat, the only thing he intends to take from the house is a change or two of clothes.

Bowden posted his worldly possessions sale video on Facebook on Thursday and plans to keep bidding open until Sept. 16 at 9 p.m. AST. To date, the video has had 25,000 views, but no bids.